A CHARITY formed in late 2005 by young people who met each other on online chat sites has so far raised more than K5 million in donations for orphanages and other worthy causes, the group said last week.

Ko Aung Myo Thu, 21, who helped to set up the Online Donation Group, said one of its most satisfying achievements had been making young people more willing to give donations.

“When the group started it was hard to raise money because young people were not interested in making donations,” Ko Aung Myo Thu said.

“But now, many young people are interested in making donations,” he said. “We are so glad about this because as the number of young people who give donations grows, the more help we can give to worthy causes.”

Ko Aung Myo Thu said the support shown for the group meant that it was able to meet donation targets even though most of its members and supporters were students and employees with little money to spare.

He said the group had about 30 members aged between 17 and 25 when it was formed and its membership has since grown to about 150.

Despite its name, the group collects donations at venues popular with young people, such as the Dagon Centre and Café Aroma branches, rather than online.

The idea for the group came in late 2005 when some young people who enjoyed chatting online decided to collect donations for a ceremony to offer robes to monks.

The success of that fund-raising effort led to the formation of the Online Donation Group and its first campaign enabled it to donate 1000 medicine packages and 100 blankets to victims of a fire in Hlaing Tharyar township in December 2005, Ko Aung Myo Thu said.

The group has since given 17 donations, totalling more than K5 million, to orphanages, hospitals, monasteries and pagodas and for religious ceremonies, said a member of the group, Ko Han Thaw Zay, 32.

Some of the donations are arranged in response to requests and some were decided by the group, said Ko Han Thaw Zay.

“We visit places to which we want to donate and then decide how much to give,” he said.

The next donations by the group will be made to orphanages at Hmawbi and Hlegu on the full moon day of Waso, which marks the start of the three-month period known as Buddhist Lent and falls this year on July 29.

The group also plans to mark Waso by offering robes to monks.

The group may be contacted at onlinedonation @gmail.com.