Local community organizes for Myanmar assistance

Myanmar was struck by a devastating cyclone more than two weeks ago. Thousands of people lost their lives. Now that the cyclone is over, relief efforts have begun to help the country get back together.

Organizations all over the world are helping by going to Myanmar or by raising donations to help.

Q Café, a Ballard business, is one such place.

Eugene Cho, the executive director of Q Café, spent some time in Myanmar a few years ago. The disaster impacted him and motivated him to help.

“One of Q Café’s visions is to give back 10 percent of its sales to other local non-profit organizations that are trying to make an impact either locally or globally,” Cho said.

He said it was an easy decision to raise relief funds when he heard about the disaster.

In addition to giving 10 percent of its May sales, Cho also hosted a fundraiser put on by Quest Church and Burma Action Group (BAG), a UW student group.

The fundraiser featured live music, food, items for sale and information on how to help the disaster relief effort. BAG participated by selling “Keep the Light on Burma” T-shirts.

All of the funds raised from the event are going to World Aid Inc., a nonprofit organization located in Ballard that focuses on bringing support to people in countries where oppression occurs.

“The great thing about these smaller relief organizations in our area, they all know each other and are working together to make that big difference for the people,” BAG member Eunice Soh said. “I can also guarantee that they are actually with the people and providing aid and not giving to the military regime to distribute.”

The group wants to raise awareness about what is happening in Myanmar. They also want to raise funds for the victims of the cyclone.

Soh said the group also hopes to remind and to show their friends in Myanmara that they are not alone, and that the international community is responding.

Soh helped plan the fundraiser and said she plans on doing more in the future.

“I left my heart in Thailand [and] Burma two years ago, and since I cannot go there right now to help in relief efforts, I knew that I needed to think of something, anything, to somehow relieve some of their pain from a distance,” she said.

In addition to this fundraiser, UW faculty members are also involved. Sandra Archibald, the dean at the Evans School of Public Affairs, donated $500 to the relief efforts.

Even with this donation, Soh feels that the UW is not doing its part in responding to the disaster.

“There has been no statement put out in response to recent events,” she said. “One death is still a death, but we’re talking about 100,000 people, and counting, whose lives were lost and a million more left behind homeless and vulnerable to malaria, [tuberculosis], malnutrition and diarrheal diseases that without proper treatment lead to death.”