Making Lives Better: Dine for Nepal

On Tuesday, March 17, Westminster students, faculty, and staff sat down at the table together for “Dine for Nepal,” a fundraiser to to help improve sanitation and provide educational supplies in rural villages of Nepal.  The event, hosted by SGA and Making Lives Better, provided traditional Nepali foods along with jewelry and crafts.  The event raised approximately $1,700.

Last summer, members of Westminster’s Making Lives Better club Tenzing Dhakhwa, ’15; Tripti Giri, ’15; Jack Easterly, ’14; and Utsav Malla,’15, traveled to rural towns on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal to build a biogas plant so local people would have a renewable energy source for their daily household needs and to support a sustainable environment through rainwater harvesting, solar, sanitation, and composting. The Davis Foundation provided “Projects for Peace” grant funds to enable their project.

This year, Making Lives Better members Bishesh Lal Shrestha, ’16; Suravi Shrestha, ’16; and Molly Dwyer, ’16, have applied for the competitive David Foundation  grant and are awaiting a final decision regarding funding. If approved, they will also travel to Nepal to improve sanitation in villages of Nepal by constructing eco-friendly toilets and eliminating open defecation.

Held for the second year in a row, Dine for Nepal intends to add to the Davis funds if this year’s Making Lives Better group is awarded the “Projects for Peace” grant. That money will be used for any of the project needs or add to the annual educational supplies distribution in Nepal. If the grant is not awarded, the funds raised at the dinner will be used for the goal of increasing sanitation, by the team or by any Nepali student that will go home for summer.