The event kicked off at 12:30 with the 40 invited guests arriving at the Drift Bar in Caloundra ready for trivia:
The groups were decided and the trivia began with great fun after a brief history of the Volunteer Development Children's Association and an explanation about the wonderful work that Togh is doing in Siem Reap and An Lung Pi. Raffles accompanied the trivia and all attending were very gracious in their support and donations throughout the day.
The trivia wrapped up around 4:30pm in the afternoon; the raffles were finalised and the activities - wine categories guessing competition and auction - were run with fantastic support. All those at the Drift Bar were heavily supportive and generously donated and bought tickets in the numerous raffles donated by various people from Brisbane and Caloundra. Even the bar staff were scratching their heads at times trying to work out the solutions to the trivia questions from ten differing categories.
Thank you to all those who attended and those who could not, but found it in their heart to contribute, you made the day the success it was. A special thank you to Daryn from Treasury Wines - your contribution was immensely appreciated; Ben for his help throughout the day and leading up to it; Lance from Goodlife for his membership donation; Deb for her goodies from Loriel; Dan for the wonderful products donated for raffling; and to all those who generously donated raffle prizes in support of the day, too many to name! Thank you. But lastly, a huge thank you to Guy for his wonderful donation and contribution to the day - you truly blew most people away with your generosity and the kids at VDCA will be much better off for your help!
As a result of your wonderful contributions we far exceeded our target and will be able to buy many more laptops than the five originally planned. We hope top use remaining funds for lease payments or other continuous expenses at VDCA Siem Reap. I will go back to Cambodia in December and buy the computers (plus take 5 other laptops with me) and set them up at the school under the guidance of Togh. I also hope to workshop some new students through the program and further set up more VDCA students for contact with Australians on my return in order to continue to foster cross-cultural communication and present Cambodian youth with a skill that may provide the opportunity to break their cycle of poverty.
Until next time,
R
