First I would like to again thank all of you for the overwhelming support we are receiving for our relief efforts. On Monday, Food for Life Global will be wiring $7000 USD directly to our FFL teams in Sri Lanka and India. This is the result of the accumulated donations we have received through PayPal over the last 4 days. 100% of all the donations we receive for the Tsunami Relief effort are being sent. Not one penny is being used for our administration.

Next week we should also start receiving a significant amount of donations from people who have sent checks directly to Food for Life Global, or through the web sites of JustGive and Network for Good, both of which are prominently displaying Food for Life on their hunger relief pages.

For those of you that are not in a position to donate money at this time, we ask that you visit our Volunteer Page, where you will find practical ways that you can help this important relief effort.

For the webmasters among you, we humbly ask that you place this banner on your web site with a link to our home page (www.ffl.org ).

Finally, here is the latest information that we have at this time on the progress of Food for Life in Sri Lanka and India. We are still trying to gather information on FFL's efforts in other regions.

Sri Lanka Report

Hare Krishna Food for Life, the world’s largest vegetarian food relief, is doing its part to alleviate the suffering of Tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka.

Food for Life is currently serving more than 10,000 freshly cooked vegetarian meals per day and is the only aid organization independently providing freshly cooked meals, consisting of rice, dhal and vegetables, directly to the victims in Sri Lanka and India.

According to local newspaper reports, the Government agencies have concentrated their efforts on easily accessible areas, and are slow to help the many thousands of people starving in remote areas. Even then, only dry rations are been distributed and the victims are complaining that these rations are not “their kind of food” or that they don’t have facilities to cook.

Food for Life Sri Lanka is also providing shelter to hundreds of orphans at their Bhaktivedanta Children's Home – Gokulam with food, education, medical care and other clothing. For further information about this orphanage www.gokulam.org.

Chennai, India Report

At this hour, our volunteers are on the ground delivering free food, aid and assistance. We need your support at this very critical hour. Relief activities are going on from Monday, 27th December onwards. We started with distribution of hot kichari (a wholesome food made of rice / mung dahl and vegetables), variety rice and pongal (South Indian delicacy). Though there are many other organizations and the government distributing food packets -people preferred our hot kichari / pongal as the packed food had distasteful smell.

Most of the hutments have been washed with their belongings and thousands are stranded on the streets. People have taken shelter in nearby schools and temples.

In such a situation with millions of displaced people suffering in need of food and clothing it seems an impossible task, but we should not let this discourage us. Let every one of us help in whatever little way we can.

You can see some photos of Food for Life in Chennai, here.

Thank you for your friendship.

On behalf of all the Food for Life volunteers, we hope this meets you all the in the best of health. Happy New Year!