CENTRAL Victorians who donated funds to an aid project which helped supply fishing boats in India following 2004's Boxing Day tsunami have been thanked for their on-going support.
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Assisi Aid Projects are thanking the Victorians whose generosity helped more than 15,000 displaced people in coastal villages in southern India to rebuild, recover and get back to work following the tsunami.
The Boxing Day tsunami, which occurred 10 years ago today, led to widespread destruction across the Asia Pacific region and killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The Assisi Aid Project raised about $215,202 from public donations, mainly from central Victoria, in the immediate aftermath of the December 26 tsunami.
The funds helped communities in Kanyakumari, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and the Assisi Farm and Training Centre, which became a safe haven for a number of low-lying villages.
Fishing boats purchased through the project were named after the Victorian towns who bought them and most, including one named Bendigo, continue to help to provide livelihoods to the fishermen and communities who rely on them a decade on.
Assisi president and Bendigo resident Tony Britt said 10 years on, the people who benefited following the tsunami had not forgotten the generosity.
"The people who made donations can be rest assured the money was well spent and the people who benefited are still extraordinarily appreciative and grateful for the generosity of people in central Victoria," he said.
The Assisi/central Victorian connection was born out of a visit from Assisi's founder Sister Stella to rural Victoria in 1974, when she worked briefly on a dairy farm.
One of Sister Stella's visits to rural Victoria occurred about a month before the tsunami and included a visit to Bendigo.
Mr Britt said Bendigo Bank and its charity arm, the Community Foundation, had been particularly supportive of tsunami recovery efforts because its CEO at the time had met Sister Stella during her visit.
Assisi Aid Project chief executive Karen Young, who visited Kanyakumari earlier this month, said the generosity of the donors played a key role in rebuilding communities.
She said funds also went towards micro-businesses and savings schemes, replacement housing, along with on-going medical and psychological treatment for people in affected communities.
For more information on Assisi’s programs, visit www.assisi.org.au