Sofia, Bulgaria

16-30 April 2009 at Red House

Raised: $2,500 ($5,000 after match)

20 little girls going to school for a year!

The photo show / fundraiser in Sofia was a lucky third. There were two more shows / fundraisers before – one in Sydney, one in New York. Sofia did not beat the fundraising reccord of New York, but was a good effort with a final score of $2,500(3,400leva). When doubleded by The Brule family from New York, as part of their global initiative to double (up to $1 million) the amount raised worldwide for Laos until June 30^th, 2009, these funds will be sufficient to fund the full one-year education of 20 girls from Laos. Not bad at all:)  

Thanks to the people who donated their time and efforts to help the photo-show: The entire team of The Red House; Svetoslav Mladenov (svetoslav.mladenov@gmail.com) – prints and marketing materials; Toncho Tomov and Anton Dobrev – multimedia; Leland Crane – slideshow and music; Sachi Cunningham – The movie for Nepal; Iva Roudnikova and Nikolet Jensen – PR; to all journalists that helped spread the word for this photo-show; and last but not least, to my parents, for all their help and support.

New York

3 December 2007 at Gallerybar

Raised: $8,500

34 little girls going to school for a year!

It was a great evening to catch up with old friends, meet new people and drink champagne for charity.

The evening started with a short movie about Room to Read and ended with an uplifting slideshow with pictures and sounds from 15 countries from Asia, Australia and South America.

Everyone got the opportunity to bid for their favorite photograph at a scilend auction. Many left as happy owners of prints or charity calendars, while at the same time helped raise money for girls' education.

A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ELSA AND DAVID BRULE!!! Their offer to match all contributions on the night was not only very generous, but also inspired everyone and made it possible to reach this very impressive result.

Last, but not least, thanks to the people who contributed their time and effort to help me put the show together - my friends Scott Shatz, Leland Crane, Ewelina Szymañska, Casey Kelbaugh, and The Three Maria's - Atanasova, Bliznakova & Miljkovic :), and the volunteers from Room to Read - Angie Zorotheos, Jense Thor, Gabe Heafitz, and Denise Stoot. I was not going to be able to put this together without you guys!

Sydney

8 April, 2007 at Henry Africa's

 Raised: $ 2,000

8 little girls going to school for a year!

Comedian Chris Radburn lifted up the spirits, followed by a fashion parade by our adorable, beautiful volunteer models. Our auctioneer Vic Larusso was explosive. The largest auction item flew out for OZ $560!

HUGE THANKS TO MELANIE NORMAN, the gall who made it all happen. She got all her friends and family involved; she worked before and after work; she planned, co-coordinated, designed, printed, cut, distributed, picked up, arranged, delivered... she she was AMAZING...