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Union Families Reach Out to Tsunami Victims
The AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center has set up a disaster relief fund for union families to aid the recovery and rebuilding in the Indian Ocean nations devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami.
CWA members and locals are among thousands making contributions. "As always, I am so proud of the generosity of our members and their eagerness to help," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "The suffering of people in the tsunami's path is unimaginable."
To date, more than 225,000 people are among the dead, thousands are still missing and tens of millions of survivors are in desperate need of clean water, food, medical supplies and shelter.
"No words can describe the horror and suffering of the millions of people affected," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a letter to unions. "Through the Solidarity Center, the AFL-CIO is committed to providing workers and their families with long-term support for housing, reconstruction and other aid. As the rebuilding begins we must be ready to assist our brothers and sisters in Asia who are fighting for their lives and burying their dead."
The Solidarity Center, which helps workers around the world who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions, has a branch in Sri Lanka where staffer Pete Castelli and his family were caught in the disaster. They survived and have been helping others.
The couple and their infant daughter, who have been in Sri Lanka since October, were at a resort in the middle of the country when the giant waves struck. They returned to their home in the capital, Colombo, and soon opened their doors to people who were newly homeless and injured.
Pete Castelli also went to the devastated coastal city of Galle to help. Near the coast, "We started to see entire buildings collapsed, destroyed and pushed to the other side of the road from the force of the waves," he said in an e-mail. "Walls were crumbled and pieces of people's lives, clothes, furniture and tables were pushed up the side of trees and buildings."
Among the thousands of dead in the region, he said the local hospital lost 21 doctors and nurses. "For the 16 hours I was in the area, I could smell the scent of death," he said.
Locals and individuals who want to contribute are asked to write a check marked "Tsunami Relief" to the Solidarity Center Education Fund. Send to: Tsunami Relief Fund, Solidarity Center, 1925 K Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20006-1105.
CWA members and locals are among thousands making contributions. "As always, I am so proud of the generosity of our members and their eagerness to help," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "The suffering of people in the tsunami's path is unimaginable."
To date, more than 225,000 people are among the dead, thousands are still missing and tens of millions of survivors are in desperate need of clean water, food, medical supplies and shelter.
"No words can describe the horror and suffering of the millions of people affected," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a letter to unions. "Through the Solidarity Center, the AFL-CIO is committed to providing workers and their families with long-term support for housing, reconstruction and other aid. As the rebuilding begins we must be ready to assist our brothers and sisters in Asia who are fighting for their lives and burying their dead."
The Solidarity Center, which helps workers around the world who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions, has a branch in Sri Lanka where staffer Pete Castelli and his family were caught in the disaster. They survived and have been helping others.
The couple and their infant daughter, who have been in Sri Lanka since October, were at a resort in the middle of the country when the giant waves struck. They returned to their home in the capital, Colombo, and soon opened their doors to people who were newly homeless and injured.
Pete Castelli also went to the devastated coastal city of Galle to help. Near the coast, "We started to see entire buildings collapsed, destroyed and pushed to the other side of the road from the force of the waves," he said in an e-mail. "Walls were crumbled and pieces of people's lives, clothes, furniture and tables were pushed up the side of trees and buildings."
Among the thousands of dead in the region, he said the local hospital lost 21 doctors and nurses. "For the 16 hours I was in the area, I could smell the scent of death," he said.
Locals and individuals who want to contribute are asked to write a check marked "Tsunami Relief" to the Solidarity Center Education Fund. Send to: Tsunami Relief Fund, Solidarity Center, 1925 K Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20006-1105.