“Together, we spread Love”
As we enter the month of Love, what a great time to thank each of you for your generous love and contribution to our 2013 Holiday Mission in Cambodia!
Because of you, we raised $3,170! Combined with our personal contribution of $3,000, we had $6,170. When one of Suwannee’s customers heard what we were doing, he contributed $2,000. The final Result: $8,170!
We are forever grateful to Suwanne, Stanley, Yuwaree, Yuri & Manee for coordinating everything! Without you, the mission would not have been possible.
Each child personally received a pant & jacket outfit along with a backpack filled with school supplies. For the school, we purchased volleyballs, basketballs, soccer balls, badminton supplies, nets, a ping pong table, jump ropes, pencils, pens, erasers, pencil sharpeners, rulers, notebooks, pencil boxes, coloring books, crayons, and water color paint supplies. We purchased chalkboards for each of the three classrooms and of course a big supply of chalk! We had also planned to build a playground; however, the teachers felt two more toilets and a new roof were much more of a priority. As we speak, construction is underway on the toilets, roof and for new panels on the outside of the school that will allow additional protection during the rainy season. We want to send you pictures of the final project. To ensure we have your email, please email us at: lmarioalvarez@hotmail.com
Because of you, 243 children, their respective teachers, friends, family and folks in town are forever grateful to you and what you did for them. As the trucks were being unloaded, we gave each child a bag of cookies and some milk and were able to spend time getting to know each other. We were humbled with their overall happiness and calm gentle spirits while living in such a challenging environment. We were struck by their extreme intelligence and eagerness to speak English and get to know us.
We noticed many children without shoes and knew we wanted to see what we could do. Upon returning home, we found a few more checks in the mail. After a final reconciliation, we identified additional funds. Although shy of what is needed to purchase 243 pairs, the $490 will allow 163 of the most in need to receive a pair.
As each child was given their items, they would bring their hands together as if they were about to pray and would place their hands under their chins and bow to us in a warm gesture of a truly heartfelt “thank you”, or as they would say in Cambodia, “Aakoon”.
Thank you for helping us “Spread the Love”…
