Phuket Rotary Club Organizes Relief For Pakistani Flood Victims

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Phuket Rotary Club organizes relief for Pakistani flood victims

NASA Earth Observatory image of the affected area, created by Robert Simmon.

PHUKET: -- The Rotary Club of Patong Beach has launched a disaster relief drive to provide aid to some of the 14 million people in Pakistan displaced by devastating floods and in desperate need of water, food, shelter and sanitation.

“As was the case with the Haiti earthquake relief, we’re working with the Canadian shelter box group, newly renamed 'Disaster Aid Canada' (http://disasteraid.ca/ ), to get the most help out on the ground as quickly as we can,” said Woody Leonhard, Treasurer of Rotary Club of Patong Beach.

Mr Leonhard explained that Rotarians Jim Domville and Pat Michel have volunteered to help funnel money through the Canadian organization to take advantage of the best possible exchange rates and their ability to send money directly to Disaster Aid Canada with no banking fees.

“You may recall that Jim spearheaded the single largest Rotary drive for Haiti relief in all of southern Thailand,” he added.

Donations for Pakistan disaster relief are to be made to the club’s charity account:

BANK: Bangkok Bank

ACCOUNT: 563-3-01480-7

SWIFT CODE: BKKBTHBK

“Email me (woody [at ] khunwoody.com) and tell me how much you deposited, and approximately when (e.g. “Saturday afternoon”). That will help us keep track of which donations are specifically for Disaster Aid Canada,” said Mr Leonhard.

“Any money that ends up in that account will go to our charity activities anyway – 100% of all money in that account always goes to our charities – but notifying me by email will ensure that the funds will go directly to the Pakistani Shelter Box drive, taking advantage of Jim and Pat’s connections,” he added.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-08-14