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| February 2010 News Archives |
| No major tasks were accomplished in February, but it was a short month. After being accepted to Google Grants, we have been working on our Google AdWords account, but progress has been slow. Another task that is taking shape is the 2nd Annual Michael Ballinger Birthday Fundraiser to benefit Education for the World. The plan is to hold the event on Saturday, May 29th, 2010. More details on this and formal invitations will likely be sent soon. Finally, Happy Birthday this month to our students, Ida Ayu Alit Argantari Dayu (1st) and Ni Made Widiani Kadek (7th). |
| January 2010 News Archives |
| Happy New Year! It is that time of year again. We will be sending donation receipts for past contributions for your 2009 tax deductions purposes on, or before, January 31st. Update: All tax receipts have been emailed, or if email address was not available, then delivered in person. As a guide to itemized deductions, you can consult IRS Publication 526 Charitable Contributions: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf. Also, Happy Birthday to our student Luh Sri Widnyani (4th) and our board member Yoko Ballinger (13th). |
| December 2009 News Archives |
| Happy Holidays! As long as you might already be shopping, why not use GoodShop, which will donate a percentage of your purchase amount to us at no cost to you if you select us as the charity you support? Congratulations to Helen Flavel, who received the Ambassador’s Humanitarian Care Award on the 3rd of December! More information related to the award can be found on the Helen Flavel Foundation Website. There is also an entry on the Bali Discovery website. This month Education for the World was accepted to the Google Grants program and allotted a small daily AdWords budget. Information about one of the new schools, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Bahasa (STIBA) Hita Widya Singaraja, was added to our website, and all email service issues were finally resolved this month. |
| November 2009 News Archives |
| This month Scott made a solo trip to Bali to spend some quality time with the students, check their progress, and also celebrate his birthday (11/8); and as a result of some surprise and fortunate scheduling was able to meet Helen from the Helen Flavel Foundation. New pictures from this trip can be viewed in the gallery pages. Happy Birthday to our students, Ni Komang Sri Nuryanti (2nd) and Ni Luh Sukasih (25th) and also to Helen Flavel (23rd) and our new friend Roy Thomson (23rd). |
| October 2009 News Archives |
| The first clip from the filming done on the July trip has been posted to the web. You can now view the Education for the World video, which provides a 3 minute introduction on YouTube. Unfortunately, this month we were the target of some spammers; and as a result, our email service was temporarily suspended by our service provider. Even after numerous emails and phone calls, our service provider was very slow in resolving this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience that this might have caused. |
| September 2009 News Archives |
| In order to meet grant requirements, Mike will meet with our lawyer this month to secure our official IRS Letter of Determination, which recognizes our section 501(c)(3) status and specifies that contributions to us are tax deductible. Mike and Yoko are also continuing to organize the 2nd annual Memorial Day Fundraiser. Mike is also devising a new fundraising option he is calling the Circle of 100. The idea here is to make the donation process quick and easy for the donor. The plan is to get 100 people to donate the modest amount of $5 from each (bi-weekly) paycheck. Any interested person should be able to go to their human resources department and ask to have $5 deducted automatically from their paycheck, which will result in a $100 donation over the course of a year. If you are interested in becoming part of the circle, email Mike for further instructions. Yet another easy option, which will cost you nothing, is to use the GoodSearch search engine. For more information about GoodSearch (or to see the current amount raised), see the entry on the EFTW Miscellaneous page. |
| August 2009 News Archives |
| With the majority of tuitions and registration fees already
paid, the students are preparing to start their fall semesters. Some of
the biggest changes are happening for our youngest student, Sri. To
facilitate contact with our
student manager, we gave Sri her first ever phone. She is also learning
to drive a motor bike in order to
pass the test to get her driver's
license. After passing the test, the plan is to purchase a used
motor bike for
her to
facilitate travel between home, school and the Sukma Helen Flavel
Learning Centre. Also this month, our friend Nyoman Sukadana,
Director of Project Help & PSHFF, was a guest
speaker
at the Rotary Club of Bali Lovina. Back in America, the board
member election results were finalized this month. |
| July 2009 News Archives |
| Thanks to numerous generous donations, we were able to find,
interview, and enroll three new students during our July trip. Their
names are Ida Luthfiyatin, Ni Made Rai Yulianingsih, and Luh Sri Widnyani. Ida is attending Institut
Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (IKIP) PGRI Bali to get her teaching
license; Yulia will be attending Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan (STIKES)
Bali to become a nurse; and Sri will be attending Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu
Bahasa (STIBA) Hita Widya Singaraja to become an English teacher. During our visit, we also had meetings with Rucina Ballinger, the director of YKIP; Nyoman Sukadana, the director of the Peduli Sesama Helen Flavel Foundation; and the Rotary Club Lovina Bali, where we met Conchita de Jong, who runs the Window on the World project. We were also able to bring a small film crew to record many of these meetings and other events. We hope to have small clips available on the website soon and a more comprehensive video by the end of the year. You can also see the EFTW Newsletter from July for more news. Happy Birthday to our new student, Ni Made Rai Yulianingsih (13th). |
| June 2009 News Archives |
| We have recently received some large donations from new and
repeat donors, so we are now planning on sponsoring three new students
this summer. While we will still need to meet with them in person to
review and verify all the little details, from numerous email
discussions, we have likely already found the new students to sponsor
in July! Right now, we only have tuition money for these potential new
students, so please consider donating to help cover monthly living
expenses for students, which are about $50 per month per student... In addition to the student from the YKIP organization, Mike has also been corresponding with Helen Flavel from www.helenflavelfoundation.org about providing a student. The current focus of the Helen Flavel Foundation is more and more on the provision of education, scholarships, housing, food, and medical care within the Singaraja Regency. This is where they assist the poorest of the poor families. They believe, and we agree, that if you can give a child an education, it will help them in their future life far more than anything else. Due to a registration deadline of Monday (6/15) for her program, we have already signed up our first new student for 2009! You can read more about Ida Luthfiyatin on her student page. Also, the final result for the June fund raising was $4,270 including $1,035 in matching donations from Mike Ballinger! |
| May 2009 News Archives |
| The big event this month was Mike's first fundraiser on May
23rd, which turned out to be a very successful first event! With the
money raised at Mike's birthday fundraiser, we now have enough in the
budget to sponsor one more student. Thank you to all those that
attended and contributed. You can check pictures of Mike's fundraiser
in the gallery pages. Mike also contacted Rucina Ballinger in Bali this month. She is the director and Chief Executive Officer of Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi (YKIP) or the Humanitarian Foundation for Mother Earth. YKIP started as a response to the Bali bombings in 2002, but has evolved since then and is now dedicated to helping, not just the victims of the bombings, but also the needy in Bali through health and education programs. They are in discussions to have YKIP provide a student from their organization. Closer to home, Yoko has continued to work on creating speeches for promoting our cause, and now she and Mike are looking for venues to make presentations, such as the local Rotary, Optimistic Club, and Chamber of Commerce. We have also been working on creating the necessary paperwork for our board member elections to be held this July in Bali. Scott has booked his flight to Bali, so now three of our five board members will definitely be making the trip this year. And last, but not least, Happy Birthday to our founder, Michael Ballinger (18th) and Nee Lee (16th). |
| April 2009 News Archives |
| On April 28th, Ni Komang Sri Nuryanti became our second graduate! Of course, this was very exciting for Komang and for all those whose involvement helped make this happen. Check out pictures of Komang's graduation in the gallery. At our monthly meeting, Mike informed the board members that he has found a potential location to host our golf fundraiser at Warners Hot Springs Golf and Resort. However, as a result of the complexities involved with organizing such an event, this is more likely to happen after our July trip to Bali, instead of before, as previously thought. Speaking of the July trip, Mike's aunt and uncle, John and Marietta Dawson, are making travel arrangements to join us. Since the trip is fast approaching, the group agreed that it was time to reconnect with our contacts in Bali, such as the Rotary Club and YKIP, to start the process of finding new students. In conclusion, Happy Birthday to our student manager, Ni Putu Suarni Dewi (29th). |
| March 2009 News Archives |
| Our students continue to progress, and two are on schedule to graduate in the coming months. Here is what we have been doing lately. As part of her school work, our secretary, Yoko, has been working on creating speeches for promoting our cause. Our Vice President, Matt Dickinson, will be competing in the L.A. Marathon on May 25, 2009. His goal is to raise $2,600. You can find out more about this on his race page. Collectively, we continue to research grant options. This includes looking for grants for funding a short film to graphically illustrate our work and its goals. Because we sincerely believe in the importance of our work and getting our message to potential donors, if necessary, the documentary will be financed personally by our board members. |
| February 2009 News Archives |
| Our founder, Mike Ballinger, and his daughter Yoko have flights booked for the annual summer trip to Bali to visit existing students and find new ones. In addition to continuing to negotiate the particulars of a fund raising golf tournament in San Diego in June, we are also now negotiating to have a short documentary film made while in Bali. During the monthly conference call in which all board members participated, the current, and future, status of each student was reviewed. The majority of students are progressing according to plan and on budget; however, there are still the occasional unexpected expenses. To help cover existing and future expenses, we are branching out beyond individual donations by applying for grants. Mike has begun research at www.grants.gov, and Linda Corrie, a new and welcome volunteer, has enrolled in a grant writing class. Happy Birthday this month to three of our students, Ida Ayu Alit Argantari Dayu (1st), Ni Putu Sudarmini Ami (6th), and Ni Made Widiani Kadek (7th). |
| January 2009 News Archives |
| Happy New Year! In the new year, we will continue to work on raising funds, and we will also be initiating the process of finding potential students for the 2009 school year. For past contributions, we will be sending donation receipts this month for your 2008 tax deductions purposes. Update: all receipts for your tax deductions use were emailed and/or delivered on, or before, January 31st. As a guide to deductions, you can consult IRS Publication 526 Charitable Contributions: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf |
| December 2008 News Archives |
| In December, the president of our organization made a trip to Bali to attend the graduation ceremony for Dewi, our first graduating student. Check out pictures of Dewi's graduation in the gallery. During this visit, he also checked on all the students and organized several meetings with them. This included visiting both of the new schools, Universitas Udayana and Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar. More information about the schools and pictures will be added to the website soon. Pictures from the student dinner in Denpasar at Warung Bendega have already been added to the gallery. During these meetings, the students' progress was reviewed and some small issues were discussed and resolved. |
| November and October 2008 News Archives |
| Education for the World is now in the planning stages of its
first major fund raising event. We are planning to host a golf
tournament in San Diego, CA in June of 2009. The exact dates and event
site are currently being negotiated. There is also a chance we will
have some local professional athletes at the event to support our cause
and educational endeavors. As the number of new students is limited
only by our funding, we will continue to pursue personal and corporate
sponsorships for at least two new students for 2009. We are also working on forming partnerships with two California colleges to give academic lectures and guidance to the nursing schools in Bali. Some of the goals are the following: to have the colleges send professors and supplies to the schools, provide lectures directly to the student bodies, and meet with school officials to update curriculum and provide direction for class structures and academic standards. UPDATE: We have found a registered nurse, Pamela Kohlbry, to travel to Bali to help us fulfill these goals! |
| September 2008 News Archives |
| As September begins, so does the new school year... Ami and
Komang will be starting the final year of their programs. Dayu will be
starting her second year. And Ni Luh and Kadek will be starting their
first year. As you may have already noticed, significant changes have
been made to the website. The general look has been changed, and
hopefully you will find the site to be well-organized and easily
accessible. More photos from our July trip have been added to the
gallery, and more information has been added about the students,
including autobiographies written by the students... |
| August 2008 News Archives |
| Our first graduating student, Ni Putu Suarni Dewi, has already assumed the role of our Bali student manager. On the 7th of August, she and her family had a small, Bali-style ceremony at our new student center, which she officially opened afterwards. The new office space will serve as our local communication hub and also as a meeting place for all our students. There they will be able to get assistance from Dewi if necessary, access the Internet at no cost to them, help each other in their studies, and socialize to strengthen the bond among them. |
| July 2008 News Archives |
| As a result of numerous generous donations, we were able to
find and enroll two new students during our July trip. Their names are Ni Luh Sukasih and Ni Made Widiani. They have both completed
their entrance exams and have been accepted at their respective
colleges, Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Udayana and Universitas Maha
Saraswati Denpasar. We had several very successful meetings during our short time in Bali, including one with the Bali Ubud Sunset Rotary Club. As a result of that meeting, a committee of local volunteers was created to help support our efforts. The committee is comprised of Asri Kerthyasa, Rucina Ballinger (head of the local YKIP foundation), Karen O'Keefe (director of SOS Medical Clinic) and Wayan Rustiasa (director of Campuhan College). As usual, the website is a work in progress. The menu of links at the top has been slightly revised, including the addition of a miscellaneous page. The next major addition will be autobiographies from each of the students; however, this may take a while. In the meantime, the gallery was expanded with some new pictures from our recent trip. |
| Spring 2008 News Archives |
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| 2007 News Archives |
| ... |
| 2006 News Archives |
| The summer of 2006 was when the idea for Education for the World originated and first started to take shape. For more about our beginnings, please read Mike's story. |
| Our goal
is to promote compassion, respect, cultural understanding, and peace by providing educational opportunities around the world... www.eftw.org |