Asia Travel Company Assists Cyclone Relief

8 May 2008
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Asia Transpacific Journeys Responds to Crisis in Myanmar By Providing Clean Drinking WaterBOULDER, CO. - A Colorado-based travel company is assisting cyclone relief by stepping up its already-established, in-Myanmar program of producing clay water filters for clean drinking water.

Clay Water Filters

Asia Transpacific Journeys, based in Boulder, Colorado, established its non-profit Asia Transpacific Foundation to help on a year-round basis with global clean drinking water issues and is now moving immediately to distribute water filters from its Yangon facility to those in desperate need from the aftermath of the cyclone.

"Our production facility is just outside of Yangon. It sustained damage to the roof from the cyclone, but the kilns are operating and we're ready to hit the ground running," says Marilyn Downing Staff, Asia Transpacific Journeys' founder and owner. "We have three American volunteers based in Yangon. They are ramping up filter production with local staff as a response to this terrible crisis."

Yangon Filter Plant

"Our foundation is uniquely poised to provide direct relief to those without drinking water. We've operated our Clean Water Initiative for several years in Myanmar, and are among the very few authorized, licensed and legitimate operations of its kind, in a country that normally spurns foreign NGOs."

The Asia Transpacific Foundation is the charitable arm of Asia Transpacific Journeys. The foundation, established in 1996, is a 501(c) (3) registered non-profit organization, and is volunteer driven. 100% of tax-deductible donations go directly to producing and firing clay filters, that are then distributed to the local population. Each dollar buys a few bricks and some clay, a kiln is built, filters are fired, and lives are saved.

A $100 donation provides clean drinking water for 20 children. A $10,000 donation funds the construction of an entire filter production facility, which employs 20 people and can produce 100 filters a day.

"Many people feel helpless in the face of such suffering. By donating to the foundation anyone can make a real and lasting impact. Clean, drinking water can help alleviate disease and provide comfort and health to the Burmese people," says Downing Staff.

About the Asia Transpacific Foundation
Asia Transpacific Foundation is the charitable arm of Asia Transpacific Journeys, a Boulder, Colorado-based tour operator specializing in travel throughout Asia. The foundation, established in 1996, provides direct financial support to the clean water initiative, which produces and distributes water filters to orphanages, schools and local communities in Asia. It also responds to specific pleas in times of crisis, including aid to the tsunami survivors in Asia in 2004.

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