Lehigh Valley Fundraiser
In addition to the US official effort, several non-governmental organizations and agencies are mobilizing resources to reach the SIDR afflicted population in Bangladesh. In the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania a small but vibrant Bangladeshi-American community is raising funds and awareness to help the victims. There are about 150 Bangladesh-Americans residing in Lehigh County. Many of them are affected by SIDR, through family and friends left at home. The initiative to raise funds and awareness arose from their sincere concern for the victims, as well as the outpouring of support from the local community here. The members of Bangladeshi-American community have received generous support from co-workers at LSI, Air Products, Lehigh Valley Hospital, Mack Trucks, and Muhlenberg College, among others. The Students at Muhlenberg College are planning to organize a series of fund-raising events.
The local Bangladeshi-American community is raising funds to contribute to Bangladesh Relief Funds (BRF) relief operations in Bangladesh. BRF is a registered U.S. 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization. The contributions are tax-deductible. The BRF is disbursing US$100 per SIDR-affected family to meet their urgent needs of food, water, medicine, and shelter.
Apart from collecting individual donations from the Lehigh Valley residence, the local Bangladeshi-American Community is organizing a fund raising gala concert of classical South-Asian music on January 20th, 2007. The concert by a renowned Ghazal-singer is scheduled to be held at 3:00 P.M. at Springhouse Middle School Auditorium.
For individuals and organizations contributing to this cause from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania are being requested to make their checks payable to Bangladesh Relief Fund and mail to the following address:
Bangladesh Relief Fund
825 Rebecca Lane
Orefield, PA 18069
For more information, please contact any of the following community members:
Anwar Karim: 610-628-9631
Tareq Sarker: 610-965-5504
Reza Subhani: 610-739-2347