We at Shine have been very fortunate to see excellent growth over the past 12 months. We have been overwhelmed by the support from volunteers, donors, sponsors and supporters in both Cambodia and Melbourne to support the community of Otres with resources to succeed.
We provided 720 hours of education to each child this year, carried out essential community outreach work and provided 40 students with a nutritious lunchtime meal daily. Three of our students are currently undertaking vocational training to further help them build a career. Over the year our enrolments increased to more than 160 primary school children.
Our entrepreneurial and volunteer programs at Haileybury College have provided extensive opportunities for fundraising. Haileybury students raised $9,000 in just a year through bake sales, a colour run, and selling handmade shrimp keychains. In November, we ran our first trivia night where we raised over $21,000!
We want to say a giant thank you to our brilliant volunteers who allow us to keep improving. Kevin Reardon’s major donation allowed us to purchase our first school truck to transport our secondary students to and from Shine. A large donation from Vicky Standish enabled us to grow our teaching staff to six teachers. We also received amazing support from Bryan Caisse and his network of great individuals in the USA.
We had two groups of volunteers join us at Shine this year from Australia and the USA. They produced arts workshops with the children and worked with them to paint colourful murals on the walls of our building. Our volunteers have also been very committed in helping us to deliver English classes to students. The professional community of Otres has been very generous, with businesses placing donation boxes to raise money. We have also gained invaluable support from a successful used clothing enterprise in Otres, allowing us to generate income for Shine and gathers clothes for children and families in the area.
Our yearly donations and successful fundraising events around the world by staff, volunteers and supporters have provided a wealth of supplies, including two bicycles to help students travel to school, a motorbike for community outreach work and an improved kitchen at Shine to cook in-house lunches for students.
For 2019, we have 28 Haileybury students set to travel to Cambodia and volunteer at Shine in coordination with World Youth Adventures.
Thank you for this ground-breaking year. It’s a bright year ahead!