Hundreds of Butler County residents and businesses have responded to a call by the Butler Rotary Club to help tsunami victims in southeast Asia by donating $65,000 so far

Earlier this month, the club organized its 1,000 Points of Caring campaign, which asks residents to give $100 per household, or as much as people can afford to contribute.

The huge tidal wave struck on Dec. 26, and the death toll so far is more than 162,000.

The Rotary Club is asking county residents to join with millions of other people worldwide to help raise money for these tsunami victims.

Ron Vodenichar, general manager of the Butler Eagle and a past president of the club, and past Rotary district governor Dale Pinkerton of Butler, came up with a plan to ask 1,000 donors to contribute $100 or more each to the relief aid.Vodenichar said the pair got the idea based on former President George H. W. Bush’s idea of 1,000 Points of Light in 1992.“Dale and I have been longtime fund raisers for the Rotary,” Vodenichar said. “We got together and decided to try and raise money for the victims.”“This is beyond anything we can imagine,” Pinkerton said. “There are people that can’t find their families.”Vodenichar and Pinkerton are co-chairmen for the committee to help raise the money. Checks should be made out to the Butler Rotary Foundation and mailed to the foundation at P.O. Box 1081, Butler, PA 16003.Pinkerton said many people want to help but often don’t know who to give to.“We’ll actually take the money there, and it all will go to help children,” he said.He said one man said his family talked about giving $100, but realized they could give more. They ended up making a $500 donation.

Pinkerton pointed out that Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, donated all of the money he earned from his first football playoff game to the tsunami relief effort.That is an example, Pinkerton said, that people need to realize others will make donations, and they can do it too, Pinkerton said.“I’ve got a feeling we’re going to make it,” he said of reaching the goal of 1,000 donations at $100 each.Robert Smith, club president, said it is important for business owners in the county to step forward and help with the relief effort.“This program is a perfect example of why there is a Rotary International,” Smith said. “Dale and Ron are geniuses when it comes to putting things like this together, and I have no doubt that it will be successful.”Vodenichar said this fund-raising campaign is occurring at an appropriate time because Rotary International is marking its 100th anniversary this year.The campaign will run through the end of January, and the Eagle is printing a list of people who contribute $100 or more.“We are doing this because we have so much and are able to do so many things,” Pinkerton said. “And those people lost so much.”For information, call club secretary Peter Richdale at 724-482-2916.