Dinner to launch ‘Grace’ book
Evening to raise funds for friends

Four years ago, Sri Lanka was a frequent topic for many in southeast Michigan.
In the Ann Arbor Area, Dr. Naresh Gunaratnam and the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital community planned a tsunami-inspired relief mission that, in February 2005, sent doctors, nurses and others to the Grace Care Center orphanage in Trincomalee. Nearby, a community fund-raising campaign called “South Lyon to Sri Lanka” dedicated six months’ worth of benefits large and small to assist Grace.

Four years later, the commitment continues, and will be celebrated with a “celebrity waiter” dinner for the South Lyon community, VeAhavta volunteers and friends to help raise funds during this critical time of need.  “A Night of Grace,” will also celebrate the release of “But For the Grace: Profiles in Peace From a Nation at War,” by James A. Mitchell, a book chronicling the orphanage, and what it has survived. Mitchell, a reporter from the South Lyon Herald newspaper, traveled with that post-tsunami team of volunteers, one of four visits he made to Trinco to research “But For the Grace.” (Information on purchasing the book will soon be available on www.you-shall-love.org). The “Night of Grace” on Saturday, April 25 will feature “celebrity waiters,” responsible for filling a table of six and serving friends, family or colleagues. A friendly competition will vie for the most “tips” collected, all of which will benefit Grace.

Please help us celebrate this publication, which tells the story of our amazing friends at Grace, and their equally amazing American supporters.

In a foreword, Paul Harris, BBC war correspondent and author of two books on Sri Lanka, describes the book’s portrayal of the orphanage:

“The author writes affectionately, and not a little movingly, about the extraordinary work and achievements at the Grace Care Center. The difficulties of working in the area have meant that it has been largely abandoned by the agencies of outside assistance and this book tells a real success story for a change.”

For information on how to participate in the dinner or send a donation, send an email to info@you-shall-love.org or click here.