Restore Tonga - Volcanic Tsunami Relief

Bears Without Borders  is organizing this fundraiser through our fiscal sponsor Menlo Atherton High School Football Association.  


Please help us restore Tonga…
- It takes a village!

Out in the Pacific Ocean near Fiji and Samoa is a beautiful archipelago made up of 169 islands that are the Kingdom of Tonga. On Saturday, Jan 15  an undersea volcano erupted, billowing tons of ash into the air and causing tsunami waves up to 49 feet in height. The ash and the tsunami hit the main island of Tongatapu and several smaller outer islands. These beautiful islands are now covered in thick blankets of ash, the air quality is unhealthy, and many structures have been destroyed. Some of the smaller islands have been completely destroyed - buildings, water, and agriculture. The main island has lost many structures, is scarce in clean drinking water, agriculture and most communications since the fiber optic cable has been damaged. It will take months and in some cases years to repair the damage to buildings and crops. It will take weeks to restore full communications, repair runways and docks so that our families and friends have clean drinking water, medical supplies and sufficient food.  These islands will be beautiful once again in time… but right now, the Tongan people need our help to rebuild and restore their livelihoods.  

Tonga is not just a beautiful place, it has a beautiful culture. The people live simply and off of the land. Ofa (love), laughter, joy, community, and song fill the air. Tongans thrive on the richness of culture, family, and friends. They are warm, welcoming and generous. If you have encountered the large Polynesian (Tongan, Samoan and Fijian) community here in the Bay Area, you know first hand.  

Over the past 5 years, Bears Without Borders, which focuses on “Connecting Cultures Through Service and Relationships" in the Bay Area and abroad, has traveled with Menlo-Atherton students, alumni and staff to Tonga. In Tonga, the participants have worked with an elementary and middle school that needed major renovation from damages caused by Cyclone Gita in 2017. Throughout the program, an important cultural exchange takes place and deep friendships are formed. Throughout 2020-2021 we collected and shipped over 1,000 books for schools across the island. Tonga has impacted our lives in such a huge way, we are moved to pull together our resources to help the best we can. 

While we patiently wait for news from our friends, families and the young students with whom we are connected, we have set a goal to fund items that are most needed as identified by our team on the ground in Tonga when communication is restored. In the meantime, we are creating partnerships with organizations that we can support with funds to deliver water, medical supplies and food.

We will continue to post updates from Tonga here and on our instagram site @bearswithoutborders.

Bears Without Borders is fiscally sponsored by the M-A Football Association and every gift is tax deductible.

Please share this post and join our local village in helping to provide much needed aid and assistance to our students who are so far away but who are always in our hearts here at home.  

On behalf of all of us at Bears Without Borders, Malo ‘aupito. Thank you.