Subscribe to our RSS feed.
Follow Us on TwitterHELP OLIVE KIDS – See report for 2012 fundraiser and how to give 27May12 May 27, 2012
Sunday April 29 saw us celebrate the 5th Annual Olive Kids Fundraising Dinner. With another sold-out crowd in attendance, we were successfully able to deliver on many of the promised targets ahead of this yearâs event.
Having focused on the challenge of delivering an education themed event, the Olive Kids team, along with the 300 plus supporters on the night, collectively we were able to raise sufficient funds to facilitate much of our intended goals which were:
- Reach 150 orphan sponsorships â
- Purchase 4 interactive whiteboards for our partner orphanage in Gaza â
- Purchase drums and setup a music room at the orphanage â
- Cover training and software costs to operate the whiteboards (almost)
- Cover the cost of sending 4 medical surgeons to Palestine in June, and â
- Collect $25,000 in funds to cover our medical and education work (almost, @ $20,000)
There were a number of highlights on the evening, the first of which was the many new supporters who came for the very first time. Without the support of the community and the new friends that have been introduced to the work of Olive Kids and the desperate plight of Palestinian children, we could never hope to deliver the assistance we do. So a very big thanks to the community and especially those new Olive Kids supporters.
We were also very lucky to have another special MC for the evening, Khaled Khalafalla. Khaled is a comedian who was the Joint runner-up in the RAW Comedy National Final in 2011. Entertaining the crowd with eclectic mix of song, dance, pantomime, comedy and passion, there is no doubt that his performance was a highlight of the evening. Khaled Khalafalla Amin Abbas Olive Kids Executive Member.
Representing the Olive Kids board on the evening was Amin Abbas. Â Amin detailed some of the activities that had been successfully undertaken since the last dinner and over the last 5 years of our work. He reminded the audience of the purpose of establishing Olive Kids, essentially filling the void in facilitating charitable work and the urgent needs of the Palestinian Children. Amin outlined the goals for the year ahead including our education project and thanked Rubicon for partnering with us and donating the licence fees of their education software. Our focus will be on amplifying the return on every dollar donated through: (1) capacity building of the Palestinian doctors through educational medical missions like the one planned in June and lead by Professor David Croaker; (2) developing our partner organisations through remote skills transfer and (3) improving the education offerings to the disadvantaged orphan children through new partnerships with specialised companies like Rubicon. âWe aspire is to make the value of your $1 worth a $100â he said.
Also adding to the brilliance of the evening was the Drum Circle Events team. Their motto of âUnite, Uplift, Inspireâ could not have been more true. The entire audience was enthralled by the performance and the chance to participate in such an exciting exercise of camaraderie and fervour. This was an activity that allowed both young and old to be involved and really let their creative and music talents flow.
As ever, the El-Rozana Dabkeh Troupe was outstanding. This yearâs performance was especially captivating as the girls delivered the traditional Palestinian dancing with enormous precision and vigour.
Special Guests from the Children First Foundation and Ms Bronwyn Halfpenny, MP. We were very lucky to have with us two children from Gaza, Eman and Mohammed, who are in Australia under the auspices of the Children First Foundation (CFF).  Accompanying them was the CFFâs CEO Margaret Smith as well as two of the CFF support staff Ljerka Rados and Pat Weldon. The team at CFF do an outstanding job ensuring that innocent children, who would otherwise be forgotten, receive life-saving treatment here in Australia. Olive Kids is extremely proud of our association with CFF and again thank them for their exceptional contribution to humanity. Special thanks also to Ms Bronwyn Halfpenny MP for attending and speaking in strong support of the charitable work of Olive Kids.
Finally, whilst the night was a great success, please do help us achieve more of our goals by donating:
Account name: Olive Kids (Australian Foundation for Palestinian Children)
Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA)
BSB: 063 498 Account Number: 1038 5741
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS REPORT WITH YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND WORK COLLEAGUES IN THE HOPE THAT OUR COLLECTIVE GOOD WORK WILL ENCOURAGE THEM TO DONATE TODAY!
Be sure to follow Olive Kids on facebook and to check out our website www.olivekids.org.au for regular updates on our work.
Thank You.
