Hello friends and followers,
Last Friday was Art Relief International's last day in the office before the holidays. We will be on hiatus until the new year as our team scatters across the world to enjoy the season with family, friends, and beautiful Thai beaches!
As we head into the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your support. Without the support of past volunteers, friends, family, and the international community, ARI could not be what it is today. Your time spent with ARI, donations large and small, and kind words of support sent towards the work we are striving to do have all been met with such gratitude.
There are skeptics out there who choose to believe that 2012 will bring total world destruction. Perhaps I am simply an optimist, but I cannot believe this to be true. In fact, with your help, we are hoping to make 2012 our greatest year yet. We already have some amazing plans for January. We will be completing our mural at Hope Home, continuing our work with Young Lions, beginning weekly workshops again with Thai Freedom House (www.thaifreedomhouse.org), and partnering with Volunteer Positive (www.volunteerpositive.org) for a very special project. We will be welcoming new volunteers with open arms and, though we wish we need not, will be saying goodbye to others. Such is the nature of our work.
In Thailand you sometimes hear the expression jai yen yen. Loosely translated, this expression means cool heart. Rather than a year of destruction, I hope 2012 will be the year of jai yen yen. I hope that ARI can continue to better the lives of the marginalized throughout Northern Thailand and that we are joined by volunteers who arrive with willing hands and open hearts. I hope that the jai yen yen message will spread to world political leaders, who will remember those that ARI tries its hardest to help - refugees, the disabled, abandoned and otherwise marginalized.
In this season of giving, we again turn to you, our friends, to help Art Relief International continue the work that we are doing. We are raising funds for the purchase of materials that will help us bring smiles to the faces of under-served persons throughout Northern Thailand. With your help, we can continue to assist Boonrat, a child living with cerebral palsy who is improving his mobility with our weekly art sessions, and Sam, a child living in a local orphanage who always greets our volunteers with a hug and a huge grin. With your help, we will continue to spread laughter in our garden every Thursday with children like Valentine, a young migrant Burmese refugee, whose joy is more than contagious. We will continue to help these and other persons claim their artistic voices and develop both emotionally and physically, so long as we have the tools to do so. Please follow this link to donate to our cause. As always, any amount would be greatly appreciated.
All of us at Art Relief International wish you and yours the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons. See you in the New Year!
In this season of giving, we again turn to you, our friends, to help Art Relief International continue the work that we are doing. We are raising funds for the purchase of materials that will help us bring smiles to the faces of under-served persons throughout Northern Thailand. With your help, we can continue to assist Boonrat, a child living with cerebral palsy who is improving his mobility with our weekly art sessions, and Sam, a child living in a local orphanage who always greets our volunteers with a hug and a huge grin. With your help, we will continue to spread laughter in our garden every Thursday with children like Valentine, a young migrant Burmese refugee, whose joy is more than contagious. We will continue to help these and other persons claim their artistic voices and develop both emotionally and physically, so long as we have the tools to do so. Please follow this link to donate to our cause. As always, any amount would be greatly appreciated.
All of us at Art Relief International wish you and yours the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons. See you in the New Year!
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| Happy Holidays! |
Cheers,
the ARI/CCT Team
