We hope that you will greatly enjoy the wedding of Rebecca Jones and Tom Coll on May 16th, 2020.

We are grateful to the bride and groom for recommending donations to 100 Friends.

We have been in operation for 30 years and all donations are tax deductible. You can select 1 or more projects (described below) to support, just indicate which project(s) you'd like to support in the comments section on the Donation Page or email me at: marcgold@gmail.com. Include the words: Jones-Coll on your check or in the comments section for electronic donations.

The projects are described here (I will be visiting all of these projects later this year to personally supervise the use of funds raised):

1. Community Care Myanmar: (CCM - located in Yangon, Myanmar - Burma).

We are now serving 202 children in our educational and nutritional programs as well as over 100 families per year with our health, social services, family support and food bank project. We offer the only educational opportunities in the squatters camp which has more than 20,000 people. CCM has recently been granted official charity status in Myanmar - that should help to raise more funds for project activities.

1. Preschool: 80 children aged between 3-8 years (3 of whom have special needs)

2. Basic education- including last year 65 students aged 5-13 years

3. Government (public) school- including last year a total of 45 students attending daily via our CCM transportation grant to a nearby township with a government school. We provide transportation for these students as well.

4. Hostel program: 12 students from the slum who are particularly vulnerable- attending a government school which is walking distance 2 minutes away from the hostel.

5. Health care and Social Service Program: Within the last year or so approximately 400 households covering approximately 1600 people have been covered by this project. They operate health outreach 5 days a week, providing medical support such as skin infections like scabies. For these conditions we can immediately help by providing direct care and also by providing education about hygiene. Or when the mother is not able to breast feed due to their sickness the team can help provide infant formula and health care.

6. Small scale business activities CCM team have worked with a couple of parents of some of the students to do income generation via soap making. Also making handmade baskets.

7. Nutritional program: we are feeding 202 children with a healthy meal 5 days per week.

We also support patients with polio or vulnerable cases such as a very elderly widow.  On other occasions if its more serious the CCM team takes the sick person physically to the hospital. CCM pays for the transportation and health related expenses as the families cannot afford it and sometimes, they are too sick to travel by bus. They are also not familiar with the procedures of registration at the clinic or hospital, so we help them during this process as health advocates.

Photos from Health care and Social Service Program

2. Kmu' Ethnic minority in rural Vietnam. We are seeking support for this greatly underserved ethnic minority in Vietnam. They live in the most difficult area. They are extremely poor and uneducated. Many of them have to sell their own babies for living. This group in Nghe An province migrated from Laos long time ago. Many of them do not have personal papers or are not yet recognized as citizens of Vietnam. The local school is in urgent need for: 2 big rice cookers (price is $250 each), cooking equipment for the kitchen ($300). They also need some toys and football/games for kids. They also need a playground which will cost $500. They also need nutritious food for children and families, shoes and clothing, school supplies and emergency funds for families in crisis. You can read more about them HERE.
3. Upskills Foundation - Tondo, Manila, The Philippines.  This program serves the youth and families living in a slum next to the garbage dumps.

Support is needed for the Community Education and Mentoring Program to bring tangible benefits to more than 500 students.

Parents monthly income is at an all time low since the closure of the local dump site. There are a number of students dropping out of schools, many students are in their last few years of education and due to financial or family pressures have abandoned their studies.

Upskills Foundation has developed a new concept to help students get back to school by training parent volunteers to mentor and support a groups of 20 -25 students who attend the same school to ensure they have the resources they need to complete their education.

Students visit the center every day to collect their cooked packed lunch, while other students have their packed lunch delivered direct to their schools, ensuring that children do not go hungry while at school. The mentors keep these former dropouts focused and on track to graduate and move on to better educational and vocational opportunities.

Upskills Foundation Website

And this is an EXCELLENT short video about the mentoring program:

Thanks for your help. If you want follow-up communications with text and photos showing the funds being put to work, please email me.

Marc Gold
100 Friends
marcgold@gmail.com