December 2, 2005

Evergreen residents provide funds for earthquake relief

By Anila Khan
Times Intern

With a death toll exceeding 73,275 and more than 3 million people left homeless, the South Asian earthquake, which registered 7.6 magnitude on the Richter scale, has prompted individuals all over the world to help.

The Palla family of Evergreen learned that just one fund-raiser wasn’t enough to help 3 million homeless people.

From programs on television to individual donors raising funds, the attempts to provide support are many, including two Evergreen-based families raising money for the neediest parts of Pakistan.

One fund-raiser not enough
Evergreen’s Palla family sponsored numerous fund-raisers to collect money for earthquake relief.

Shortly after news of the earthquake hit the media, they conducted a fund-raiser by Lundardi’s in the Evergreen Village Square. It was the first Saturday of Ramadan, and the family collected $2,000 in donations from noon to 5 p.m. They also passed out fliers to raise earthquake awareness by informing people about the plight of those struck by the earthquake in South Asia.

Then at a recent Eid festival, held at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds to mark the end of Ramadan, the family set up a candy stand to raise funds—and awareness—of the earthquake. Munir Palla, along with wife, Anila and children, Kiran, 13, and Ali, 11, ran the stand from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We’ve just gone through a month of fasting and know what it’s like to be hungry,” said Munir. He wanted to do his best to prevent affected individuals from suffering.

Families donated a total of $225 to the Pallas, who bought candy and resold it at prices varying from 50 cents to $2 apiece. In total, they raised $1,000 from both donations and candy sale profits.

They will be writing a check to “The Hidaya Program,” which will use the money to buy tents for those who have lost their homes in the disaster. The Pallas conducted a similar fund-raiser after the tsunami hit last year.

Munir and Anila also wanted their children to be involved in helping the needy. Following the Islamic faith, they found a productive way to teach their children what the religion promoted: helping those in need.

“I’m really happy doing this because I know I’m benefiting the people in South Asia whose lives have been affected,” said Ali.

Later that night, the Pallas held a dinner to provide victims of the earthquake with blankets. Those who attended the feast donated money to the Pallas, who used the donations to supply earthquake victims with about 230 blankets costing $10 each.

Munir is a software engineer at Cisco Systems and Anila is a preschool teacher at Challenger. Their children, Kiran and Ali, attend Quimby Oak Middle School (8) and Tom Matsumoto Elementary School (6) respectively.

$80,000 in funds
Evergreen resident Surriya Jabeen, with the help of her two nieces in Boston and Chicago, also solicited donations and collected almost $80,000 for remote earthquake-affected areas.

In these hilly, remote regions of Pakistan, roads leading to small villages were narrow to begin with. When the earthquake struck, rock slides blocked off most of the routes. The vast majority of food and tent relief, however, was being delivered to citizens on large trucks. Without access, many of these remote regions went unassisted.

Surriya Jabeen helped raise $80,000 for earthquake relief. In addition to funding food and tents, her sisters in Pakistan are offering rooms made of stainless steel and fiberglass to the neediest of the victims.

The Pakistanis pushed just enough rocks out of the way to make way for small jeeps and ultra-small minivans, which resemble station wagons, to deliver supplies to victims in these regions.

“The lives of these individuals are up to the locals,” said Jabeen, who helped her family living in Pakistan send supplies to victims of the disaster.

With some of the $80,000, four of Jabeen’s sisters—Nargis Khan, Shanaaz Parveen, Saima Farooq, and Rabia Nabi—have organized a group of people from nearby villages to make 14-by-16-foot rooms out of stainless steel and fiberglass. Her sisters seek out the people who appear to be in the worst condition and recruit them to stay in their rooms.

Her sisters also gathered about 400 beds to deliver to the victims.

Jabeen, who earned a doctorate in Pakistan, resides with her three daughters and husband Zafar Khan, a software engineer who runs his own business, Caps Computing. Her daughter Zayhab is a fifth grader Matusumoto, Samar is a seventh grader at Chaboya Middle School and Sana is a senior at Evergreen Valley High School.

Want to help?
There are many ways to send money and aid to those who have been affected by the earthquake. You can conduct fundraisers or write a check to the Hidaya Foundation like these Evergreen families have.

In addition, the Web site www.reliefonline.org provides a list of different items the victims need and links that allow you to send money through the Internet. In such disasters, every penny helps.