Just as volunteers are busy putting together a private fund-raising dinner this coming weekend in hope of raising SGD25,000 to build the Manjushri-SINGA school in the remote village of Namkheli in Nepal, a cheque of SGD500 made payable to “Project Happy Feet Limited – Project” found its way to the mailbox of Project Happy Feet, bringing much joy and encouragement to the volunteers.
This timely contribution is from Ms Lisa Wee of Pethouse Supplies Pte Ltd, who learnt about Project Happy Feet’s commitment to raise this amount to build the school through her sister Ms Jenny Wee, a friend and fellow-volunteer of Project Happy Feet Director of Communications and Outreach Terence Quek.
Ms Lisa Wee heard about Lester’s and Sox’s story, and how they are planning to fund-raise to build a school in this village, which to get to, you’ll need to bus for eight hours from Kathmandu, then trek on foot for up to two-days. She was moved by their dedication to bring education to the children and training to the villagers in this Nepali village and decided she wanted to do something to help.
When requested by Project Happy Feet for an interview to get her story out to inspire others to step forward like her to support the project, she initially declined and preferred to remain anonymous because she believed that “when one makes a contribution towards a good cause, there is no need to shout about it.” She only relented and agreed to have her name mentioned when Project Happy Feet convinced her that her story may make a difference to the project if it inspires others to come forward to make a donation on their own accord and without solicitation to help the project team meet the fund-raising target.
Indeed, the race against time to raise SGD25,000 is still on before the expiry of the private fund-raising permit in a few weeks’ time. The fact that only private fund-raising is allowed (there can be no solicitation of funds from the public) makes this fund-raising even more challenging. It is still unclear if Project Happy Feet can raise enough to support the building of the school, failing which, the kids would simply have to wait out for another year.
To learn more about the project, click here.
