The territory's count for the tsunami relief fund is rising as individuals, schools and private businesses continue their support for victims of the mammoth international disaster.

It was a powerful letter from a Grade 7 student that principal Chris Wright of the Golden Horn Elementary School read aloud to his school council Tuesday. He read it again to his staff last night while contemplating fundraising efforts.

'She wrote a letter to me asking if we could do something for this because she remembers being in Phi Phi,' Wright said in an interview this morning of the student's prolonged recent visit to the region. 'It was a very, very powerful letter.'

Not far from the devastated town of Phuket in Thailand, Phi Phi was also hit hard by the deadly tsunami, the principal pointed out.

Wright said it has been decided to do a school-wide coin collection, and a letter indicating such will be going home today with students.

The group of Grade 7s who approached him the first day back at school with a request to undertake fundraising efforts, and their classmates, will also host a special hotdog luncheon and bake sale.

He said it's also his understanding a portion of the proceeds from the annual family dance scheduled for the end of the month will be donated to the cause.

For now, however, Golden Horn will try to raise as much money as possible between now and Jan. 11, the deadline the federal government has set to match any contributions from individuals and non-government agencies, Wright said.

Carey Gray of the local Red Cross branch said this morning $11,000 in individual donations came in Tuesday and Wednesday, the first two days the office was open following the holiday season.

She expects total contributions will hit $18,000 or $19,000 by the end of the day. That's in addition to the $25,000 the Yukon government announced last week, and the $1,200 or so that was to arrive courtesy of Air North from the community of Old Crow.

Gray said it was regretful the branch office was closed over the holiday season as she was out of the territory. However, she doesn't believe it will lessen what has been a tradition of Yukon compassion for other relief efforts and the Dec. 26 tsunami destruction is the worst she can remember.

Gray said she's already heard from private businesses about donations, and has learned of the fundraising efforts by individual schools.

'We expect a good push to the 11th just because the federal government is matching funds collected to the 11th, and Revenue Canada is indicating any donations between Dec. 26 and Jan. 11 people can use for their 2004 income tax.

'That is why we are open this weekend, to ensure people have the opportunity to come down if they like,' she said.

Schools, like individual Yukoners, she said, have been good fundraisers for international relief efforts.

Vice-principal Ernie Swerhun of F.H. Collins Secondary School said today students from the yearbook club donated the $200 they earned yesterday in pizza sales during the club's regularly-scheduled fundraising day to help with expenses. Domino's kicked in another $100.

Maureen McCann's Social Justice Club raised $300 in donut sales yesterday. As well, the student council collected some $70 in donations, the vice-principal pointed out, adding the fundraising theme is youth-helping-youth.

There is also an F.H. Collins sock-hop scheduled for after school on Jan. 20, the proceeds of which will go to the relief fund.

Schools across the territory have undertaken a wide variety of fundraisers, from a bake sale in Teslin to a readathon at Holy Family Elementary.

The Grade 4/5 class at the St. Elias Community School in Haines Junction has so far collected $300, while the school council for Grey Mountain Primary is prepared to match donations collected, up to $500.

The confirmed death toll of the tsunami, which hit parts of Asia following a massive earthquake, is now at 140,000.

The Red Cross branch office is located at the Sport Yukon building on Fourth Avenue in downtown Whitehorse.