Kern Foundation offers to match donations
to the Golden Link School in 2009
Following the enormous success of last year’s fundraising project, the Kern Foundation has offered up to US$20,000 to match donations to the Golden Link School in the Philippines in 2009. The superb response from within the USA and from TOS members around the world in 2008 raised US$39,613 and the Kern Foundation contributed US$35,000, making a total of US$74,613 for the school.
The funds raised in 2008 will be used for the construction of an Assembly Hall to host special programs and school-wide events. At present, the school uses two combined classrooms as an assembly hall for programs, so the new hall will be most appreciated. The cost of the new hall will be about US$48,000.
The Golden Link School’s next building project will be the construction of a dormitory for faculty and students. The designs have been drawn and will be finalised soon. It is estimated that the dormitory will cost about US$80,000, so the funds raised from this year's Kern Foundation matching grant project, together with the remaining funds from the amount raised in 2008, will be used for the dormitory.
According to Mr Vicente Hao Chin Jr, National Director of the TOS in the Philippines and Chairman of the Golden Link Board, the school is going from strength to strength. “We are glad to let you know that the Golden Link has been given a favourable evaluation by the Government's Commission on Higher Education to open a small college, and we will start by June 2009”, he says. “This approval has come quite late and we only have three months to announce and accept students. So for this school year, we are not expecting many students, but we will go ahead anyway. The dormitory will be an important facility for the college department.”
Vic continues, “We are extremely grateful to the TOS USA, international TOS members and the Kern Foundation for the invaluable support that they have given. The Golden Link School (now College) is the largest project we have undertaken, but we are just half-way to our vision: to make a difference in the educational system in the Philippines and offer a philosophy and approach that integrates academic competence with theosophical insights on living.”
Can you help raise US$40,000 for the Golden Link College in 2009?
Whether you give one dollar or one thousand, every contribution made through the TOS in the USA will be doubled up to the $20,000 limit of the Kern Foundation’s grant. There are several ways to donate:
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The old fashioned way – if your bank is outside the USA, send a bank cheque or draft to Theosophical Order of Service, P.O. Box 660, Warrenville, IL 60555, USA (be sure to write Golden Link in the memo line). USA residents can send regular cheques drawn on an American bank.
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You can go to the TOS USA website, http://theoservice.org/donate; in the pull-down menu select the ‘CEF Golden Link School (Manila, Philippines)’ option, and using any major credit card donate using their secure PayPal account.
- You can donate through your country’s national TOS if they have an appeal for the Golden Link School/College.