ASA makes mission of raising money for tsunami relief fund

While the Asian Student Alliance devoted most of its fall-semester activities to social events… While the Asian Student Alliance devoted most of its fall-semester activities to social events for the Pitt’s Asian community, it will undertake a different mission in the spring.

According to Greg Eugenio, the group’s president, ASA will continue its tsunami relief efforts into this semester, hoping to aid the victims of the Dec. 26 natural disaster that killed some 150,000 people from Asia to Africa.

ASA’s first charitable effort, the Tsunami Victims Benefit, will end today. For the past week, the group has tabled for donations in the Schenley Cafe in the William Pitt Union.

Eugenio said that all donations will go to UNICEF, because approximately one-third of the tsunami victims were children. The ASA could not report exactly how much money had been collected, but Ami Hobbes, ASA’s public relations chair, said that many people were showing up and chipping in.

Formally known as the Asian Student Association, the ASA was finally granted governance status in 2001 after the five student governments that it currently represents decided they needed a larger voice.

“We represent these people, we don’t govern them,” Eugenio said. “We want to be recognized as a voice for the Asian American Community.”

While many members of the ASA are Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Indian, a large part of the group is made up of non-Asian students who are interested in the cultures.

Hobbes said the idea to help out the tsunami victims was on everyone’s mind.

“This tragedy concerns everyone, but considering our group, it concerns us more,” he said, adding that everyone felt the need to help out.

This event was one of the first of the relief efforts that ASA has organized. On Jan. 18, the group will sponsor a vigil for the tsunami victims on the Towers terrace. ASA will also support Dat Phan, the winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” who will come to David Lawrence Hall on Jan. 27, as well as Penn Masala, the nation’s premier Hindi a cappella group, which will appear at Pitt on Feb. 5. Both events will accept donations before and after the shows.