In 2001, a California attorney named Eric Parkinson was given a tour of Sri Lanka’s impoverished, war-torn northeast. Eager to help the suffering people, Parkinson was asked to start an orphanage, a home for needy children and destitute senior citizens that could also offer vocational training, medical care and, most of all, a sense of hope against an uncertain future.

Parkinson established VeAhavta, a non-profit group named from the Hebrew verb meaning, “You Shall Love.” The Grace Care Center – seven beaten acres in northeastern port town Trincomalee – opened in August, 2002. That same year, a cease-fire agreement was signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the separatist group fighting for an independent homeland. The accord provided brief hope on the island that was soon lost to man, and nature; the following year, the December 26, 2004 tsunami challenged that optimism when one of history’s deadliest natural disasters took nearly 40,000 Sri Lankan lives, and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Rather than find peace, Sri Lanka found more war, and VeAhavta volunteers further committed to helping their friends. The years since the tsunami brought escalating costs, a renewed conflict and fewer sources of funding. Grace Care Center was on the verge of closing its doors, sending the children and elders to an even more uncertain future, and leaving one less source of hope in the struggling northeast.

A small, dedicated group of volunteers joined forces to keep Grace open, with friends from California, Michigan, Boston and elsewhere. Our renewed efforts are working, but there’s more to do. Please browse these pages and see if you can help our friends when they need it most.