Hi, I'm Noah Howard, and I run a Canadian business called Ark Fair Trade. I first travelled to Nepal in 1984, and I've been doing business there since 1989. After all these years, Nepal and the people we've come to know there hold a very special place in my heart.

Last week, Nepal was struck by a flood on a scale that is almost impossible to comprehend.

Imagine a 2,000-foot chunk of mountain glacier cascading down a river valley like a freight train. People had no chance. Villages are gone. Bridges and border crossings have been destroyed. Countless people are still missing, and more than 1,000 have already lost their lives. Behind every one of those numbers is a person, a family and a community. Children have lost parents, parents have lost children, and thousands of people have suddenly lost everything they had.

We are incredibly grateful that none of our Ark Nepali business family lost their lives. But their families, friends and communities have not been so fortunate. For people we have known and worked alongside for many years, this tragedy is very close to home.

Friends and colleagues I speak with regularly are already on the ground distributing aid to flood victims, and they intend to keep helping for as long as they can. But the need is enormous, and they cannot do it alone.

That's why I'm asking for your help.

Ark Nepal Relief will send every dollar donated directly to Nepal, into the hands of trusted friends and colleagues who are already buying and distributing the things people urgently need: food, clean water and shelter. Rice, cooking oil, biscuits, noodles, blankets, sleeping mats, toothpaste, tents, soap — simple everyday necessities that suddenly mean everything when everything you owned is gone.

In 2015, after the devastating earthquake in Nepal, Ark Nepal Relief organized an emergency appeal. With the incredible generosity of our community, we were able to send more than $60,000 to Nepal, all of which was used to purchase aid.

I truly hoped I would never have to make an appeal like that again. But once again, people and communities we care deeply about are facing unimaginable loss, and the need for help is urgent.

Please, if you are able, make a donation. No amount is too small. And if you can't donate, sharing this appeal with others can help too.

After nearly four decades of friendship, business and connection with Nepal, these aren't strangers on the other side of the world to us. They are our friends, our colleagues and people who have been part of Ark's story for many years.

Please help me help them.

From my heart, thank you for whatever you can do.

Thank You & Namaste,

Noah Howard

Ark Fair Trade