Check out this line up of great musicians who are dedicating their talent to play for the Children of Nepal Concert at the Palladium, Wednesday, March 21st.  Your $20 ticket will feed a child lunch for 6 months.  There are no employees so 100% of all money earned goes to our projects.  You can go back to earlier blogs about my trip to Nepal last March to get an in depth feeling for the work we are doing or go to globalactioncoalition.org  our webpage.  

An Evening With Kym Purling and Friends

My dear friend Kym Purling local jazz great who is regularly heard at the Fox Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings with his group is organizing a great evening of jazz at the Palladium.  This event will feature his regular group Allejandro Arenas on bass, Mark Feinman on drums and a list of great singers and sidemen that will tickle your ears and stimulate your mind.  So far we have  Lorri Hafer, Ashley Locheed, Denise Moore and Paulette Pepper on vocals,  Jeremy Powell, Rodney Rojas and Austin Vickrey on saxophone,
Dwayne White on Trumpet, and Stephen Bucholtz on drums.  This all star cast will begin playing at 7:30 pm.
Thanks to our sponsors of the law firm of Adams and Reese, Realtor Kim Beiningen, Call All Dogs Pet Sitting and Dog Walking and Nuance Galleries all of our proceeds will go to our food programs and school supplies in the Chitwan area.  We are starting to work in 2 new schools.
I have to thank Paul Wilborn and his Palladium staff for the use of this great place to hear jazz. What a great way to spend a summer evening and also know by showing up you are helping someone.  $20 was the number we picked, because that will feed a child for 1/2 of a year.  So please get the word out and buy your tickets on our website, www.globalactioncoalition.org or the Palladium website.    Rob

Nepal New Years Fundraiser

After watching a presentation about the Global Action Coalition, the students of Admiral Farragut Academy raised $758.06 during their "Change for Change Campaign".  Rob explained how this money would be used to help the school children in Nepal, the middle school students were then asked to write how they felt. 

This touching statement was written by Jack, a 6th grader at Admiral Farragut:

"I felt guilty because we have all this stuff we take for granted and their kids may not get one pair of shoes until they're teens. It made me want to help them more. I wanted to take part in the Global Action Coalition. I wanted to be able to give them pens/pencils and notebooks or text books. I wanted not to give them something that would last them a month or two, but to give them something that would last through their life. I wanted to give them the one thing that when they were thirty they could look back and remember I gave it to them. I wanted to give them an education. I wanted them to be able to learn just the way everyone at Farragut does."

Nepal New Years Fundraiser

 

Global Action Coalition

Taylor is an amazing young lady who has helped raise money for the school lunch program in Nepal by designing this T shirt, based on art from a student in Nepal.  Here is her story.

Hello, my name is Taylor Wooldridge. I am a 5th grader at Independent Day School. I met Mr. Rowen and Hemu when they came to a Monday Morning Meeting at my school to talk about the work they have done in Nepal. After hearing their words, I decided I wanted to take action. As a part of 5th grade, we have to do an exhibition project which incorporates global issues with our learner profiles. I thought it would be a great project to extend the fundraising efforts of the Global Action Coalition. I sent some art supplies to Nepal with Mr. Rowen so that the children could do original artwork. He brought back several pictures. I chose the picture that best represented Nepal and its culture. I put the picture on t-shirts and I am selling them to raise money for the children in Nepal. This cause is very important to me. The proceeds from this t-shirt will provide a lunch program and all the necessary school supplies these children need. I am so fortunate to be able to get an education. I would like to remind you that a little bit goes a long way in Nepal. For instance $20.00 can feed a child for 6 months! Please help me support this great cause by purchasing a t-shirt.

If you would like to order a T shirt please visit Global Action Coaliton's web site.

A fundraiser to share the Nepali New Year and our projects

Please join us for a great evening and learn more about our work and get a chance to purchase some original art created by the children of Nepal. 

 Rob and the Board of Global Action Coalition

Final Blog and thoughts of Kirantar

I write this final blog as a chance to put into writing a little piece of what I have felt and what I have observed.  Due to my ankle and knee injury I did not make it to the other schools in the mountains above Chitwan.  Thankfully I was able to meet several of the Principals of those schools who traveled to the Kirantar School.  The discussion I had was illuminating and the Principals and teachers I met were dedicated to helping these children.  These schools are mainly Chepong tribal people who survive with little education and hard work.  They have no safety net and sometimes the children are kept home as the parents go into the forest or jungle to find edible foods until the harvest.  The children at home are then working the fields, watching the younger children and doing other chores.  Yet since we started the lunch programs the attendance in these schools is quite amazing.  Kirantar Primary went from 100-140 in a year of the 195 registered students. Pokhari Primary went from 85 to 132 of 191 possible students.  The same was true for the other 4 schools. The lunch program funding is running out so I ask for your help for that and also the simple things that make a school work pencils, pens, paper as a start. I have started an exchange program with some of the schools in the Bharse Valley and in Chitwan as part of our Sister Cities Program.  Independent Day School was the first and I am pleased to announce that Admiral Farragut Academy is joining in this.  This is a start. If you read my poem and my blog you will understand that travel here is not easy and the work seems hard.  Yet when I visit these schools, meet the parents who have stepped up to volunteer making the food, see the hard work my friend Rupendra does organizing it, I know we are needed here and very much appreciated.  Who knows maybe one of these children will be another Mahatma Gandi, or Barack Obama, achieving what was not thought possible. Thanks to my friends Lt. Col Bineya Rana and Sadhana who put me up at their house in Kathmandu and a special thanks to Bhim Gurung from Qatar Airways, who showed compassion and service, I am on my way home.  Enjoy the photos and I love to hear your comments.  Rob 

Visit to Kirantar Primary School above Tandy, Chitwan

The Mountains are high

In the distance they call

Are you coming today?

But can we make a difference?

Rupendra says yes

And my heart says yes

It is like the grains of sands of the river

So small a grain, so big a river

Yet if one gets the teachings, we are all raised

They will shine like pearls