When I was a youngster, myself, my brothers and our friends used to put on concerts in our
back gardens. We would learn all the words to our favourite songs, learn the coreography,
we’d even go as far as acting out some of the videos of the songs in question
- Survivor’s “EyeOf The Tiger” is one that springs to mind! Anyway, we used to give all
proceeds to charity, generally the Trocaire or Gorta charities. I particularly remember
that around the time of these gigs the campaigns were focused on Cambodia. Now, being just
knee- high to a grasshopper at the time, I wasn’t aware of the carnage that went on during
the four year reign of Khmer Rouge. But I do remember that the Cambodian people were
obviously in need of the money more than me and my friends. So thanks to the guiding
hand of my parents, the money ended up supporting the Cambodians and not the local shop-
keeper- Mr. Gilmore and our dental bills! In early 2006, myself and my wife Tina went
traveling in Southeast Asia. During our visit to Cambodia we got to witness the aftermath
of life under the brutal rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Words cannot describe the
extent of the cruelty that the innocent people of Cambodia were subjected too. The physical
and mental torture, now left with scars that may never heal. Even after they were removed
from power in 1979 by the Vietnamese invasion, the Hhmer Rouge still managed to operate as
a resistance movement well into the 1990s. Our trip to Cambodia was one of the most
profound experiences of my life. One which has changed my perspective on living forever.
One of the main reminders left behind, buried inches below Cambodian soil everywhere,
many undetectable, are thousands upon thousands of landmines. Still to this day,
there are an average of 3 landmine victims everyday. Imagine...
Thanks to all who’ve attended the last couple of Grove Reunions,www.thegrovesocialclub.com
has donated over €6000 to The Cambodian Land Mine Museum Relief Fund.
For more info on this charity, please visit: http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/
Here’s the emails that I received from Richard Fitoussi and Sister Breda Colbert on behalf
of the beneficiaries of the money raised as a result of The Grove 40th Anniversary Reunions:
Dear Andy,
Thank you for your letter. I am so excited to discover that you have raised
an additional 5000 euro for the CLMMRF project. I just got off the plane
from returning back from Cambodia yesterday and am in the process of getting
the office in Canada in order. The last 5 months have been insanely busy
with the opening of the new facility, moving all the children and AKi Ra's
family to the new location as well as placing a new work order for even more
construction! The solar power system is really amazing too and it brings a
new level of efficiency to the project. We just put in an order to build
a new amputee residence for the staff....its quoted at $8,000 so it looks
like a perfect match...all the staff will live at the museum and receive a salary too!!!
This is awesome brother!
Lets keep in touch now that my head is on and Im not franticly fighting to
save the museum from the bad guys in Cambodia...ahhhhh....finally the bad
guys are gone!
Rich.
Dear Andy,
Sincere thanks for your very generous donation towards our Chilean Mission.
It has changed the lives of some of our students and their families in
a very big way. We work in a very poor mountainous area in Northern Chile where
educational facilities are almost non existent.
Education is one of the main priorities of our work, and I have been interested
and promoted education on every level for many years. While primary education is
available to all, secondary and third level is not. Students who wish to continue
into further education have to travel to the cities. This involves travel, board &
lodgings expenses etc. -these heavy expenses are not possible for the many interested
families. For some years, I have been helping four young girls to continue their
third level education.
It is their only possibility of helping their families and their hope of a better future.
Their families are very poor, two of them depend on goat rearing and cheese making –due to
the drought, it impossible to grow any kind of crop. Another girl started to study but her
father lost his work, so money became very scarce and she had to discontinue her studies.
A fourth girl is struggling to finish her studies, but her mother has diabetes, cancer and
Parkinson’s disease.
Your most generous donation will help these four girls to fulfil their dreams and alleviate
the burdens of their families, thus bringing much happiness to well deserving people.
These will have the money to cover institute fees, travel, board & lodgings, books and
other incidental expenses.
May I once again Andy, say a very heart-felt thank you to you and your friends who’ve
supported our work. May God bless you all.
Sister Breda Colbert.
So well done to all involved in every aspect for making this such an overwhelming success
– especially those who donated money and those who gave of their time and efforts for free.
What goes around, comes around!
back gardens. We would learn all the words to our favourite songs, learn the coreography,
we’d even go as far as acting out some of the videos of the songs in question
- Survivor’s “EyeOf The Tiger” is one that springs to mind! Anyway, we used to give all
proceeds to charity, generally the Trocaire or Gorta charities. I particularly remember
that around the time of these gigs the campaigns were focused on Cambodia. Now, being just
knee- high to a grasshopper at the time, I wasn’t aware of the carnage that went on during
the four year reign of Khmer Rouge. But I do remember that the Cambodian people were
obviously in need of the money more than me and my friends. So thanks to the guiding
hand of my parents, the money ended up supporting the Cambodians and not the local shop-
keeper- Mr. Gilmore and our dental bills! In early 2006, myself and my wife Tina went
traveling in Southeast Asia. During our visit to Cambodia we got to witness the aftermath
of life under the brutal rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Words cannot describe the
extent of the cruelty that the innocent people of Cambodia were subjected too. The physical
and mental torture, now left with scars that may never heal. Even after they were removed
from power in 1979 by the Vietnamese invasion, the Hhmer Rouge still managed to operate as
a resistance movement well into the 1990s. Our trip to Cambodia was one of the most
profound experiences of my life. One which has changed my perspective on living forever.
One of the main reminders left behind, buried inches below Cambodian soil everywhere,
many undetectable, are thousands upon thousands of landmines. Still to this day,
there are an average of 3 landmine victims everyday. Imagine...
Thanks to all who’ve attended the last couple of Grove Reunions,www.thegrovesocialclub.com
has donated over €6000 to The Cambodian Land Mine Museum Relief Fund.
For more info on this charity, please visit: http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/
Here’s the emails that I received from Richard Fitoussi and Sister Breda Colbert on behalf
of the beneficiaries of the money raised as a result of The Grove 40th Anniversary Reunions:
Dear Andy,
Thank you for your letter. I am so excited to discover that you have raised
an additional 5000 euro for the CLMMRF project. I just got off the plane
from returning back from Cambodia yesterday and am in the process of getting
the office in Canada in order. The last 5 months have been insanely busy
with the opening of the new facility, moving all the children and AKi Ra's
family to the new location as well as placing a new work order for even more
construction! The solar power system is really amazing too and it brings a
new level of efficiency to the project. We just put in an order to build
a new amputee residence for the staff....its quoted at $8,000 so it looks
like a perfect match...all the staff will live at the museum and receive a salary too!!!
This is awesome brother!
Lets keep in touch now that my head is on and Im not franticly fighting to
save the museum from the bad guys in Cambodia...ahhhhh....finally the bad
guys are gone!
Rich.
Dear Andy,
Sincere thanks for your very generous donation towards our Chilean Mission.
It has changed the lives of some of our students and their families in
a very big way. We work in a very poor mountainous area in Northern Chile where
educational facilities are almost non existent.
Education is one of the main priorities of our work, and I have been interested
and promoted education on every level for many years. While primary education is
available to all, secondary and third level is not. Students who wish to continue
into further education have to travel to the cities. This involves travel, board &
lodgings expenses etc. -these heavy expenses are not possible for the many interested
families. For some years, I have been helping four young girls to continue their
third level education.
It is their only possibility of helping their families and their hope of a better future.
Their families are very poor, two of them depend on goat rearing and cheese making –due to
the drought, it impossible to grow any kind of crop. Another girl started to study but her
father lost his work, so money became very scarce and she had to discontinue her studies.
A fourth girl is struggling to finish her studies, but her mother has diabetes, cancer and
Parkinson’s disease.
Your most generous donation will help these four girls to fulfil their dreams and alleviate
the burdens of their families, thus bringing much happiness to well deserving people.
These will have the money to cover institute fees, travel, board & lodgings, books and
other incidental expenses.
May I once again Andy, say a very heart-felt thank you to you and your friends who’ve
supported our work. May God bless you all.
Sister Breda Colbert.
So well done to all involved in every aspect for making this such an overwhelming success
– especially those who donated money and those who gave of their time and efforts for free.
What goes around, comes around!
