Members of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 who were deployed to Nepal following the earthquake included (rear from left) Elizabeth Chaney and rescue dog Ventoux, planning manager John Morrison and Ryland Chapman. They joined members of Meekha Mathema’s fifth grade class from Hunters Woods Elementary School in Reston in the Walk for Nepal earthquake victims: (front from left) Meekha Mathema, Annabel Lee, Summer Jakubowski, Caelin Rowell, Catherine Pak, Jake Hopp, Siddharth Kairpadi, Colin Simpson, Lauren Hannafin and Lindsey McNulty. Photo by Tim Peterson.
When the 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal in April this year, Madhu and Yashoda Bhandari of Lorton felt the shocks in their United States home. Both are originally from the Nuwakot district, one that was hit violently. Though Madhu’s brothers and father live in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and were unharmed, “It was very painful,” he said, of seeing the wreckage in the area of his roots. “With monsoon season, they need to have something.”
“We have a heavy heart,” Madhu’s wife Yashoda said. “Every minute you want to do something. We’re here to support.”
The couple were two of over 200 people who came out early Sunday morning, June 7, as part of the Walk for Nepal fundraiser at Burke Lake Park.
Meekha Mathema, a fifth grade teacher in the Advanced Academic Program at Hunters Woods Elementary School in Reston helped organize the event.
“We had to do something,” she said, “a way we could heal. I tried to think of a way I could include children, seniors.”
Mathema goes walking at Burke Lake Park every weekend; ultimately she decided it was the perfect place. “It has a nice trail for all of us,” she said.
Beginning close to 8 a.m. walkers chose either a one-mile course or the entire loop of Burke Lake -- close to five miles.
OVER 200 PEOPLE registered for the walk and even more non-walking donors joined the cause. All told, Mathema estimated the event raised between $7-$8,000.
A partnership between her late father’s humanitarian nongovernmental organization the Daya Foundation and the United Nations-affiliated International Association for Human Values allows money donated from the walk to have an instant impact.
Madhu Kadari, a volunteer with the International Association for Human Values who spoke before the walk, said some of the money raised will help fund building temporary shelters for victims of the earthquake. Three hundred shelters are planned, costing $150 each.
Other International Association for Human Values efforts, with funding of around $62 million so far, include relief supplies, community shelters that can act as vocational training centers, solar lamps and trauma relief.
“There’s a lot of grief and anxiety,” Kadari said, explaining the importance of meditation and breathing techniques being taught at relief camps. “The first thing is to get out of the mental trauma.”
Also before the walk, Narayan Mainali, Minister Counselor from the embassy of Nepal, thanked the United States Congress for its support of the country in crisis. “Nepal has so many helping hands,” he said.
In addition to walking, Mainali encouraged walkers to visit Nepal and support the tourist economy, for business owners to consider expanding into Nepal and buying the country’s crafts and carpets.
JOHN MORRISON, a planning manager with Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1, was among the group that was deployed to Nepal as part of the international relief effort. He was recognized before the walk along with fellow Task Force 1 members Elizabeth Chaney, rescue dog Ventoux, and Ryland Chapman. “We were in awe of the Nepalese people,” Morrison said.
Ramya Griddahuri of Herndon is in Mathema’s fifth grade class. “Where Nepal has been hit, it’s scary for them,” she said. “I want to help. Doing this walk, I know that I’m helping people.”
For more information on the Daya Foundation, visit dayafoundation.org/np, for the International Association for Human Values, visit www.iahv.org.