Published: May 18, 2008 12:31 am         

Local residents can help cyclone victims

Salvation Army details efforts in Myanmar

DANVILLE — Local residents who want to do their part to ease the suffering after a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar can donate to the Salvation Army.

Last week, the national Salvation Army launched an appeal to raise money for the long-term response to the Myanmar disaster caused by tropical cyclone Nargis.

The Salvation Army has had personnel serving in the country since 1915, and is responding to the immediate needs with food and clean water distribution among other services.

The long-term effort is expected to be a multiyear recovery that will require ex-tensive external aid to help those in need.

Local residents can support those efforts by making a monetary donation via the Internet, direct mail or on the phone.

“Money is the best thing because they can purchase the supplies they need,” said Capt. Rob Whitney, co-captain of the Danville Salvation Army.

“Clothing donations would be difficult because it would have to be shipped overseas,” Whitney said.

“It’s not like New Orleans where we could truck it down there,” he said.

The Salvation Army in Yangon, Myanmar, has been providing cooked meals and clean water for those desperately in need.

The organization’s regional headquarters was almost destroyed, but personnel were able to relocate to a recently built Salvation Army boys’ home, which also had lost part of its roof, waterlogging most of its rice storage.

The Salvation Army said personnel immediately cooked and distributed the food to the community before it was lost entirely.

The Army also has been able to run generators to pump clean water almost non-stop in the aftermath of the storm.

“We are one of the few agencies that are able to serve people in need almost immediately because we have operations on the ground in the country serving people every day,” Major George Hood, national community relations secretary for the Salvation Army in the United States, said in a press release.

“We are working to provide additional support from the U.S. and the international community to aid this local effort over the long term because it will be an extraordinarily daunting task,” he said.

“We are praying for all those suffering through this disaster, and we are always grateful for the thousands of donors who open their hearts at times like these,” Hood said.



TO HELP

The Salvation Army has dedicated a portion of its national Web site to the Myanmar recovery effort at www.salvationarmyusa.org. Donors also may call 1-800-SAL-ARMY or mail donations to: The Salvation Army International Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263-0728. Donors should specify their contribution is for the “Myanmar Cyclone.”