Support pours in for tsunami victims
MISSISSAUGA, ON—In the days and weeks following what has been called the worst natural disaster in recorded history, Canadians are responding by opening their hearts and wallets in unprecedented numbers to provide assistance for victims in Southeast Asia.
Churches, denominational offices and Christian relief and development agencies are among those institutions reacting with prayers, fundraising and relief efforts following the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunamis of December 26. The disaster wreaked havoc on eight nations bordering the Indian Ocean; taking the lives of scores of thousands of people and leaving millions more homeless.
The Salvation Army, The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec and Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada were just four of many denominations that called for prayer for the affected regions, and encouraged members to contribute to special emergency funds.
An audio report on salvationarmy.ca says the denomination has a presence in all of the countries affected by the tsunamis. The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda has committed $1 million to relief efforts, regardless of how much money is raised.
"The estimate of what the complete [relief] effort is going to cost is in the billions of dollars," said Graham Moore, head of public relations and development for the Salvation Army in Canada, in the report.
"As a country, Canada has tremendous wealth, and the Salvation Army benefits from being part of this country and we knew that a significant contribution was needed," he added.
Christian Blind Mission International Canada, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Compassion Canada, World Relief Canada, Christian Children's Fund of Canada, Christian Aid Mission, Canadian Lutheran World Relief and World Vision Canada were among many relief and development agencies that moved quickly to send aid to the millions of people affected by the disaster.
The Canadian Council of Christian Charities has posted on its web site a list of accredited organizations (see sidebar) accepting donations for disaster relief.
While the final amount has not been determined, MCC expenditures will include more than $2.5 million in cash and almost $1 million in material aid, including food, clothing and medical supplies. Meanwhile, the Canadian government is matching dollar-for-dollar donations given to World Vision Canada and MCC by January 11. At press time, other organizations were negotiating with the government for further dollar-to-dollar matching.
World Vision's director of customer service operations, Richard Te, says his organization was running on "holiday staffing" with only five to eight people working in the call center, when news of the tsunamis reached Canada. By December 28, says Te, "we had to bring everybody in because the call volumes were 10 times more than expected."
"I guess the fact that it was the holidays, and people were at home watching the story unfold in front of their eyes prompted them [to call]," he explains.
More than $500,000 was pledged to disaster relief by the morning of December 28. "We have not seen this scale of giving since the Ethiopian famine exactly 20 years ago," says Dirk Booy, vice president of international and Canadian programs for World Vision Canada.
Joint effort
In the days following the tsunamis, World Vision Canada experienced record-breaking call volumes. Typically over a period of three days, the organization expects to receive approximately 1,500 calls to their call centre. But from December 28 to 30, the organization logged more than 18,000 calls.
"People basically gave up their holidays," but were still enthusiastic and clearly "on a mission," Te says of the staff that came in to handle the extraordinary call volumes.
Call centre supervisor Marcia Parris says many staff came back to work with family members who wanted to help as volunteers. "It's just been excellent," says Parris, who adds this is the first time in her seven years with World Vision that she has been called in from holidays. "People have big hearts," she says.
"It's just been overwhelming how Canadians have given."
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