Spring Break
Students raise $1500 of aid in first stage of Revive Mumbai campaign
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 1/13/09
Posted online at 5:54 AM EST on 1/13/09
A group of seven Brandeis students has raised $1500 as part of the Revive Mumbai initiative in response to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to Naman Pugalia '09, an Indian student who is a resident of South Mumbai and who has spearheaded the initiative.
During the attacks, gunmen killed 173 people and injured 308 after occupying several upscale hotels frequented by Western tourists over the Thanksgiving weekend. The terrorists also attacked the Nariman House, a Chabad Lubavitch Jewish center in the Colaba section of Mumbai, killing Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah after they and others were held hostage. Their two-year-old son Moshe was able to be rescued from the building, which was severely damaged in the attack.
The students aim to help reconstruct the damaged building of the Chabad House, facilitate visits of Brandeis students to the region and establish a scholarship for underprivileged students from the area in the name of the Holtzbergs. The group has also been cooperating with students at New York University to raise money for the efforts.
Pugalia spent 20 days in India to lay the foundation for the plans over break, he wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Pugalia wrote that over winter break he met with Rabbi Dov Goldberg in India, who took over the Nariman House after the death of the Holtzbergs. Goldberg told him that the plans for the rebuilding effort are being run by the Chabad headquarters in New York City. Pugalia wrote that the Brandeis group would contact the New York headquarters through Rabbi Peretz Chein in Waltham.
"I am hoping we can set up something for Brandeis students who are interested in coming to Mumbai in order to help with reconstruction efforts," Pugalia wrote. He added that he brought over a banner with signatures from Brandeis community members to be hung in the new Chabad house.
Pugalia wrote that the group had collected $1,500 so far. Originally envisioned as funds in support for families of deceased security forces who responded to the attacks, he wrote that the funds would be donated to the scholarship since the state and central governments have already provided funds in support of such families. He also met with officials from the U.S. Embassy to discuss the Revive Mumbai effort as well as the Brandeis-India Initiative, a program initiated by the Office of the Global Affairs to strengthen the University's relationship with India, wrote Pugalia. He wrote that the U.S. Embassy officials agreed to assist the group in the process of looking for donors for the scholarship. Pugalia wrote that the group intends to work this spring on raising the $50,000 in capital the students have budgeted for the scholarship.
During the attacks, gunmen killed 173 people and injured 308 after occupying several upscale hotels frequented by Western tourists over the Thanksgiving weekend. The terrorists also attacked the Nariman House, a Chabad Lubavitch Jewish center in the Colaba section of Mumbai, killing Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah after they and others were held hostage. Their two-year-old son Moshe was able to be rescued from the building, which was severely damaged in the attack.
The students aim to help reconstruct the damaged building of the Chabad House, facilitate visits of Brandeis students to the region and establish a scholarship for underprivileged students from the area in the name of the Holtzbergs. The group has also been cooperating with students at New York University to raise money for the efforts.
Pugalia spent 20 days in India to lay the foundation for the plans over break, he wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Pugalia wrote that over winter break he met with Rabbi Dov Goldberg in India, who took over the Nariman House after the death of the Holtzbergs. Goldberg told him that the plans for the rebuilding effort are being run by the Chabad headquarters in New York City. Pugalia wrote that the Brandeis group would contact the New York headquarters through Rabbi Peretz Chein in Waltham.
"I am hoping we can set up something for Brandeis students who are interested in coming to Mumbai in order to help with reconstruction efforts," Pugalia wrote. He added that he brought over a banner with signatures from Brandeis community members to be hung in the new Chabad house.
Pugalia wrote that the group had collected $1,500 so far. Originally envisioned as funds in support for families of deceased security forces who responded to the attacks, he wrote that the funds would be donated to the scholarship since the state and central governments have already provided funds in support of such families. He also met with officials from the U.S. Embassy to discuss the Revive Mumbai effort as well as the Brandeis-India Initiative, a program initiated by the Office of the Global Affairs to strengthen the University's relationship with India, wrote Pugalia. He wrote that the U.S. Embassy officials agreed to assist the group in the process of looking for donors for the scholarship. Pugalia wrote that the group intends to work this spring on raising the $50,000 in capital the students have budgeted for the scholarship.
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