In March 2005, four months after the Tsunami disaster on Stephens Day 2004, I travelled to Sri Lanka with €15,000 raised by the Arklow Bay Hotel to either source a small project or buy a bus for an orphanage.
What I witnessed was total devastation where over 40,000 people died and nearly half a million were displaced.
While I was there, updates were emailed to those who had participated in the original fund raise and with the money raised, I purchased a field for an orphanage.
When I returned I was overwhelmed with the response by the people of Arklow and I immediately set up the Arklow Sri Lanka Orphanage Fund committee with three trustees, Susan Breen, Stephen Wilde and Michael Murray appointed to control the finances.
The fund went on to raise in excess of One Million Euro, with every house in Arklow contributing in some way.
This enabled the fund to build a Girls Orphanage which opened in November 2005 (one of the biggest projects built before the first anniversary of the Tsunami). This was followed by a boy's orphanage, a training college, and funds in place to cover all essential running costs of the homes for twenty years.
Not one cent from the fund was used for overheads.
As they were wrapping up the Arklow Sri Lanka Fund, Kildare man Jerry Conlon, having seen at first hand the Arklow Projects, encouraged the trustees to use the same module in Towns and Counties throughout Ireland.
Hence the Ireland Sri Lanka Orphanage Fund was born.
Brian Brennan