Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief International, U.S.A. visited the Sarvodaya Headquarters on 26th April 2005 to meet with Sarvodaya staff to plan out long term collaboration between the two organizations. Mr.Tighe was accompanied by Mr.Damon N. Taugher, Programme Officer and Mrs.Fernando, Sri Lanka Representative of Direct Relief.
Direct Relief donated a large quantity of specifically requested medical supplies days after Tsunami stuck which were used in the emergency medical relief programme of Sarvodaya.
Direct Relief International is a U.S. non-profie organization founded in 1948 (http://www.directrelief.org). Its mission is to provide ongoing medical assistance in the form of medical commodity donations to health institutions and projects worldwide.
Direct Relief has invited Dr.Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director of Sarvodaya to participate in its shareholders conference scheduled to be held in Santa Barbara, California, towards the end of this month. Dr.Ariyaratne will make a presentation on the Tsunami recovery work of Sarvodaya at this gathering.
Both Direct Relief and Sarvodaya have been recommended charities by Google and Thomas and Vinya took the opportunity to pay their gratitude to Google by posing for a photo wearing Google caps.
Ms.Humaira Mussammil of the Field Operations Division explaining the Sarvodaya Tsunami Recovery Programme to Mr.Tighe.