Jhamtse Canada Fall 2016 Newsletter
FALL 2016
Welcome to Jhamtse Canada’s newsletter. The word Jhamtse means love and compassion in Tibetan. Our mission is to relieve poverty in developing nations by providing basic necessities of life, including food, clean water, clothing and/or shelter to children and families who are poor or in need.
LOCATIONS PROVIDED SUPPORT
Last year over $46,000 of funds raised in 2015 was devoted to relief and programming included support to the Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community located in the Himalayan foothills at the “end of the road” in northeastern India. The Community is beside the Bhutan eastern border where India meets Tibet and Bhutan. This area is remote and very difficult to travel to so stories about the area and the Community are precious.
CURRENT STORIES
One such story is of course Tashi and the Monk which continues to amaze audiences around the globe having accumulated 30 international film festival awards. Last month in New York Tashi won the 2016 EMMY for Best Short Documentary. Andrew Hinton one of the Directors and Producer accepted the award. In his speech, Andrew thanked Lobsang Phuntsok and the children at Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community. The award and acceptance speech are highlighted on our web site at JhamtseCanada.ca.
Andrew Hinton accepts the 2016 Emmy for Tashi and the Monk.
Older children at Jhamtse Gatsal preparing for high school testing.
The children at Jhamtse Gatsal continue to thrive in the remote community. The picture above shows the oldest kids ready to take the standardized tests for Grade 11 at the nearest Government high school which is a two-hour drive away from the Community. This long commute highlights the need for a school bus which we hope to provide shortly.
Younger children practice traditional dance at the Community.
Both the girls and boys excel at academics, volleyball and traditional dance. The children are often asked to perform at various festivals in the region.
Our great Volunteers in Vancouver created a fun night of food and music on October 4th in Vancouver at the Rowing Club in Stanley Park. The event, sponsored by the Synergy Collective, was sold out and the crowd was thoroughly entertained by seven local performers including David Sinclair, Ross Douglas, Melanie Dekker, Mark James Fortin and Yvonne McSkimming singing original songs about life in and around Vancouver.
Singin’ Round performers jam before a sold out Vancouver crowd.
With over 150 people coming out in support, the evening’s activities raised more than $5,000 for Jhamtse Canada. These funds, along with prior donations, will enable us to purchase the needed 24 seat school bus for the Children’s Community.
The sold out Vancouver Rowing Club crowd hears great local musicians performing original songs.
Our special thanks go to Terry Bulych, Carol Evenchick, and Mark Riddell who made the night a tremendous success. The Vancouver volunteer group have already made plans for a follow up event in 2017 and will need your help (see Upcoming Events). We also thank the Synergy Collective who organize the Just Singin’ Round music and dinner events for many worthwhile charities throughout the year.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Jhamtse Canada is in its second year as a registered charity and continues to operate as a 100% volunteer organization with no paid staff. During the prior year we raised over $117,000 while keeping expenses below $13,000. We committed the 2015 accumulated surplus to an additional three years of continued support to Jhamtse Gatsal of $35,000 per annum including this year’s payment to be forwarded later this month.
Administration costs are covered by personal donations from Adarsh Mehta and Jeff Jenner. As a result, 100% of your contributions goes entirely to great causes. We continue to support Jhamtse Gatsal and search to find other worthwhile organizations to bring to your attention.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Vancouver volunteer group has another event planned for November 7th 2017 in support of Jhamtse Canada. It will be the second annual dinner and entertainment organized through the Synergy Collective Society. Synergy is a community-based organization that blends art with social responsibility. The evening is at the Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park. Our goal is to sell out the event again so anyone interested in purchasing tickets and/or volunteering with the general organization of the event please call Carol Evenchick at 604-985-2511.
DIRECTORS
The Board of Jhamtse Canada:
- Linda Bertoldi, LLB Partner, Bordner Ladner Gervais
- Mark Foley, President, Jhamtse International
- Jeff Jenner, CA, CBV, CEO, Jenner Renewable Consulting
- Adarsh Mehta, MSc, MBA, Vice President, JRC Inc.
DONATIONS & VOLUNTEERS
Donations can be made by cheque and sent to the address on the footer of this page or by Paypal or credit card from our website (http://jhamtsecanada.ca/donate/). f you are interested in volunteering or creating other events for Jhamtse Canada please call Adarsh Mehta at amehta@jhamtsecanada.ca or telephone 905-990-2464.
We thank you for your support and trust.
