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Cambodian Community Dream Organization, Inc.
Dream Journal ~ January 2021 
We are starting the New Year with a heart full of gratitude for our many steadfast supporters and donors and inspired by some of the special acts of generosity.  
Birthday fundraiser during COVID-19
Even though it was quite a few years back, an unforgettable visit and a short volunteer stint with our organization in Cambodia let Maja Meglic from Brussels, Belgium to celebrate her birthday with a fundraiser. Instead of a party and gifts she started a Birthday Fundraiser to benefit CCDO.

The first donation was from the birthday girl herself in lieu of the money that would be spent on organizing a party. She reached out to her friends through Facebook and Instagram and was pleasantly surprised at their generous responses. So much so that quickly her goalposts were moved to higher numbers and new project ideas. At the end she fundraised over $2,000 from over 50 donors.

She will be sponsoring (and naming) one of our new community preschools. It was an especially meaningful act of kindness as soon after the start of her fundraising Maja was hit hard with Covid-19. She is fully recovered and very grateful.

Seeing that we will not be able to gather for celebrations for awhile longer, consider doing a Birthday or Wedding Anniversary online fundraiser benefiting CCDO. Please reach out and we will set up a unique birthday donate button on our Donate page for you.
Sponsored Sister
When our VP Ksenija Olmer’s first granddaughter Mara was born prematurely in July, she was grateful for the medical care and all the resources at the family’s disposal leading to an excellent outcome. But she also thought of the challenges rural Cambodian babies face. She asked our staff to be on a lookout for a July baby from a poor village family to help and sponsor.

Baby Chhin Somnang and her young parents received a water well and latrine and additional gifts of clothing and food at Christmas time. They also received baby Mara’s picture and a letter promising support for baby Chhin Somnang’s future well-being and education.

Mobile Library
Our Board member, Carol Duster, is a lifelong literacy advocate and has done much work to equip our CCDO school libraries and train our librarians. Through her fundraising efforts with friends and family and her annual Moonlight Pizza fundraiser in Salida, Colorado, she managed to gather $4,000 towards our first mobile library. Special thanks to her children Luke & wife Shannon and Bubba & wife Nicole, who each donated $1,000. 
When our longtime supporter, Bill Taylor of SE Asian Foundation, heard about it, he was so impressed with the idea of bringing mobile libraries to our rural schools, that he gave $7,700 towards a second Mobile Library.
School Opening
Still on partial lockdown and being cautious of the world pandemic, our official school opening on the 11 January, was a small, yet joyous affair with only grades 6 & 9 in attendance.
In the proud presence of their parents we gave out certificates to the outstanding students. We also distributed all the uniforms financed by Uniforms for Hope.
Need a little motivation to get out of the Covid exercise slump? You can support Uniforms for Hope with a virtual run to benefit their great work. 100% of registration fee goes towards uniforms. Register here & make sure you put Uniforms for Hope as your charity of choice.

Donors
We are truly grateful for our longtime supporters, Peter & MaryJo Farrell, who generously donated $2,000. Kudos to Beth & Kevin Hoffman who continue to regularly donate $1,000 towards our general fund. This helps us keep the lights on in Cambodia.

Thanks to George West, a new donor, who generously gave $1,850 for wells, latrines and education.

A special shoutout to Board Member Kathy Rocklen who donated $1,000 towards a new preschool. We are indeed blessed to have such dedicated board members. 
Remember
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things
to change lives, one child at a time.