To All Bangkok and Worldwide Hashers, Sponsors and Donors
H3 Tsunami Relief Fund Allocation & Winding Up Announcement

Bangkok 27 May, 2005

Thank you.

We are now winding up the H3 Tsunami Relief Fund with a total amount collected of 420, 428.57 Baht.

We think this is an excellent result and we wish to express a very warm thank you to all of those who helped with their time, efforts and money. The single largest contribution to the fund was the Charity Run in February. This alone netted 98,000 Baht. Hares Bullet and Hags did an outstanding job organizing this event for which we thank them. The committee has since looked at a number of projects for use of the money.

The most useful suggestions came through the Human Development Foundation of Father Joe Maier. HDF has teams on the ground in the affected areas in direct contact with the villagers to determine their needs. However, as their teams are continuously on the South they only report back on their current situation once a week. Our first choice was a Mo Kan village in Satun but by the time we decided on this it had already been taken care of by other donations. Other proposed projects were rejected as they were not directly Tsunami related. With these various options proposed by HDF we have in the end decided to help a small village at the North West end of Phuket island called Ban Lam La. This is a poor village, primarily Mo Kan, and most of the men work as day crew on the big fishing boats. Only a few have their own small boats. Most of the community set out fishing nets just off shore. The tsunami destroyed most of the offshore nets. The following is the assistance that the village asked us for:

One ( used) small fishing boat = Baht 50,000, 1 (new) engine = Baht 50,000, 10 water pumps for use on small boats = Baht 70,000, 10 families offshore fishing equipment and nets = Baht 100,000, the local school nominated 10 children from the village for one year school assistance (uniforms, shoes, lunch money, books, back packs) at baht 12,000 each.

The total cost for this project is Baht 390,000.

This amount is very close to what we have, entirely suitable within our parameters and has therefore been chosen. A check for Baht 390,000 was given to HDF this morning. HDF will keep us fully informed on the progress of this project and supply us with photos and other follow-up materials. The remaining balance of Baht 30,428.57 is not enough to support a separate project. The committee will therefore donate this money to the HDF Mercy Centre general fund. They have 220 street kids living with them there that they feed and send to school every day.

The H3 Tsunami Relief Fund Committee
Maarten Brusselers, Tom Ellefsen, Graeme Bristol, Kim Chaubert

Well Done!