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Dear Friends,
by the end of last year, the Foundation successfully completed one Boarding Facility at a Professional School campus in Chiang Rai, contributed to the construction of a new primary school in Mae Pon in Chiang Mai, and renovated a Secondary School in the same village. We are happy to share with you in this issue some images of the completed projects.
We whole heartedly thank volunteers and donors who make it possible for us to make a difference with minimum overheads and allow all donations to be devolved directly to projects that benefit underprivileged children.
We still need your help to reach out to more children in need. 100% of your donation will go directly to support scholarship and infrastructure projects on location.
You can donate through paypal, on our website:http://www.pistoriofoundation.org/donate/index.html.
Every donation can go a long way to improving the lives of the children we support.
Many thanks and warm regards,
Pistorio Foundation
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Update from the Chiang Rai Village Project
Mae Pon Primary School
The new Mae Pon Primary School was completed last November. The three storey building consists of six classrooms. The ground floor is for the kitchen and canteen area and play area for when it rains. The school will cater to the village of Mae Pon and neighboring villages where there are no schools. 168 students are currently enrolled in this school.
Mae Pon Secondary School
The former primary school of Mae Pon that was in deteriorating conditions, has been fully renovated thanks to the generous donation of Alison and Maarten Buitelaar from Singapore. The new Buitelaar Secondary School will be enrolling 25 students for Grade 7 as of May 2013. The school will be able to hold grades 7 to 9 in the next three years.
Boarding Facility at VBAC Professional School
The new Boarding Facility at the VBAC Professional School has been successfully completed in 2012. The Boarding Facility completes the other three Dormitories for girls and boys built by the Pistorio Foundation at the VBAC campus. There are currently 125 students on scholarship enrolled at VBAC where they can choose from over 10 professional degrees including Accounting, Tourism, Mechanics, and Electronics. The new Boarding Facility can hold up to 90 students and has currently houses 65 students.
Volunteer Missions
Thank you to pediatrician Paolo Bertolani and Francesca Ferrari who travelled to Thailand and Cambodia to meet with stakeholders, beneficiaries, and perform Audits of the Scholarship Programs. In Thailand, Paolo Bertolani, along with our staff at the Chiang Rai Village Project, also conducted medical check-ups in six villages and five schools, providing over 600 basic health screenings to villagers. Francesca Ferrari interviewed beneficiaries and performed Audits of the scholarship programs. Francesca Ferrari successfully produced videos of projects. We thank them sincerely for their time, dedication, and support.
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From our Beneficiaries
Chiang Rai Village Project
Pawanee lives in the village of Ban Mhai Pattana' in northern Thailand. She is 10 years old and is in the Primary School. She enjoys going to school and her favourite subject is Thai, but would like to also improve her English which she started learning in school. When she grows up she would like to be a doctor. She has six brothers and her parents work at the coffee plantations. Had there not been a school in the village, built by Pistorio Foundation, she would not have gone to school.
Tiangle comes from the Akha Hill Tribe village in Chiang Rai and is staying at the dormitory of the Ban Mhai Pattana' School Campus. She is now attending grade 5 and her favourite subject is Maths. When she grows up she would like to be a teacher. Her parents work at the coffee plantations and would not have been able to afford her schooling as there is no school in her home village.
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News from the Singapore Chapter
Anniversary Celebration with a cause
Thank you to Stephanie and Stephan Repkow for inviting guests attending their Anniversary Celebration to donate to the Foundation in lieu of offering gifts. The generous gesture has contributed to raising over 1,100 SGD towards our scholarship programs.
Ballroom Birthday Bash
Our sincere gratitude goes also to Lily Cashin who organized a Ballroom Dancing fiesta in Singapore to celebrate six time world Ballroom Champion Mirko Gozzoli's birthday at the end of November 2012. Lily and Mirko's guests were invited to make donations to the Foundation in place of gifts and 3,400 SGD were raised for underprivileged children's scholarships in Thailand.
Awareness Raising
Last December, Elena Pistorio spoke to a group of nearly 100 high school students at the Catholic Junior College in Singapore on the subject of Children's Rights in Developing Countries at a Model United Nations (MUN) Conference as part of a United Nations Association of Singapore (UNAS) initiative.
Upcoming Events:
Please save the date for Pistorio Foundation's Charity Concert May 31st
Piano Concert by Maestro Julian Gargiulo at the Jubilee Hall of the Raffles Hotel.
The Event is sponsored by STMicroelectronics and supported by the Italian Cultural Institute. We will be sending more details soon!
Hot off the press
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"On the way to school, on the way to life"
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