Written by Denise Attwood and Satish Shrestha
At the heart of CCF are partnerships—our Conscious Connections—that are powerful and through which our impact is multiplied. We are Nepali-led because the needs are best understood by its local people. CCF’s work is rooted in relationships built over more than four decades. Through collaborative partnerships, CCF brings input and resources while ensuring accountability and impact.
On August 26, 2026, a devastating flood swept through Tibet and Nepal causing massive destruction and death from its origin in Tibet down through the Trishuli river watershed and beyond. Although CCF is not principally a disaster relief organization, we have experience in dealing with disasters in Nepal. With our strong partnerships on the ground in Nepal and the incredible assistance of our sister nonprofit Conscious Connections Nepal (CCN) we have the ability to assess who is working in the impacted areas, who knows the communities, and who can distribute goods effectively and efficiently to those in need.
Starting on August 26, CCF/CCN provided, at the request of the non-profit organization Hami Nepal, 245 reusable menstrual hygiene kits for distribution in the impacted areas. On August 28, CCF provided funding to CCN to fulfill some of the immediate needs of local relief organizations. We will continue to do our part to fill the gaps in what is not being provided, for the short term. But, the reality is that the really hard work comes after all of the aid groups have gone and the world has turned their attention to the next disaster. And so we are assessing the strengths and connections that CCF/CCN have and talking with those impacted to try to understand how we can provide support as well as preventive measures for these impacted families and communities into the future.
CCF is committed to being there for the long haul. We have worked in Nepal for 40 years and the well-being of that country and her amazing people is at the base of all that we do. We have asked our good friend Satish Shrestha to write a blog post so that you can fully appreciate how deeply the survivors of this tragedy have been impacted and the work that lies ahead.
Education was Satish Shrestha's way out of poverty growing up in Nepal. Now he leads a data and applications team serving universities and colleges across North America. A physics degree taught him how the physical world actually works; graduate degrees in business and leadership taught him how people actually do. A triple Zag with fifteen years in higher-ed tech, he uses both to simplify administrative burdens for students. For just as long, he's also been making micro-loans through Kiva to back students on the other side of the world. — Denise
Beyond the First Week by Satish Shrestha
Numerous friends have reached out to me since the massive flooding hit Nepal last Wednesday. As of today, the death toll has surpassed 500 and continues to rise. Thousands are displaced. For four days, I couldn’t bring myself to respond, not because I didn’t care, but because I was in shock, and honestly, I didn’t know what good sending money right away would actually do.
So instead of reacting, I reached out. I spent those four days talking to friends, family, and people in my network who understand disasters like this far better than I do.
One of those conversations changed how I’m thinking about this entirely.
A childhood friend of mine grew up in Thuman, a village that neighbors Syabru Besi and Timure - two of the devastated areas. Though most of her family is now in Kathmandu or abroad, many of her relatives still live in the region, and her family has stopped counting how many people they’ve lost. Every day brings news of someone else gone. The grief and stress in her community are constant and compounding.
If I’m in shock from thousands of miles away, I can’t fully imagine what she and her family are living through right now.
My friend’s background is in community service and public health. While I was still in high school trying to figure out how to make a difference in the world, she was already out there doing it, partnering with local nonprofits in her mountain village.
So I asked her the only question that mattered: What is the right thing to do right now?
Her answer: Look past the first few weeks.
Here’s what she told me, and it reframed everything:
Everyone wants to help in the first few weeks after a disaster. That instinct is good and meaningful, but the real, sustained need begins after people survive. The people who are gone are gone. The people left behind are the ones carrying the stress, the trauma, and the burden of rebuilding.
One of the most urgent and overlooked needs: countless adults who died in this disaster have left behind young children. These kids didn’t just lose their parents, they’re now at risk of losing their path to an education and, with it, their future. In a country like Nepal, education isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the clearest route to long-term stability and opportunity.
Money and fundraising matter. But the real question is: how do we mobilize that money for lasting impact, not just immediate relief?
Two ways to help meaningfully:
Fund education for the children left behind. By some good fortune, I’m connected to a local nonprofit here in Spokane, Conscious Connections Foundation, that has spent years supporting women’s empowerment and education in Nepal. That mission aligns with the nonprofits my friend has worked with and led in Nepal, and it’s exactly what she pointed me toward. Directing resources toward keeping these orphaned children in school is one of the most concrete, lasting things we can do right now.
Build awareness that outlasts the news cycle. Disasters like this trend for a few days and then disappear from view, especially for people in the Global North, far removed from the daily reality on the ground. We need sustained partnerships between organizations here in North America and communities in Nepal, so that young people in the West understand that their choices and their giving have real, lasting impact on people’s lives half a world away.
This is the call. I’m not writing this to ask for a one-time donation and move on. I’m asking you to do two things:
Support education funding for children who lost parents or homes in this flood, not just emergency relief, but their path forward. Please donate here:
Help build lasting awareness, not a 48-hour news cycle. Talk about it. Share it. Push the organizations and people around you to think past this week.
The immediate crisis will fade from headlines soon. The children left behind will still be here, still needing a way forward. That’s where we come in.
If this moves you, don’t just feel it — act on it. Reach out, ask how you can help, and commit to staying engaged past the point where it’s easy to look away.— Satish
Where We Go From Here
On CCF/CCN’s behalf, please know that our disaster-based work will be carefully reviewed by CCF’s Board of Directors, discussed with CCN and our partners in Nepal, and assessed for the greatest long-term impact. We will always be mindful of donors’ wishes and transparency will be our priority. You can see our guidelines for CCF emergency funding on our website.
In early 2026, CCF also started to explore ways that we can provide assistance for Women impacted by Climate Change. Now seems the time to expand this work. These disasters are not going away and are a direct result of the warming of our beloved planet. They are impacting those who contribute the least to that warming. As such we at CCF/CCN believe that we not only have to care for those impacted but also have to bring awareness and education to those of us in the Global North as to how our actions and policies impact the entire world.
So, we leave you with this forceful and poignant quote by our partner, Sristhi Bajracharya, stated after the floods….
“Global warming is real. Climate change is happening now.
It is not a distant threat or a problem for future generations. It is happening in our mountains, our rivers, our villages, and our homes. This is not just about climate. It is about people, lives, homes, livelihoods, and our future.
Let us not wait until the next disaster to acknowledge it. The world must act—and it must act now.”