Lambda raises funds for Peru quake victims – Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.

Group raises funds for Peru quake victims

Friday, August 24, 2007

By KAREN KELLER, HERALD NEWS

CLIFTON – People gathered with a Hispanic fraternity Thursday night in the backyard of a Broad Street home to raise money for those affected by the massive Aug. 15 earthquake near Lima, Peru.

The event, sponsored by Lambda Theta Phi, was designed to attract as many as 200 people, with a goal of raising $10,000, said Ray Lago, who organized the event.

Lago, a founder of the fraternity at Kean University in 1975, said the money will be used to purchase food, water, clothing and other day-to-day essentials to aid those devastated by the magnitude-8 earthquake.

Lago said that over the next two weeks he plans to personally deliver the supplies directly to Peruvian victims.

Large relief organizations are taking too long to get aid to the stricken South American country, he said “I know there’s a lot of causes going around — a lot of crooked ones,” Pahlevi Garcia, 21, a biology major at Kean University, and a fraternity member. “It’s good to know we’re running a good, honest charity.”

Another guest said he was proud his fraternity is representative and is sensitive to what is taking place in all Latin American countries.

“We’re trying to make us Latinos better as a whole, to strive for the future,” said Julian Del Pino, 22, who is Cuban and majors in economics at Rutgers University.

The Thursday night gathering was the first large fundraising effort held in New Jersey for Peruvian earthquake victims, said Daniel Jara, Peruvian-American president of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Most fundraisers conducted over the past week have been through the Peruvian American National Roundtable — a nonprofit organization, and the Peruvian Consulate in Paterson, Jara said earlier Thursday.

“(Victims are) still sleeping outside,” said Bill Portocarrero, owner of the Broad Street home and a Peruvian-American who grew up in Passaic and owns a mortgage company.

Lambda Theta Phi has held fundraisers since 1975 to benefit victims of major disasters in the U.S. and Latin America, and counts Sen. Bob Menendez, D-Hoboken, as a fraternity member, Lago said.

Paterson and Passaic have the highest concentration of Peruvian-Americans in the United States, with a combined population of 65,000 living in those cities, according to Jara.

New Jersey is home to about 240,000 Peruvians, despite the 2000 U.S. Census reporting about 35,000, he said.

Jara said when he came to Paterson in 1964, only about 30 Peruvian families were living there.
Now about 45 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses in Paterson are operated by Peruvians, he added.

The earthquake killed at least 510 people and left some 1,500 injured or homeless in Peru. Portocarrero believes the death toll is far greater than what has been reported.
“They’re off by a lot,” he said.

Reach Karen Keller at 973-569-7158 or .