LIONS clubs in York and North Yorkshire are helping to raise £20,000 to build a village in tsunami-stricken Sri Lanka.

The project is one of many being tackled by Lions District 105C, which covers clubs in Yorkshire and north Derbyshire.

Members also want to fund an extension to a Lions-run orphanage, supply 8,000 children with school uniforms and equipment and set up a temporary maternity hospital.

The district has already sent £7,500 to Sri Lanka to help the country's three Lions districts with their work building toilet blocks and providing food. Further tens of thousands of pounds have also been pledged for their efforts.

District governor George Bennett, who is member of Minster Lions, said: "Every day, the Lions are out there, helping those in need."

One of Mr Bennett's predecessors, Gordon Lazenby, pictured, is currently in Sri Lanka, combining a business trip with a fact-finding mission for the Lions.

He has been visiting different parts of the devastated island with local Lions groups to see what work has been taking place and what needs to be done, drawing up a "Shopping List of Hope".

Mr Lazenby, who visited India earlier this month, said: "The people are so shocked and traumatised. They are determined to rebuild, but they need help desperately."

Anyone wishing to make a donation to help the work of the Lions in Sri Lanka should phone George Bennett on 01904 705044 or Gordon Harrison on 01904 750305.

Meanwhile, Christian Aid Action Group local organiser Barry Male, of Stockholm Close, York, is preparing to fly to Sri Lanka next week with a group of the organisation's supporters.

The trip, which was organised before the tsunami disaster, is being funded by the participants and will allow them to see first-hand how some of the money they have raised is helping the long term development of Sri Lankan communities.

Christian Aid is one of the 12 aid agencies that make up the Disasters Emergency Committee, which has collected more than £250 million for its tsunami appeal.

Mr Male said: "We have been preparing for this trip for several months and it is now even more important that we are able to see how life goes on in a country after such a devastating event as the tsunami. Even while the world's attention is on the coastal region, we cannot forget the daily struggle of those living in other parts of the island, nor the trauma they suffer as a result of the long years of civil war."

The group will meet the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, in Colombo, and visit four of Christian Aid's other partner organisations working with community groups in the centre and the north-west of the island.

How to make a donation...

Donations to the York Aid appeal can be made in person at the City Finance Office, in Library Square, between 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Cash, cheques and postal orders, and debit card payments will be accepted.

Alternatively, you can send a cheque or postal order, made payable to City of York Council, to: City Finance Office, Library Square, York, YO1 7DU.

Please write Disaster Appeal on the back. Do not send cash.

Any interest accrued from donations will also go to the appeal.

Updated: 10:20 Thursday, January 27, 2005