December 2017 Dream Journal Cambodian Community Dream Organization

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Anniversaries, Breakfasts, Donors, Oh My!

Celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary

As our 10th Anniversary year comes to an end we are NOT throwing a big party, we are quietly continuing planning for another year, implementing new ideas, volunteers and visitors. We are especially excited about young humanitarians coming to meet our Cambodian students. We have at least two groups of students visiting this summer: the first visit of long time supporters from Riverside High School's Atlas club from South Carolina and repeat visitors from International School in Yangon . These students have been fundraising to support their Cambodian peers in many ways. In celebration of our 10 Years will you become a sustainable member and pledge at least $20 per month? Click here for easy sign up.

On the Ground Report

Visit from Jenni & UK board Our founder and president Jenni was thrilled to see the progress on the ground. From the neatly swept campus and clean villages to the smooth beginning of the school year to the new village vegetable gardens everything is working well with the hard work of the local staff of CCDO. The team is a well oiled machine, producing great results with the students, school directors and communities. The week was spent visiting breakfast programs, seeing the English classes, hearing the kindergarten kids reciting English alphabet and counting, observing the sports & computer classes, and experiencing first hand a well attended and interactive community nutrition workshop. Piece de resistance was partaking in the Sunday morning scholarship class.

We held a small celebration with a staff luncheon including a 10th anniversary cake. It was perfect timing to have CCDO UK directors, Scott Brown and Colin Fleming arriving on Saturday to join in the classes and visit their many wells and latrines.

Meeting and marking the occasion with a cake for the staff. 

AMEX Leadership Academy We are very proud and excited that our Executive Director Leangsang and our Education Coordinator Sovoan have both been chosen and sponsored to participate in American Express Leadership Academy in Singapore. They were the only Cambodians. The week-long academy focused on how to improve leadership strengths and bolster other areas of non profit management. Pre-academy performance assessments were given by colleagues and peers as well as the Board of Directors, so that they could have a transparent and positive learning experience.

Sustainability of School Breakfast Our school breakfast program has been a tremendous success! Too many students in the rural communities come to school hungry or eat just a scoop of cold rice in the morning while the parents are already hard at work in the rice fields. This leads to stunting their growth and limiting their attention and success in school. All our students and sometimes their tag along younger siblings get a warm, protein enriched nutritious breakfast, cooked in the early hours by our dedicated cooks in the school kitchens. Funding the breakfast program each school year is one of our biggest worries. In order to continue the breakfast program and empower the parents, breakfast committees have been formed putting parents in charge of overseeing the breakfast program at their respective schools. The CCDO and committee members discussed options to make the program more sustainable, and came up with a brilliant idea: in-kind fundraising within the community to grow and donate rice and vegetables!

Thanks to our Fabulous Donors Together We Can Change the World (TWCCTW) ,  approved funding for our WASH program. The CCDO had already signed off on a project pilot agreement to fund 5 water wells. After reviewing the initial five wells they agreed to continue funding our work building 100 wells per year , helping us spread good water and improved health to neighboring communities. Engaging the community to start feeding the children, we have formed a partnership with SEA Fund (SE Asia Fund) who will match with their funds , the value of in-kind donations of rice and vegetables that the community contributes. It is a win-win situation as it gives the community an opportunity to start providing for their own children's nutritional needs. Thank you!

We are truly grateful for the most generous Bastion Foundation who has again stepped up to the plate and has donated the majority of funds needed to ensure that the breakfast program is fully funded for this school year. Thanks to Nate Hukill and Luke Duster of the CRG group of Boulder, CO, who generously donated 5 wells and 6 latrines. Thanks to Starr Moore who donated $2,000 to fund our Scholarship program. 

Volunteers & Visitors Merci for the 2-week visit of volunteer Audry Barbier’s mother, Brigitte Franchet (or Mama barang = Foreign Mama ) as she integrated herself into our programs. We welcome three more volunteers in December. Nicolas Rimbert from France joins our sports team and will additionally help to refine our computer program for the next 3 months.

Our IT department got a huge boost from Canadian Don Millman who arrived bearing computers and lots of enthusiasm to help CCDO. Hurray for Terry Knight from Canada! He has made a 12 month commitment to take on our Marketing and Social Media . He will spearhead our local hotel visitors program as well as many other tasks. He started his volunteering with a successful run in the Siem Reap half Marathon Congrats!

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