Best Birthday Ever Courtesy of the Philanthropy Mafia

For my birthday celebration, my friends, led by Lauren P., Sherry Pauker and Mo DeJong, astounded me with their ingenuity and generosity.

Knowing how much the ELMA students mean to me, Lauren came up with the idea to secretly collect donations to help me with the expensive book-shipping costs.

By passing around a gold box decorated with the story of the ELMA students and personally telling guests about my dedication to them, Lauren and Sherry led the charge in connecting with all of my guests and got amazing participation to help the Cambodian students!

Earlier in the evening, Mo asked me what my favorite moment of the night had been so far. In a night filled with amazing moments with friends, one stood out: seeing my 24 dinner guests come together, meet each other for the first time, and watching the effervescent energy start to percolate.

Friends rallied from so many different times in my life. One of my oldest friends, Drew Byrne, even made it up from Los Angeles!

I had been planning my birthday party for two months and, at the moment that all of my dinner guests were together (and we would be doubling our party afterward for drinks), my work was officially done, and I could just relax and let the alchemy of the evening work its magic.

Little did I know that the surprise they were planning would reach far beyond our humble San Francisco hangouts all the way across the Pacific to help hundreds of Cambodian students!

Lovingly decorated by Lauren, the note on top of the magic gold box read,

"As you likely know, our Leah has been collecting English-language children's books for students of the ELMA school in Cambodia (ages 5-15).

Through selfless and unwavering dedication, she has amassed quite a treasure trove of books over the past several months. Since shipping to Cambodia is quite expensive, Leah limits the mailings to a few times a year.

Currently, the book pile in her San Francisco flat has grown considerably (read: it's out of hand!).Please donate what you can toward the cost of her next mailing so that she can clean out her flat and get a little elbow room to breathe, sleep and apply sparkly make-up products.Simply open the gold box and drop in your support.

We'll present our gift to Leah at the end of the evening to top off her birthday with a bit of magic. Thank you!Hop on Pop level donation: $5Superfudge level donation: $10Catcher in the Rye level donation: $20Choose Your Own Adventure level donation: your choice!"
At the end of the night, Lauren rallied the guests and revealed to me what they had been doing. While I was mingling and introducing people to each other, they had raised $500. By morning, it had climbed to $555! (And then $565!)

When the shock passed and the magnitude of my friends' generosity and love registered with me, I started crying tears of joy. How many times in your life does that happen?

When Mo asked again what my favorite moment of the evening was, I replied that not only was it the best moment of the evening, but one of the best moments of my life.

With gratitude and love in my heart for all of my old and new friends who selflessly contributed to help children halfway across the world whom they have never met, I know I am one of the luckiest people alive.

As we prepare the next boxes to ship to the Angkor Hospital for Children, where the nurse Rithy Yam receives them and passes them to Vey Lav, one of the ELMA School's founders, we include the love of my community.

Amazing thanks to: Andrew Chandler, Anna Shurter, Anna Wallace, Anood Taqui, Autumn Engel, Benny Lee, Brian Checkoway, Camille Calichon, Cristina Tejada, Daniel Clemens, Dee Iraca, Dina Mackin, Dominic Lucia, Dora Fang, Drew Byrne, Fran Navarro, Gray Clossman, Ian Locke, Isaac Hill, Izabela Akerman, Jane Kenny, Jen Greene, Jeremy Mulder, Joanna Parks, John Mack, Jon Marr, Jose Portillo, Julie Brown, Justin from New Zealand, Karl Mauks-Koepke, Lara Edge, Lauren Patti, Martin Chai, Mark Berman, Matt Wood, Michael (Anna's guest), Mo DeJong, Michael Michon, Ray Ortigas, Rick Wood, Sadie, Santiago Suarez, Scott Houston, Sean Iraca, Sheridan Pauker, Tim Lang, Tony Brasunas, Torr Melling, Windy Borman, and Yan Liu.

Flooding at the ELMA School

October 2009 update: The floodwaters receded, and all of the students and the books were OK. ~Leah

From: Vey Lav
Date: October 5, 2009 3:52:03 AM PDT
Subject: Flooding

Dear Sheree,

It gets flooded in Siem Reap, as well as Sambour and ELMA school. The terrace in front of the classrooms and library is also still overflooded that students' bike are not able to parked on and it affected the young students too.

Since ELMA school restarted this fall and the same time the bloody rain appeared and getting flooded, we do not get many students come to the classes once the family afraid of the kids getting drowned and it is hard to get through by bike.

It is still containing with almost 0.5 meter on some spot of the road to ELMA school.

You are right Siem Reap gets flooded almost everywhere as we never expected. We were so afraid that the books get wet but all are OK.

This is the horrible flood in Siem Reap as we have never had this for years before. I spoke to the Sambour School principal and Chair of Sambour Commune for Building new Water drainage in front of ELMA School and the house next door for offering the high flowing speed of the water out from our school.

In this case, I need help from local authority and commune as they have supported us in many cases like security and environmental issues up on the request. Don't worry. Water will disappear soon. We may need also higher elevation in front of ELMA classrooms next year just in case more flood in the future.

All very best wishes from ELMA School Cambodia,

Vey

****************
From: Sheree O'Donnell
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2009, 11:30 AM

Dear Vey,

How are you?

I'm not sure if you have received any of my previous messages and I can imagine that given the current flooding situation in Siem Reap that Internet connections are hard to find.

How are you coping with the weather? I've heard from friends that a lot of the town is under 3 meters of water! Old Market area, etc. How has it affected Sambour? How are the children and their families coping?

I am praying for sunshine for you!

Best Wishes,

Sheree

Summertime: Children in Their New Clothes

Vey Lav, one of the ELMA School's founders, sent this delightful photo of the younger students with some of their new clothes.

A million thanks to the Lyon family for their continued kindness and generosity.

Enormous Book Donation From Martine Jardel and Thierry Rosset

Dear Martine and Thierry,

Thank you so much for dropping off the amazing donation of 91 books and 31 pieces of children's clothing.

I am humbled by your generosity and am happy that we could all find an excellent use for the books and clothes.

The books, ranging from the wonderfully educational Eyewitness series to young adult books about teenage life are perfect for the children whose interests vary.

Your philanthropy will benefit the ELMA School and the Cambodian students for many years to come.

Love,

Leah

Thank you to the Lyon Family and Fran Navarro

Dearest Lyon family and Fran Navarro,

Thank you so much for your kind and generous donation of 22 pieces of children's clothing, and dozens of pencils, markers and notebooks to the Cambodian students.

The styles of clothing that you've been donating (and the sizes) have been a perfect fit for the students who love all things American!

Know that your thoughtfulness is being felt all the way across the Pacific.

Love,

Leah

A Successful Year! Students' Year-End Exam Results

The students had a very successful 2008-2009 school year!

Total number of students: 273

Students who took the year-end exam: 259

Students who passed: 220

Students who did not pass: 39

Students who missed the test due to work: 14

Amazing thanks to the teachers who make everything possible:

Yeann Doeurn

Thay Chan

Touch Chanthy

Morm Samuth

Por Sophean

Plok Soeurt

Special thanks to Vey Lav, ELMA School principal, for sharing these inspirational results!

Thank You to Katherine Wong and Yosh Haggerty

Dear Dayima and Yosh,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful book donations to the Cambodian students.

Dayima,

The brightly colored primary school picture books are perfect for the younger children. They'll love seeing all of the shapes and alphabet depictions.

Yosh,

The teenage students and teachers will love the gorgeous photo books of North America and mountain ranges. The younger students will love the storybooks.

Love,

Leah