DAY TO DAY...
Projects in Asia and fund raising anywhere
The kids help in their
kitchen,
but play with my food.
Austere but sweet.
Flowers and bamboo bunkhouse.
Inside boys bunkhouse with
very old mattresses. New ones are on the way from us!
Papaya, okra, beans
and loofah in the garden.
A loofah sponge is not
from the sea. It's a squash!
Big banana bloom,
small fish pond.
Three days from planting
spores to harvesting mushrooms.
| September -
October 2004: Chiangmai, Thailand
FERC's First Give and Live Benefit
for Children's Garden! The garden is growing. Now he's got land, a few buildings, gardens, ponds, orchards and 26 kids. He needs help with what he has and funds to make room for more. We decided to lump all that was needed into a per year, per day figure for all 26 kids. For 500 baht = $12.50 USD per day, you can feed, clothe, house, provide medical care, school supplies and expenses for 26 kids. Our goal was to raise enough for one year. “After visiting the Children’s Garden and experiencing what they’ve already done for 26 Lahu, Akha and Karen orphans who have lost their families to AIDS and other misfortunes,” said Marc Dumur, Chairman of FERC, “we are committed to help them meet their present needs and expand so they may take in more children. Not only do the kids learn languages and the basics, they work together preparing meals, doing laundry, growing mushrooms, fruits and vegetables, and raising fish, pigs, snails and frogs for food. I’d like to enroll in the mushroom course myself!” On your marks. Get set. Go! I set off writing the press release, online forever at Chiangmai Mail Newspaper, designing posters, flyers, ads, and T-shirts, scavenging raffle prizes from local friends and businesses, planning the concert, gathering and practicing with musicians in Chiangmai (the crew from The Hug Restaurant -- Thai Aey, English Warren, Dave and Graham, and USA Jones -- reasonably international) and traveling back to Children's Garden to rehearse with the kids. I wanted them in the show singing a couple songs with me -- "Ain't It Grand in Northern Thailand" and "I Want to Learn Your Language" -- as well as a few of their own traditional songs with dance. The rest of the board set off in their own directions. FERC meant more than Foundation for the Education of Rural Children. It also meant Feast, Entertainment, Raffle, Charity. There was much to do and only five weeks before the benefit on 30 October. Somehow it all came together. It was an intimate venue and though we'd sold out 90, we had to let in a few more people at the door. $1000 baht = $25 USD per ticket. And just to show where their hearts are, every FERC board member bought their ticket as well. Only six comps for the press. They came. All were enthralled. (Newspaper article and photos online here.) The kids were well-mannered but festive. They brought an array of purses, bags and baskets they had made, packaged mushrooms they had cultivated, bouquets of flowers grown from their garden and were ready to take home as much money as possible! 26 children. One year. All living expenses paid. Once we sorted it all out, including donations from abroad, some of us went back out to the Garden to present a check for 130,000 baht = $3250 USD which fulfilled our goal of all living expenses paid for 26 children for one year. The money can go as they choose so in reality it will help buy necessary items and cover cost for expansion to make room for more children. Still more money has come in and we'll deliver new mattresses next week. My apologies to Stanley's wife Malee whose face is covered by the check in the lower right photo! Next event:
6th Annual FERC Benefit Gala on 19/2/05! Previous DAY TO
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