|
Grand effort nets a grand
 |
If you've dropped a dollar or two in American Red Cross canisters that appeared on area store counters in past weeks, be glad to know your effort helped raise $1,000 to go toward Southeast Asia tsunami relief efforts. The fund-raiser was the brainstorm and project of about 45 Indonesian students who are currently working in Cashiers and Cherokee and studying the hospitality industry at Southwestern Community College. While none of the students had family members injured in the disaster, some estimates put the number of Indonesian dead at as high as 166,000 and the number across the Southeast Asian region at as high as 221,000. In addition to delivering the cans to local businesses, the students contributed $435 of their own money toward the fund-raiser, an amount nearly double the income an educated family of two could earn in Indonesia in one month's time. Opening the canisters last week to count dollars collected are, from left, Asheville-Mountain Area Red Cross public relations director Joyce Brooks, Gede Agung Adnyana, Made Arsa Wijaya, Komang Tri Suhartana, Gede Dharma Saputra, Made Artawan and Jackson County Red Cross branch specialist Nancy Saxon. – Herald photo by Carey King
|
