ELES Donations Made (total to date, AUD$126,000)

As part of ELES' commitment to education, 5% of gross income (not net!) is donated to charities that help and assist children. We donate to charities that improve children's lifestyle, education or opportunities, with much admiration and gratitude to those amazing people running these charities who dedicate their lives to making other people's lives better. We welcome recommendations from our customers of charities to support.

Click  here to read about the Room To Read Project in Cambodia. 
(Had to move it to a separate page as was getting too long!)

Donations Made in 2012 - $16000

Donations Made in 2011 - $12250

Donations Made in 2010 - $25,000

Donations Made in 2009 - $16,500

Donations Made in 2008 - $23,000

On a trip recently, I bought a book in the airport 'Leaving Microsoft to Change the World' by John Wood ( http://www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com/ ). I could not put it down. It is about a guy who while on holiday in Nepal is appalled at the lack of resources in schools, the low attendance rate and literacy levels and sets about making a difference in a big way. He started a group called Room to Read ( http://www.roomtoread.org/ ). Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure as well as educational scholarships.

So I had to get involved. I have paid $10,000 US for the establishment of a free-standing library at the Wat Chi Kreng Primary School in the Siem Reap province of Cambodia. The library will be built in the traditional Khmer style, and will include child friendly furniture, flooring, shelving, maps, puzzles, games, and of course, books. Room to Read will stock the library with English and Khmer books totalling 500-1,000 over 3 years, and will provide 3 years of library management training to a designated teacher. Wat Chi Kreng Primary School is located in a poor rural area in Siem Reap where families rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood. After this library is built 664 children (in a 6 room school!) will have access to a new colorful and engaging reading room. If you'd like to see photos and more info about the school click here .

I NEED YOUR HELP!

The library should be ready mid 2008 and I would love for some students at your schools to write letters to the students there so they can use them to practise their English. If you have any classes you might like to do this activity with, have the students in the class write a simple letter ‘Hi, My name is….' and just talk about themselves, their lives and their interests. Maybe draw some pictures. Even better if they made a card or wrote inside a card or added something fun to the page. Decorating the page with photos from magazines, or pictures along with a simple letter would be great. Then just package them up and post them to me at PO Box 9 Neutral Bay NSW 2089. I hope to go and visit the library and I’d love to be able to take each of the 664 students a letter (even if it is not personally addressed) from a student in Australia that they could keep and take home and use to practise their English.

You can print this page for your noticeboard about the letters: Noticeboard Info

Thanks to St Mary Star of the Sea College Wollongong who sent the first batch of letters through, 45 of them!

Thanks also to Moorefield Girls High who sent another 13 letters.

Thanks to Bentleigh Secondary College who sent 40 letters (with lots of illustrations!).

566 letters to go! I hope to take them over to Cambodia sometime soon!

Thanks! Prue Salter

Donations Made in 2003 - $5000

(minimum donation amount to each organisation $500)

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