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The Park Record
Parkite opens heart to Cambodian orphans
By Jared Whitley
August 7, 2004
Donna McAleer is adopting an orphanage in Cambodia, and she wants the rest of Park City to help. A former director of the People’s Health Clinic and new mother, McAleer plans to send school supplies to the Killing Field Pagoda School. She visited the small orphanage in Siem Reap, Cambodia, while on vacation there two years ago.
She was inspired after reading an article in The Park Record about a Cambodian bed and breakfast run by Parkite Brandon Ross and his wife Andrea.
Before reading the article, McAleer didn’t know the Rosses, although she knew Brandon’s father, Toby, who had been the Park City manager. Since then, she’s been in contact with the Rosses via email, and they want to help with the project, serving as a conduit between Park City donors and the orphanage, since they are in the same city.
“We feel that it is a worthwhile project that could help a lot of children escape their past and enter a brighter future,” Brandon Ross wrote in an email. “The help of the Park City Community is very much appreciated and we think there is a great potential in this partnership.”
The topic of orphans in Asia is particularly important to McAleer because her sister was adopted from Korea and her brother from the Phillipines.
“It was a very, very powerful experience,” McAleer said of her visit to the Siem Reap orphanage.
When McAleer was there, the 30-child orphanage had a small blackboard and one piece of chalk per six children. The monks were teaching them English using 10-year0old newspaper articles, she said.
The orphanage needs basic school supplies like pencils and notepads, plus any material that could help the orphans learn English. Cambodians who know English can get better jobs, because they can communicate with tourists and other Asians from the region, which has a great diversity of languages and dialects.
Local schools or individuals could also donate old supplies, she said.
“Out goal is to try to provide a little bit of hope to these orphan children by providing some supplies for their education,” McAleer said. “Park City has always been so, so generous. There are so many wonderful causes her and so many around the world.”
Mailing items to Cambodia is tricky business. McAleer sent the orphanage a box of supplies in February 2003, and it didn’t arrive until May 2004.
The Rosses have had similar problems.
“Every time we have friends send something we try different strategies and none have come across as foolproof,” Ross said. “In the end most packages sent do make it here, but they often take an inordinate amount of time.”
Packages are usually delivered faster and in better shape than boxes are, Ross said, and there is a small fee for accepting packages. Ross said he’s happy to pay the fee for any donations, but money would work best.
“The easiest, and quickest way is through cash donations,” he said. “Most of the supplies the students need can be bought locally and often at a cheaper prices than in the states.”
Cash donations avoid the risk and delay of sending packages to Cambodia, as well as a $30 fee banks charge to transfer the money internationally, Ross said. Furthermore, it would help the Cambodian economy.
“I understand that sending money into the unknown is a little daunting, but we are very interested in this project and with our background and our ties to Park City, we are hoping (donors) can trust that we will use the money as it is intended,” Ross said.
Ross volunteered to take pictures of the orphans receiving and using donated supplies, and send them to donors with ‘thank you’ notes from the children.
McAleer doesn’t want to set up a non-profit organization to handle the donations, so they will not be tax deductible.
“I think this has the potential to get really huge,” she said. “If we were able to send just $500 over there, that buys a tremendous amount. It would be an incredible effort.”
The Rosses can be contacted via email at . Interested donors can call McAleer at 645-0928.
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