1962 – 2012: TRAS TURNS 50!

HELP US TO SUPPORT OUR HIMALAYAN PARTNERS THROUGH

PROJECT 50!

2012 marks TRAS’s 50^th anniversary! Wow!

To honour and celebrate 50 incredible and successful years of funding grassroots projects that support children and youth in the Himalayas, TRAS is launching PROJECT 50!

Join us in making the world a better place for Himalayan children and youth!

Together we can:

• Raise $50,000 in honour of 50 years of service!
• Create a list of 50 different ways to raise $50 for TRAS projects – and then do them!
• Inspire 50 new people to join TRAS!

PROJECT 50! GOAL 1: RAISE $50,000

A generous anonymous donor will match donations dollar for dollar up to $25,000!

So your donation will immediately DOUBLE!

Deadline for YOUR donation: January 31, 2012

HELP US REACH $50,000 AND DONATE NOW!

Note: Individual sponsorships are not included in this offer, but are, of course, vital for the wellbeing of children.

PROJECT 50! GOAL 2: 50 WAYS TO RAISE $50 FOR TRAS!

A little goes a long way. You don’t need to raise a lot to make a difference.

What can YOU do to raise $50 for TRAS? Create a new idea, or do one from our list (see below). Help us come up with “50 Ways to Raise $50 for TRAS!” and help us do them!

Cheryl Sullivan, our Fundraising Director, held a garage sale in the summer. Ably helped by family and friends, she cleared out a lot of ‘stuff’ and made not just $50, but over $400 for TRAS! Way to go, Cheryl!

Tell us what you did or are going to do so that all of us can be inspired!

Here are 9 ideas. Help us think of 41 more!

• Hold a garage sale (see Cheryl Sullivan’s example above)
• Ask your favourite restaurant to save bottles for you for two weeks, and take them to a bottle depot for the refunds
• Hold a bottle collection at your place of work for a short period.  TRAS member Laura Kassama did this, and raised over $100 for TRAS! Read Laura’s story:
• Host a Nepali film night in your home and ask for donations. TRAS can supply the film(s)! Write to Marina Guy at marina.guy@tras.ca. Read about TRAS’s Travelling Nepali Film Festival here
• Host a TRAS handicraft sale in your home. Contact Armila at the TRAS office: info@tras.ca
• Ask your book club members to make a donation to help stock a shelf with books for a remote village library
• In lieu of gifts for birthdays, Christmas, retirement parties, etc, suggest a donation to TRAS – choose a particular project or make a general donation. You can set up a gift plan through CanadaHelps on this website. TRAS Directors Lynn and Frank Beck did this at Frank’s retirement party, and raised $600 for TRAS!
• Hold an online garage sale by advertising and selling items on Craigslist. Read Laura Kassama’s inspiring story
• Do something creative, like TRAS member Jessie Kaye’s “Loonie for a Loo” fundraiser to help TRAS pay for toilets to be built in India’s Kullu Valley. Jessie built a life-size outhouse out of cardboard. People donated $1 to stick a ‘brick’ on it. Jessie sold hundreds of ‘bricks’ and raised hundreds of dollars for TRAS!

What are YOU going to do?

PROJECT 50! GOAL 3: TALK TRAS! INSPIRE 50 NEW PEOPLE TO JOIN TRAS

Let’s all talk about the fantastic work TRAS does to alleviate poverty in the Himalayan region and inspire 50 people to join us in supporting this work!

• Tell others about TRAS and why you support TRAS
• Share the TRAS website with your friends and colleagues
• Forward the TRAS newsletter to your contacts
• Invite your family, friends and others to attend a TRAS event
• Ask your friends and family members if they would like to add their email addresses to the TRAS mailing list
• Invite a TRAS Director to present to your organization or a group of your friends. For info, contact Armila at the TRAS office: info@tras.ca or 604-224-5133

More info on TRAS’s 50^th anniversary is in TRAS’s Fall 2011 newsletter, available here:  http://tras.ca/newsletter/

By Laura Kassama

TRAS member Laura Kassama shares two creative and easy ways to raise money for charity.

OFFICE BOTTLE COLLECTION PROGRAM

I collect bottles from the office and also from my home and any friends or family who would like to participate (sometimes they give me the bottles, but more often they give me the cash after they do their own recycling). I handle all the recycling and keep a log of the money I collect, and then I usually match the money I have raised with the bottle collection, and make the donation in the early part of the following year.

I have been running the program for approximately six years, and each year the overall donation is usually between $120 and $220. I have found that the donation itself is fairly small for the amount of work, but I like the idea that I’m helping others to be in the habit of recycling and it’s for a good cause. I consider this to be a two-fold program helping the environment as well as being able to benefit charitable work.

ONLINE GARAGE SALES

I also sell items I no longer need on Craigslist, and donate the proceeds to charity.

I haven’t involved others in this so far, but it would be an interesting idea to create an online “garage sale” benefiting an organization.

If a donor wanted to promote it, they could ask for help online with an ad that tells people about the organization they are planning on helping. Then they could let people know the results online, by posting a note like this: “Thank you for participating in the ‘Bazaar for Charity Event’. We raised $______ for the Trans-Himalayan Aid Society!”

I know many schools and other organizations that organize book sales, bazaars, bake sales and other types of sales that could be advertised for free on Craigslist and Kijiji.

Personally, I really like the idea of partnering with other organizations and groups of people to create greater community involvement – even if it’s just among my family and friends.

What can you do?

December 2010:  TRAS is thrilled to have helped create the very first library in the north-western district of Humla in Nepal. Partnering with the Vancouver-based Nepal Library Foundation and the Rato Bangala School in Kathmandu, which has its own publishing house, TRAS has arranged for the delivery of hundreds of books to Humla’s tiny capital of Simikot. The library has been set up in the school where the TRAS-supported project is educating the first group of under-privileged children. Two teachers have been given a briefing on how to manage the library, and interest in this exciting new venture is growing amongst the citizens and other schools. Although the books are already in use, an official opening will be celebrated in the spring, when the bitter Humla winter is over. Enthusiasm for the library has led to the promise of more books from an Asia-based NGO. Like ripples on a pond, our first small stone is having a growing effect!

TRAS has worked with SHARE, a local NGO in Manali, north India, for 18 years. SHARE’s goal is to bring better health, educational and income generation opportunities to the impoverished villages in the hills above Manali.   The TRAS successful latrine building project completed over 1,000 toilets. The Family Health Project saw all children immunized and 750 families joining a health plan which includes monthly visits and education. An environmental protection program was started in several schools. Each of these projects has had long-term benefits: by the end of 2011, every household will have a latrine, although funding of new latrines stopped several years ago. Mothers now routinely take their babies into Manali for vaccinations. The health plan has spread to hundreds more households than expected. Water sources are cleaner. The child mortality rate has decreased dramatically. 

In 2010, TRAS and SHARE partnered on a new project to bring a vocational training program to the village youth, giving them their first chance to prepare for jobs in the growing tourist industry based in Manali. Classes are held in computer skills, English, general knowledge, and hospitality. 

December, 2010: The first six-month report shows unexpected results: the students have quickly and adeptly picked up computer skills, and some have asked for an extension of the program to include accounting and typing in Hindi. Two students have branched out into higher education in math and science with the goal of attending university. English skills, however, are not as strong. The good news is that the English course will be extended, and SHARE is offering a refresher course in English language for local teachers.  So far, 13 enthusiastic participants have enrolled, which bodes well for the future. TRAS is delighted with the early results of this three-year project.