10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

As part of our on-gong support of Ban Yoei Sakae School which we are sponsoring the school currently has 121 students ranging from early childhood through grade 6. Approval has been sought to add grade 7 this year and for grades 8 and 9 for the following two years. There at Ban Yoei Sakae additional needed projects are far from completed at this time. On February 11 and 12, 2008 along with several foreign volunteers plus 15 members of Cobra Gold 2008 (US Army and Marines), 15 Thai soldiers, local school staff and villagers and students to help, we added a patio to the front of the school (comprising an area of 96 square meters-- 24 meters by 4 meters) at a cost of 22,000 baht for paving blocks plus 3,600 baht for the building sand, a tent (4 meters by 8 meters so the kids can have a covered area to eat their lunches), 8,500 Baht, 28 rotating ceiling fans, and wall fans 24,000 baht so the classrooms can have circulated air, a stove (3,000 baht), and 2 water coolers so the children can have fresh, cool water to drink 6,000 baht and three additional pieces of playground equipment 20,000 baht for a total of 90,000 baht (current rate of exchange is 32 baht per US dollar= 3,000 US dollars/1,500 Pound Sterling). One hundred percent of the donations were used, nothing taken for administrative costs. We still have a lot more to be done here: 121 kids need uniforms yearly, 2 each, plus shoes and socks (about 32 dollars per child). In July and August 2009 the Bouworde Organization of Brussels Belgium sent four teams to help in renovating the old kindergarten building and providing for teaching teams for the classes. Bouworde volunteers raised and expended 255,000 Thai baht on the project (whose total cost was nearly 400,000 Thai baht) which completely rebuilt the KG building from scratch, provided chairs, bookcases, toys and supplies, fans, doors, windows, awnings, covered the cost of tiling all the floors in the school, provided 8 tables and 24 chairs for the grade 7 project and constructed a proper feeding kitchen. All the classrooms in the school were freshly painted and the classroom cement floors were all ceramic tiled, KG building windows and library and computer room windows were covered by awnings, and the kitchen expanded to 6 meters by 3 meters. Additional donors from Australia provided brand new tennis shoes for all the children (750 USD) and another donor from America covered the cost of brand new sports uniforms for each child plus another water cooler for the KG building (620 USD).For Christmas 2009 I dressed up as Santa Claus at Big C and around the city of Buriram allowing parents and kids alike to have their pictures taken with the jolly old elf from 28 November to 21 December . This massive effort of 150 hours in the funny red suit and boots, plus growing a beard and having my hair dyed a funny color allowed me the opportunity to raise an additional 50,000 baht (during a total of 24 days) which was used to purchase 12 sets of cement tables and benches so the children could have a real dining area. We also purchased 3 sets of counter top cabinets were built by Ice Furniture for the kitchen and plenty of toys were purchased and provided during the Christmas day party for the children at the school. At this point we still need to purchase 15 outside wooden doors, window awnings for all the classrooms grades 1-7, and to fund and construct an overhanging steel cover on poles for the patio to provide covering for the dining area to keep out the rain. New bathrooms also need to be reconstructed. Total estimated costs for these remaining projects---bathrooms, awnings, new doors needed is in excess of 250,000 Thai Baht.