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Article: TSUNAMI RELIEF IN THE WEST METRO; A heart is where the home is; A year after a tsunami struck her hometown in Sri Lanka, a Minnetonka resident returns to help.(WEST)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- January 18, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Ben Steverman; Staff Writer
On the other side of the world, 50 families left homeless by a devastating tsunami are moving from tents to a new housing development called, appropriately, "Minnesota village."
The village's name honors the efforts of Direct Tsunami Relief, a charity started in Minnetonka. The development is just outside the coastal city of Weligama, Sri Lanka, the hometown of Minnetonka resident Chandrani Alwis.
Direct Tsunami Relief started as an informal effort by Alwis and her friends, neighbors and family in Minnesota to send money to her hometown after the tsunami killed 400 and left 8,000 homeless in Weligama. But ...