Posted January, 2010

If you think you might find it a problem to organise a festive gathering for 15, or a challenge to invite 50 good friends to join you for an afternoon’s entertainment, or maybe just a bit demanding to invite 200 or neighbours round for an evening frolic, spare a thought for those faced with the CCF Holiday challenge – a party for 500 plus.

On 25th December, CCF’s organiser’s confronted this challenge head on and conquered it with ease. The site of the mammoth gathering was CCF4. The furthest flung of CCF’s facilities and home to its vocational centre, it is blessed with enough space to allow every CCF kid and the staff that came with them from their home facilities not just to meet and mingle but to party.

And they partied all day, and joked all day and played games all day. For some it was an utterly memorable first – a world of friendship and pleasure that had previously existed for them, if it ever did, only in their dreams. For others it was a chance to renew old friendships or make new ones. The band pounded out their songs and music; the choir and solo singers were unforgettable; food was plentiful and the soft drink flowed in an ever-welcome, iced stream. When the sky dimmed and the sun slipped away, the lights of the Christmas tree, the setting for dozens of photographs destined for sponsors across the globe, twinkled ever more brightly and the dancing began.

Fast music and slow music, old music and new music, loud music and soft music all bumped into each other as their decibels bounced or oozed from the speakers. Each variation directed the dancers’ rythym, switching the happy hundreds in an instant between the elegant, swaying, restrained moves of Khmer traditional dance to the energy-eating jabs and frantic motions of the modern.

The evening and the event ended with the giving of gifts. The distribution of the gift bags, one for each of the CCF kids, peaked the excitement level of the day. Named for and aimed at each individual, their contents were shared and admired on the buses which carried their loads of singing, contented party goers back to their facilities. The Annual Party was over – but there’s another to look forward to next year.

Posted January, 2010

Robert and Beth were clearly finding it hard to take in that they were actually in Cambodia and actually in CCF and that the person in front of them, lively, healthy and shining-eyed with her own delight, really was the girl they had sponsored so long ago and that they had waited so long to meet.

But they were there and the moment was as real as the people around them, but it still wasn’t easy to absorb. Had they been planning the trip for long? “We’d always been saying that we’ve got to go one day, but we never did it,” said Beth. “It was our sons,” added Robert. “We were saying again that we’d love to go and they said, ‘Look, do it. It’s December now, so do it in December.’ And here we are.”

Five years previously they were far away, listening a friend, Scott Neeson, tell them about his hopes and plans around doing something real, something positive and long-lasting for the children he had encountered in Phnom Penh, primarily children of the dump, whose plight and likely fates had so shocked him. “You can count on us,” they told him. So he did, and they became the founding members of CCF’s robust and unique sponsorship Scheme out - Program, a scheme which now encompasses over 450 children and which has enriched the lives of sponsor and sponsored alike. And now, 60 months later, they were on their first ever visit to Cambodia for the best reason they could imagine – to meet and share time with their sponsor child.

In the days that followed, accompanied in the latter part of their visit by the 2 sons who had played such a key part in the process, they got to know Srey Mon’s routine and how she lived and studied in CCF. They met her friends and, accompanied by CCF staff, took her and some of them out to a local market, an experience they will forever remember. On their final evening, the family joined in Srey Mon’s evening modern music class where Robert displayed his drum and keyboard skills to an enthusiastically impressed – if mildly surprised – audience. But all things, good and even better, come to an end. When the door closed on the lesson and the visit alike it did so to cheers and farewells that must have resounded through the building. “We’ll be back,” was the family view as they stepped into the road. And they’ll be welcome.

Posted December, 2009

It was a good day at CCF’s Community Centre, CCF5, when US Ambassador Carol Rodley came to visit. Callers for medical treatment and advice were being steadily processed while safe, fresh water being bottled for later delivery to needful households in the local community. Customers for the subsidized rice purchase program came and went and the satellite school geared up for its next round of classes. Expectant mothers arrived to register or ask about the maternal care program and the new nursery echoed to the occasional wail of a reluctant bather. All the while the 70 day-care tinies, alight with their usual enthusiasm for visitors and anything out of the ordinary, were eager bundles of well-cleaned energy, just waiting for whatever was going to happen, to happen.

And when it did their joy was boundless. ‘Hello Mama!’ was their rather surprising cry as they engulfed the Ambassador and her party, itself accompanied and guided by Noeurn, CCF’s Country Manager. The children’s smiles and waves and chatter provided a constant background as Ambassador Rodley, no stranger to CCF5, toured the facility, paying special attention to the recently opened nursery in which she saw now flourishing babies, a world away from the condition they were in when they first came to CCF’s attention. The newest development, a brand new, standalone medical centre, which is currently under construction. In a very short time this centre will give CCF’s vital and unique medical support program a major boost.

Ambassador Rodley herself enhanced the Community Centre’s healthcare impact when, on behalf of the people of the United States, she presented CCF with 1000 mosquito nets. Their gift is not only enormously useful but enormously timely. According to Cambodia’s Ministry of Health more than 60,000 malaria cases were recorded in the first 9 months of this year, almost double the number for the same period in 2008. At the same time a malarial parasite is emerging in western Cambodia which appears to be resistant to the most effective current treatment. The best way to protect against malaria is to ensure that the malaria-bearing mosquito gets no chance to land, attack and infect. The net, especially when insecticide-impregnated, remains the best defence. Thousands of local people within CCF’s caring ambit will now have better protection against this scourge and every mother on the maternal care program will find such a net in the Welcome Baby pack which CCF will provide on her return home after giving birth.

When it came time to go, the Ambassador made clear her admiration for CCF and its work, declaring roundly that it is clearly doing ‘a great job.’ She left to a renewed surge of cheering and waving from her 70 daycare admirers, each and all of whom will share CCF’s delight on any return visit she ever cares to make.

Posted November, 2009

For a week and a day just before Water Festival, 25 children at CCF6 got the chance to take part in a week of photography and cross- cultural exchange thanks to the 3 strong team from Class Act who came to visit CCF.

Based in San Diego, Class Act’s mission is to foster development of the performing arts, visual arts and technology programming to benefit children in the local community and the developing world. One of their methods involves the creation and exchange of personal photo profiles between American children and their overseas counterparts. These profiles, showing the places and people that matter to each child, reach across space and culture to let giver and receiver know that they share the same planet and that getting to know each other’s way of life now can be both fun and fulfilling.

So for an hour each day of the 8 day course, CCF6’s budding photographers were taught and thought about getting the right subject and choosing the right background. They plotted their angles, angled their layouts and most important of all they took real photos with real cameras. They created atmosphere and recorded action, caught their friends and looked at the world through different eyes. And they had fun. When all the pictures were taken and the folders created each of the new photographers was proud to gift their profile to an unknown child far away and to receive, in return, the words and images from a distant, friendly face. Everyone had had fun, everyone had learned something and everyone had helped make their world just that little bit nicer. It was indeed a Class Act for all.

And how did the Class Act trio enjoy their time at CCF?

“CCF made it very easy to work with them. Communication was clear and consistent from the time we started planning and throughout our time in Cambodia. Our liaison not only made sure the logistical side of things were covered, like transportation, meetings and class times, locations, etc. - it also felt like he was our personal tour guide to Cambodian culture and to CCF's history and activities. I felt like we were treated like special guests. And the kids - In class they were focused and participated with passion with everything we did. It was a blast to spend time with both the children in class as well as all the children who were outside of the classroom. I really felt like I made a personal connection with several of the children which was special for me, and I hope special for them too.” Dave, Board President				“The Class-ACT Children's Global Art Exchange programs has reached a new level through the kindness and generosity we've been shown at CCF. We're looking forward to an ongoing relationship through which we can inspire our American children to become responsible and caring global citizens.”    Niels, Executive Director
“In meeting the staff and spending time with the children I found that CCF is a place where people live. It is here that these children, most of whom have been working on the dumps since infancy, are given the opportunity to live, to be children. It is incredibly humbling to be greeted with such warmth and a smiling face when one knows what desperate hardships these children have faced on a daily basis. This has been my great pleasure at CCF - finding the joy and energy that every child has and seeing it shine in an often grim world.” Jessica, Photographer

Posted October, 2009

“Taking these young children out of the horrors of the garbage dump, away from the abuse or neglect of their home lives, was just the first step. The longer term mission was always to prepare them for a formal education. Today is a special day for CCF. The bridge from daycare to entering the school system has opened-and it works.” Scott Neeson, Founder of CCF

One day last week perhaps the most excited place in all of Phnom Penh, maybe all of Cambodia, was the site of the CCF Community Center, which stands almost in the shadow of the old dump, well within smelling distance of its stench and the eye-stinging reach of its smoke. But on that morning neither smoke nor smell were in the air – it was too full of School! For this was Day One, and CCF’s First Day at School project was underway with CCF’s 31 most junior graduates, the first cohort from our Daycare scheme, readying to go into Cambodia’s school system.

And what a morning. Maybe you’ve had the experience of readying one kid, or two, three even for Day One. Try to imagine doing the same for 31 – ‘herding cats’ is just one of the descriptors that comes to mind. And it just doesn’t do the pink and blue and white frenzy justice. It comes nowhere near capturing the enormous grins, the friend-hugging exhilaration, the sheer joy of 31 clean and crisp children on the edge of doing the previously unthinkable and, for their families, the once utterly unattainable – going to school as regular, permanent students.

And it all ran well, flawlessly in fact. The kids all arrived and assembled on time. Clean and fully CCF-equipped with their pencils and crayons, books and bags and bottles and, joy of joys, their wondrously received very own pink packs, they swirled around the tuk-tuks which, equally efficiently, had arrived to ferry them to their new adventure. Boarding took seconds. The wait for the engines to start seemed to take a year. And then, it was done. Rattling and swaying, the tuk-tuks took their waving, grinning, joyful cargoes on their way, through the gates and round the corner – to school. And for a few moments it was quiet and there was a chance to realize what had just happened.

The 31 children who made up that laughing cargo had shown that being born on a rubbish dump, or in an extremity of poverty, or spending the earliest years in abuse and neglect need not condemn a child to a hopeless, squalid life. It showed that CCF’s Daycare program was working. The program was never just about keeping the daycare children safe and away from the horrors of the dump, but to start and support them on their way to becoming good, educated, decent children; children who would have their own chance to develop their own skills and abilities and have as much opportunity as anyone else to become full and useful members of their own society. It is a program designed not just as a haven from distress but as a launchpad to the future.

And it’s not an exclusive program either for the 31 were not the only children to benefit from CCF’s launch pad that day. CCF’s commitment has always been not just to the children in its care, but to their families and their communities. So the First Day project stretched well beyond CCF’s walls and included many others; in most cases children whose applications to join CCF have had to be declined, mainly because of CCF’s current stretched-to-breaking point capacities. CCF registered these children, paid their school fees, bought their uniforms and books and ensured they got to school. They too, just like their tuk-tuk borne friends, are part of CCF’s wider circle of care.

For everyone in that circle, Day One is over now. It will not quickly be forgotten by those who took part, not least by the 31 smilers, their thrilled families and CCF’s own staff. For all involved it was a good day and, hugely enjoyable. But most importantly, for the kids, the 31, it was a great start to what should be a good, long and rewarding journey into the world of education.

Posted September, 2009

When Karate comes to mind we tend to think immediately of speed, control, discipline and precision, of the strength and agility needed to move and connect with grace and power. And we think right. Every one of these attributes was on full display at Phnom Penh’s Dr. Moniroth annual Karate tournament, held over 2 days in September. The event saw almost 20 teams pit themselves against each other in a succession of fast, focussed, energetic contests. And it saw CCF’s students give an outstanding account of themselves.

In these competitions, every team and individual contender threw themselves, not only into their struggles for victory but into the spirit of the sport. The founder of Shotokan Karate, Gichin Funakoshi, declared that; ‘The ultimate aim of the art of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the characters of its participants.’ If this event was anything to judge by, every one of the organisations represented had brought their students to the mat steeped in this good-character principle. The level of sportsmanship was striking throughout. Time after time, furious onslaughts and major and marginal triumphs or defeats ended in bows, helping hands, real smiles and hugs. It was as impressive as the sweat and effort and intense concentration which were visible in every bout and display.

But while grace in combat and defeat were inspiring, so was the ability to win and win well. When the scoring announcements were finally made to the packed and hushed hall, time after time delighted CCF teams were called to the winner’s rostrum to be awarded their cups. Their places were taken by a steady stream of individual contestants making the same much cheered ascents to collect their own well-won medals. It was a good day that built well on an already good year. January saw six of CCF’s older students reach the top rung of Karate’s colour-coded ladder of success as proud earners of the internationally coveted Black Belt. September has been good for cups and medals. What will the December’s contests bring?

Below; In January 2009, six CCF students won the right to wear the famous Black Belt.

Posted October, 2009

One of the many ways CCF cares for its children is by caring for the training needs of its teaching staff. A major focus of CCF’s educational drive is to give all of its students English language skills. But teaching English is never easy and the task is made even more demanding when it is not the teacher’s native language.

In July, CCF started to take advantage of a generous offer from LanguageCorps, a leader in providing TEFL/TESOL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language/Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) programs across the globe to provide free TESOL training and certification for CCF’s staff.

“We are impressed with the organization that Scott has put together, and how it is improving the lives of these children,” says Jerry Patton, founder and CEO of Massachusetts based LanguageCorps. “With our extensive background in TESOL training, this seemed like the best way to make an immediate impact by increasing the effectiveness of both teachers and managers at CCF.”

“While our immediate task is nutrition and health care, it is the investment in education that will change this generation,” says Scott. “The better trained the teachers, the greater the opportunity to lift a child and their family out of poverty and into a meaningful, productive life. Language Corps is very highly regarded and the opportunity provided by Jerry (Patton) allows CCF to reach another level of teacher training.”

Posted September, 2009

A few months ago CCF was invited to contribute a piece to the Lakhaon (Drama) International Festival of Culture 2009, a major arts event supported by the French Cultural Institute. The venue for the Festival was the Chenla Theatre. Recently fully renovated and with seating for 600, the Chenla is Phnom Penh’s and Cambodia’s most prestigious arts venue.

Under the direction of Soung Sopheak, CCF’s Head of Arts and Drama, CCF’s dramatists rose to the challenge and their performance of Daylight’s Darkness, effectively a dramatization of the lives many of the actors themselves once led, was stark and effective.

As the full house audience gathered and took its seats they could not fail to be struck by the looming bulk of the open stage, its refuse piles, feeble shack and rusting drums, and the sense of eerie menace which leaked from it and seeped, like the producer’s artificial smoke, across the auditorium. All that seemed to be missing was the reek and nose-stinging stench of the real thing, sitting a scant few kilometers away from the performers and their relaxed spectators.

The audience didn’t stay relaxed for long. A procession of shaded, shabby figures, shoulders hunched from hopelessness and the weight of dragging a living from the detritus of one of South East Asia least rich cities, materialized on stage. Each addressed the audience directly and told his or her story, bitterly lamenting the fates which had brought them to this place and this pass. Then, shuffling and snuggling into the debris, they re-enacted what had once been their own lives when they sought sleep among trash and rats.

A video backdrop heaved the nightly roar of dump truck engines, the glare of their lights and the threat of their bone-crunching wheels from their memories onto the stage and the silence which followed their departure brought not peace but war as the group squabbled and made up and fought amongst itself as the evil night passed.

Daylight brought no warmth to the scene but only the prodigal return of a lost parent and the officious maraudings of unsympathetic officials, an event which brought some humor to enliven the darkness of the theme and bring a touch of joy to the cracked existences on display. There was no joy in the finale however, when the errant, remorseful parent died alone and the child scavengers returned to find yet another light, however unreliable, extinguished in their lives. It was not a performance that can easily be forgotten.

Posted September, 2009

	A future leader meets one from yesteryear?

In August CCF sent 5 of its girls to the US to attend the Global Youth Leadership Summit under the aegis of the Anthony Robbins Foundation at the University of San Diego in California. Their trip was an enormous success with all 5 making an individual mark at the summit, often recognized by awards, and the group making a collective and highly positive impact on all who came into contact with them. But how did they feel about the experience? What did they get from it?

‘Before I always looked down at myself, I was scared and weak,’ says Ya Mory Net, ‘but its different before and now.’ What made the difference? ‘I got love from my team, they made me be brave. When they said, “Mory Net you can do it!”, it inspired me all the time. Although I cannot speak English so well, they always comforted me.’

Soem Soknoeurn valued what she learned about teamwork, especially from one of the games; ‘When I played this game, I just knew its meaning. It means that if your team does this game and your team members do not unite, your team will lose. But when your team works together and does not discriminate against each other in terms of race, or poverty, and so on, your team can win.’ And she found that she had to apply some of the conference lessons to her own outlook. ‘When I met other people the first time, they are really polite people, smart, funny, and some are sexy-dressed. But for sexy-dressed people, do not think they are bad people, because we have different cultures. I was at first surprised by the way some of the youth dressed, but after that I learned that it is crossed cultures and we have different cultures.’

Khoeurn Srey Nich appreciated the summit’s matching message about the uniqueness of each of us; ‘It made me feel I am special because I learned that everyone has something which makes people different from one to another and we must not accept if someone looks down on us.’

While everyone valued the instruction and discussion on leadership, communication and unity that ran through the conference, it appears that the major lessons learned were personal and were about freeing up and trusting in their own abilities. ‘Before I joined this program,’ declares Oark Nay Houy, ‘I was so shy, I dared not do something and I am afraid of making mistakes. Now I have no more shyness and I can perform better.’ Seang Srey Lin echoes this feeling and notes that, ‘Now I can change my feeling’. Asked to summarize what she gained from the summit, she smiles, pauses and carefully states; ‘It made me braver and friendlier.’

Mory Net clearly reflects the views of the others, when she considers what difference the summit will make to her own future. ‘I recognize that I am only able to make my dream come true if I put in into action. I want to be a doctor. I want to help poor families with both hands. I want to learn a lot to support my family and my country to overcome the problems that stop us from achieving our goals. To succeed in this, I must step outside my comfort zone and I stop myself from saying: “I cannot.”.’ For all of them, the summit message seems to be; ‘I can.’

Learning to Lead: Some of the CCF group and an instructor get to grips with a challenge.

Posted August, 2009

CCF’s girls have been an outstanding hit at the Global Youth Leadership Summit held by the Anthony Robbins Foundation in San Diego. Their manners, involvement and effectiveness have all drawn praise. And there is no better way to share news of their success than to let you see the letter that brought the news to us.

Dear Scott,

I am pleased to tell you that our conference at the Global Youth Leadership Summit finished today and it was a very proud moment when our kids received awards for the activities there!

The conferences lasted 5 days which included listening to speakers talk about Leadership Skills as well as Olympic Games, Group Activities, and Communication Skills. All our kids were put into different groups (there are 13 groups in total), and all their activities are counted and today they announced the Groups that won. Nay Houy's group won the silver medal and for Sok Noeurn's Group got the bronze medal ….. it was challenging for our kids in term of language, but our kids did a very good job .. and got lots of compliments from both the kids and the staff there. …. I am really proud of them!

Sok Noeurn is a star! On the second day of the conference, she got a $20 prize for being her initiative, among 250 kids!! …. And today which is the last day, she was awarded the Team Leader of the Week by her team members! ……I was very surprised to hear this (and Sok Noeurn was the same!). So when Sok Noeurn went to the stage and came back, she was carried by her team members to her seat!

All our kids are loved and were encouraged by their group members to participate in all the activities as well as by the coaches and the staff there! They communicated with kids from different countries as well as the coaches and staff there! It was really fantastic!!

I hope they can share what they have learned to their friends, their families, and as well as the community.

 

Please have a nice day!!

Best regards,
Nin

Posted July, 2009

Even when working under the midday sun and the smoke of Phnom Penh’s noxious and notorious rubbish dump, Rorn Kosal, 21, a scavenger in a jobless family, dreamt of a ‘bright future’. In his vision he would have a job and it would be not just any job. It would be one in which he could cook; his ‘favourite skill’. His friend, 20 year old Sarith, a former subsistence farmer whose schooling fell victim to his poverty but who loves “history books” and is desperate to support his family, shared the same impossible dream; to learn to cook “and work in a great restaurant.” Dynoeurn, from a family of 8 that has “not enough food and no work” knew that training might be the stepping stone to a job – maybe even a supervisor’s job – in the restaurant business in which he would be “a real chef”. And Sarun, at 19 the youngest in the group, as he hunted the mountain of rotting refuse which was his only source of income, hoped that life could be more than existence on a rubbish dump in an alcohol-afflicted family and dared to dream that he might one day walk the floor, clean and competent, as “a restaurant manager”.


In the recent past these were only dreams but now the Star Bakery’s Community Outreach Program has given all of these young men the basic tools they need to build their own futures and start climbing towards their goals. This training scheme is aimed at youngsters from the dump communities who are not otherwise involved with CCF and puts them through an intensive 3 month front-of-house and basic catering course. In these busy months their application to work, ability to learn and willingness to push themselves are all shaped and tested. These young men’s well earned success on this program has brought them Certificates and satisfaction, but much more importantly it has brought them all, thanks to CCF’s job placement project, real jobs in real catering businesses.

 

Once united only in their poverty and the bleakness of their career prospects, they are now united in achievement. They brought ability and determination to the course. CCF gave them knowledge and skills. The combination, and the jobs they now have, gives them a chance to make their dreams come true.

Posted July, 2009

Posted July, 2009

Click here for CCF 1 Award Winners		Click here for CCF 2 Award Winners		Click here for CCF 4 Award Winners		Click here for CCF 6 Award Winners

Posted May, 2009

CCF is thrilled to announce that The Prem Rawat Foundation has renewed their commitment to our nutrition program with a grant of $20,000 for 2009. The goal of the grant is to improve the health of the children and families in our care through complete and adequate nutrition and free access to clean water.

An estimated 45% of Cambodia’s children suffer from malnutrition, and with the help of generous donors like The Prem Rawat Foundation, we are able to counter this crippling problem. Each day, the 464 children in our care receive three complete meals and nutritious snacks, which allow them to gain weight, build their immune systems and focus on the rigor of classroom activities.

Our subsidized rice distribution scheme is the lynchpin of our community food assistance program. Families who would otherwise be unable to afford the high cost of rice can buy this staple food through CCF at a fraction of market prices. Prices are pegged at pre-inflation rates of January 2008. Through this weekly distribution process, an average of 660 people are able to afford sufficient rice, keeping families healthy and together. CCF also distributes nutritionally-enhanced bread made fresh daily from our Star Bakery, which feeds 2,400 children and adults each week. Our Community Center is home to an evening café featuring subsidized meals and a place for local families to gather.

CCF’s water program was introduced as a counter to the high child mortality rate, with the lack of affordable clean water accounting for an estimated 87% of serious illnesses. All families have 20 gallon container that can be refilled 7 days a week, at no cost. Water delivery is made to the sick and incapacitated. (see: http://alexanderhinton.com/2008/01/highlight-cambodian-childrens-fund.html)

Cambodia, along with the majority of the developing world, is sliding toward a new famine. Within this context, the Cambodian Children's Fund serves one of the most impoverished and deprived populations in the world. The Prem Rawat Foundation grant provides our community with an assurance that their basic food requirements will continue to be met. With so many ambitious plans to save the world, the beauty of Prem Rawat's work is in its simplicity: feed the impoverished. We extend our gratitude to The Prem Rawat Foundation for investing in this life-saving work.

Posted October, 2008

CCF is committed to rebuilding futures and bringing new hope to children and families who have been discarded and deserted. The Steung Meanchey community is where so many of our students once lived and worked, and even in times of uncertainty, as the community members’ needs evolve, so will we continue to redefine our methods and reshape our care to devote the best possible attention and respect to these families.

We are motivated in our community outreach services in part by the profound changes we have seen in the CCF students, and in 2008 we have redoubled our efforts to give Steung Meanchey families the information, security and assistance they need to live healthier lives. It has always been our hope that by fostering a sense of community and a sense of pride through our Community Center, evaluation and responsibility by community members will follow.

Our expanding services have shown remarkable progress in uniting a formerly fragmented group of families and shaping a more positive social network. No longer reliant on local healers or unsanitary health remedies (see photo left) people in the Steung Meanchey area now have unprecedented access to clean water and free daily medical care, health education and counseling. With the help of twice-weekly visits from a mobile medical unit, our community center health program – originally developed to serve 100 people per month – now offers care to an average of 700 children and families per month. Urgent cases are referred to area hospitals, often with Community Center nursing staff accompanying the families to serve as patient advocates.

Our latest outreach initiative, food relief and distribution, is one of the most urgent needs CCF has faced to date. Our newly launched food program is providing rice to the most destitute families via a voucher distribution system whereby individuals have the opportunity to buy rice at subsidized prices. By negotiating directly with local rice mills for bulk costs, CCF is able to sell the rice to community members at subsidized prices, thereby providing for a larger section of our target population and avoiding placing the recipient families in a cycle of dependence. Money from these sales is used to purchase more rice for subsidized distribution. On the first day of sales, we sold over 1,000 lbs of rice. The CCF Community Center has also opened an evening café offering subsidized meals made from locally purchased produce, and we frequently distribute free meal vouchers to families in need. Open for four hours each evening, the café typically serves over 500 people per month.
		Founder and Executive Director Scott Neeson on one of his daily visits to the Steung Meanchey community – here sharing conversation and a rice voucher with an area mother.