Source: The Northwest Herald

http://www.nwherald.com/MainSection/282486472479365.php

On January 28, 2005 The Northwest Herald reported, "A Buddhist monk in Crystal Lake, [Illinois], [Sujatha] Peradeniye returned Jan. 20 to the place where he grew up. He brought about $30,000 in local donations, hoping in some way to help restore what the tsunami devoured. The devastation left behind by the Dec. 26 disaster no longer fills the front page, but it is as real as the day it happened to those with lives to rebuild and friends and family to mourn. Peradeniye knows that the healing could take years, and life in Sri Lanka might never be the same again... A Buddhist monk since age 11, Peradeniye left his hometown of Kandy, Sri Lanka, in his early 20s to travel to the United States. He felt called to share the teachings of Buddhism with the American people. His travels eventually brought him to Crystal Lake, where he enrolled in psychology classes at McHenry County College and started the Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple."