David DeCandia flipped through photographs of an orphanage on his computer screen. A bag of sweetened, wild blueberries sat nearby on his desk, amid papers and tea samples from countries like India, Japan and Sri Lanka.

"I do have a fondness for Sri Lanka," he said from behind his desk at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's processing plant in Camarillo. "I mean, I really love the country. It's such a beautiful place, and the people are fantastic."

More than a year and $68,200 later, DeCandia this spring got to see first-hand the fruits of his work and others' generosity. Along with several members of Coffee Bean's senior management team, DeCandia visited the Jeevanie Children's Home in Moratuvwa, where 40 girls live in an orphanage supported by the Aid Lanka Kids Foundation.

The foundation was set up after DeCandia and friend and colleague Sanje Widyaratne, CEO of a tea manufacturing company in Texas, discussed ways to help the country after the tsunami. Widyaratne also is an owner of Bogawantalawa Tea Estates in Sri Lanka, which supplies Coffee Bean and other U.S. companies, so he provided knowledge of the local area, including finding the orphanage.

Churches, schools and individuals in Ventura County donated to the foundation, DeCandia said, and Coffee Bean gave $40,000 to the cause. About $25,000 was used to upgrade the orphanage, which is operated by a Franciscan nun, and the rest is being used for healthcare costs and education, DeCandia said.

"I could finally touch it and see it. For a long time, I could only talk to people about it, and I knew that once I had seen it and had been there, it would take on a whole different meaning," he said. "I've been there, and this is completely the right thing to be doing."

Funding an existing orphanage wasn't the original plan, DeCandia said, but as Sri Lanka began to rebuild, things became chaotic, and the foundation had to be flexible.

At first, the foundation's directors thought that they would use the donations to build a facility where young people could be cared for and learn some skills. But skyrocketing construction costs made that plan impractical.

DeCandia agreed. "We have a tendency, all of us, to forget stuff and move on. But these girls are still there," he said. "I want to try to focus less on this being a tsunami issue and more on just doing the right thing."

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