21 December 2008 ~ 0 Comments

Thank you to the best supporters in the world :-)

Wow! I have great friends! And we have fabulous PEPY supporters.

I have said this before, and I’ll say it again…. we have the BEST supporters in the world at PEPY. We just put out our PEPY 2008 Video with a call to action: Help us work with the community to build Chanleas Dai’s first junior high school. We put out a website specifically to collect donations for that project:http://firstgiving.com/pepybuildsjhs and already, people are stepping up to help. Within two days, we have already raised nearly $5,000 towards our $68,000 goal. We just added PEPY Cambodia to Facebook, and already nearly 300 of you have listed PEPY as your friend (click here to do so if you haven’t already!). Many of you have also changed your status to our PEPY video or to our firstgiving page asking your friends and family to support PEPY. THANK YOU!

If each of us commits $10 per month (click here to give monthly donations), we can build this school. For those who donate $10 or higher monthly, we will send you a free 2009 PEPY calendar to remind you of the work you are helping to sustain. (Reminder: do not choose “anonymous” in the donation setting on Network for Good if you would like to receive a calendar or we will not be able to see your name and address.)

I think a lot of others who operate tours in Cambodia sometimes dread when new guests arrive. We, on the other hand, can’t wait for our PEPY Ride 4 team to get here today. Why? Because the people who travel with PEPY have fundraised money in addition to their trip fees and have therefore had to learn about Cambodia, PEPY, and development, and can hit the ground running when they arrive. People who travel with PEPY tend to want to educate themselves when they arrive here. They “get” that before we act, we need to learn, and that by learning, we can learn how to be part of the solution, rather than the problem, of tourism, giving, development, etc…. PEPY travelers tend to ask questions, engage in conversations, and look for opportunities to feel engaged and involved with Cambodia. In short, the people who travel with PEPY are some of the most inspiring people we have met, and each person who travels with us helps us mold PEPY into something more positive. Thank you for being PEPY supporters!