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46 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 30, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 29, 2004 Shamila Irish, a native of Sri Lanka who now lives in Grants Pass, is spearheading a Southern Oregon effort to help people affected by the tsunami that devastated her home country. She and her husband returned Dec. 12 from a vacation there. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Sri Lanka native starts relief effort She and her husband were there just weeks ago By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune GRANTS PASS — From the banks of the Rogue River, Shamila Irish is organizing a relief effort for her native country, Sri Lanka. She was born in Galle, a port city in southwestern Sri Lanka hard hit by the massive tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean. "I can’t sleep at night," she said. "I have to do something. All the places come rushing to me. It will never be the same when I go back." Irish settled in Grants Pass about six months ago with her husband, Patrick Irish, a 1998 graduate of Hidden Valley High School. The couple met in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain while he was in the Marine Corps and she worked as a flight attendant. She’s now assistant manager for sales and conference services at Riverside Inn. With her fellow employees and community help, she hopes to turn the resort into a collection center for supplies needed on the other side of the globe. Advertisement Irish contacted the Sri Lankan consulate in Los Angeles to find out what she could do to help. The consul provided a list of goods the government needs immediately and an address in Sri Lanka where items could be sent. "We are a gathering station," said Charmaine Brown, Riverside Inn’s director of operations. "We’re clearing guest rooms for storage." Winter’s tourism lull means the resort has space, workers and phone lines available for the relief effort, as well as a highly visible and easily accessible location, she said. Irish has arranged with a Grants Pass company that wants to remain anonymous to help ship the goods around the world. Volunteers led by her mother-in-law, Barbara Irish, will help pack the items. "I just want to get on this," Shamila Irish said. She and Patrick returned from a vacation in Sri Lanka Dec. 12. They stayed in a coastal hotel, so she could show him her country’s pristine beaches. "The hotel where we stayed is completely under water now," she said. Irish hasn’t been able to contact her parents, who live in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka on the island’s southwestern coast. Her sister, who lives in the Persian Gulf city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has reached their parents, so Irish knows her immediate family is safe. Her sister in Dubai and her brother in Germany also are organizing efforts to send help home, she said. Irish is eagerly awaiting improved communication in stricken areas so she can get more information on other family and friends. "It’s just the saddest thing," she said, noting that the country of 19.9 million people is generally very poor. "It’s going to take a long time to rebuild this country." How to help The Sri Lankan consulate has identified these items as being needed immediately. Tents, blankets, linens. Ready-to-eat packaged food. Water-purification tablets. Wheat flour, rice, legumes. Medical supplies, including acetaminophen, antibiotics, suture materials, dressings, disposable syringes and intravenous infusions of saline and dextrose. Portable generators. Donations can be dropped at the Riverside Inn, 971 S.E. Sixth St. in Grants Pass. Call the resort at 541-476-6873 for details. The Red Cross prefers monetary donations so its affiliates can buy supplies near the disaster-stricken areas and eliminate shipping costs. Donations, earmarked for the International Response Fund, can be made online at www.redcross.org or at local offices. The Medford office is at 60 Hawthorne St. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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