 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
  |
Funding AppealSaturday, May 03, 2008 Dear friends, family, HABS supporters past, present and future and anyone else who might be reading this at this moment. Pat and I hope that you are all well and happy and that life is flowing along smoothly for you. As many of you now know, Pat and I began this particular chapter of our lives over 10 years ago when we first visited Jambiani and saw the substantial needs of this community. From that moment, I think we knew that we were destined to be here to help in whatever way we were able. We’ve accomplished a lot since that humble beginning and we now have many years of project development and implementation under our belts. We are proud of what has been and is continuing to be created here and we are grateful for all of the support and encouragement we have received. This truly has given us some of the necessary resources and momentum to keep on going when times have been difficult and challenging. On that note, I would like to explain to you all, the nature of our present challenge. Every year that we continue to facilitate our programs here in Jambiani, we need to generate about $25,000 to $30,000. With the addition of the school, these figures will naturally be higher. To make ends meet each year, Pat and I have always contributed some of our own personal resources to the project, something we expect and something we have been happy to do. This year, however, has been substantially different from all others and we are now finding ourselves in a dilemma that we have never had to deal with before and hence the reason for this letter. Pat and I are not very good at asking for help and I’m feeling quite embarrassed as I type these words but we can’t think of any other avenue to follow at this time. Although we had considerable financial support for the school project, rapid and unforeseen escalations in the cost of building materials contributed to a budget overrun of about $75,000. Consequently Pat and I had to utilize our own personal funds to bring the project to its present state of completion. To make a long story short, we are realizing that our ability to meet the financial demands of the project until the Juice Bar/Restaurant becomes operational has been seriously diluted as we can no longer commit more of our own funds at this time and we see no other option than to ask for assistance to help us through this transition period. We fully expect the Juice Bar/ Restaurant to meet all future sustainability needs of our projects but due to delays in financing and shipping of much needed kitchen equipment, we are now several months behind our original estimates. I suppose you could say for this part of the world, that’s not too bad, but for us it’s disheartening and we are concerned. So we are asking you, if at all possible, to please make a donation to HABS. If you know of someone who might want to contribute, we would appreciate you informing them of our situation. HABS can provide receipts for income tax purposes if required. We would ideally like to raise a buffer of $25,000 to $30,000. This would see us through the transition to a fully operational “front end” at the school and to a funding stream that would eliminate the need for us to “beg” for help in the future. Both Pat and I hope that this letter does not offend you and for those of you who have already made financial contributions to HABS we are truly grateful. Those of you who know us will realize the depth of our predicament and we can assure you that every cent contributed will go towards making a difference in the lives of those people who genuinely need our help. If you feel you would like to assist financially, please contact us at or Dr Stan Marcus in Victoria at for more information. Thanks so much everyone. Alastair and Pat Hands Across Borders Society  |
| Funding Appeal Operation Africa Donor Recognition |