AN ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE restaurant is doing its bit to help those caught up in the Nepal catastrophe.
After several staff members at Lily’s saw an area of their homeland destroyed by a glacier collapse – which has been described as an inland tsunami – they quickly called relatives to make sure they were safe.
Thankfully, none have been caught up in the flash flood disaster in the region closest to the border with Tibet.
But as rescue efforts continue, with people being pulled from under the ground more than a week afterwards, staff at the Oldham Road establishment have decided to do their bit to help.
On Monday, September 14, they will be volunteering their time and skills for a buffet event, at which people can pay what they can and all proceeds will go to a charity directly helping their aid effort.
Conversations are taking place with Nepal’s embassy as the Nepal Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund is most likely.
And it will be cash only, so every penny paid will go direct to the cause.
“Several members of our staff come from Nepal and have families there,” said Parul Chauhan, of Lily’s.
“Thankfully, they’ve not been affected but it’s just heartbreaking to see the people that have it,
“Just seeing that happen in their homeland meant we had to do something.
“All the members phoned their relatives immediately to make sure they’re all right, but there was still a tense wait.
“We had a discussion about ideas and it was actually my nephew, Prital Sachdev, who came up with the buffet.
“We may be thousands of miles away and it may only seem a small thing, but we saw the complete devastation.
“We’ve got to do something. Whatever we can do, we do it.”
Lily’s, which does not normally open on Mondays, will start serving from noon and will do so for the entire afternoon, until about 6pm.
And Parul added she hopes their little but can be part of a much bigger effort to help those caught up by catastrophe.
She told The Correspondent: “The more we can raise, the more we can help.
“And we want to know it is going directly to the people that are affected. We asked the staff to look into what charities are operating there.
“Our buffet is based on the ‘Pay what you want’ principle, so people can decide what they would like to contribute towards the appeal.
“But we are truly hoping that this will help the people affected by this tragedy even a small way.”