Ride to Help End Hunger in the Siem Reap Province
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Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 - Support 9 Cyclists with Disabilities who are Riding from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on the 16 - 19 July 2020
Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 is a fundraising event with 9 cyclists with disabilities who will cycle 251 kilometers from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap over 4 days.
Each cyclist fundraising goal is to end hunger, for at least the next 6 months, for their own family and 90 other families in need of food support by raising funds for the Siem Reap Food Bank through the ride.
https://www.lifecyclecambodia.org/
The cyclists have several things in common:
They are all strong, capable, cool, fun-loving, and admirable.
They each grew up in poverty and it is still a daily concern for themselves and their families, especially now with the economic impact of COVID-19.
They are motivated to help others who need food and health support.
They all have a physical disability due to either birth defects, illness, or accidents (landmine, traffic, industrial etc.).
They all aspire to be community leaders, not for recognition or glory, but for their love of the people in their community.
Phnom Penh to Siem Reap - 251 Kilometers over 4 days
The Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 fundraising ride departs from Phnom Penh on Thursday 16th July and finishes in Siem Reap on Sunday the 19th July.
The team will ride through the rural communities of Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom and Kampong Kdei and around the spectacular Angkor Wat Archaeological Park on this 4-day cycling adventure across the beautiful Cambodian countryside.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1 - 16 July 2020 >> Phnom Penh: Opening ceremony
Day 1 to 4 - Cycling >> Details below
Day 4 - 19 July >> Siem Reap: Finishing ceremony
Note: Due to COVID-19 restrictions the opening and finishing ceremonies will only host the riders, their families and local sponsors.
Who is the Inspiration behind the Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 Event and The Siem Reap Food Bank
Naret Chhoy, is a jewellery and clothing designer and Director and Trustee at Genevieve’s Fair Trade Village in Siem Reap. The shop supports and celebrates the work of people and artists living with disabilities.
Having lost her job with the closure of the shop since the outbreak of the pandemic, this incredible and inspiring woman, with her own disability, is devoting her time and amazing efforts to help some of the most vulnerable families in the community with Essential Care Food Packs.
Naret is one of the amazing 9 Cyclists riding in the Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 Event to raise money for the Siem Reap Food Bank that her and many other volunteers founded in April to support vulnerable families in need of food support due to Covid19.
Your Generous Donation Today Can Help by Feeding a Family of 4 for 80 pence a Day with the Siem Reap Food Bank.
The Basic Care Food Package costs just £26 pounds, which can feed and help sustain an average family of 4 people for one month!
That's less than the average family of 4 people in the UK would spend on one takeout meal a month!
Donor Fees - GoFundMe adds a default Tip of 15% to each donation to help them maintain and improve their free platform. The GoFundme Tip is voluntary and you can change the default tip amount when you donate. The minimum donation amount is £5
There are so many families that need your help more than ever, with your kind and generous support your donations (no matter how much you can afford to give ) means we can help keep their physical and mental health intact throughout this Covid19 Pandemic by helping them survive, whilst offering them a glimmer of hope for the future.
Siem Reap Province - Cambodia
Siem Reap is a beautiful idyllic tourist town just a stone's throw away from the spectacular Angkor Wat Archeological Park in Cambodia.
"If you have ever been to Siem Reap, or Cambodia in general, you will know how warm, friendly, kind and compassionate the Khmer people are".
Since the lockdown began, hardly any tourists are visiting the city, with visitor numbers to the Angkor world heritage site down by 99.5%, only 650 people visited the Temple in the month of April, that's 20 people per day compared to around 5,000 back in January.
This situation has created a major problem in Siem Reap. The average wage in the city for people who worked within or in connection with the tourist industry is around $4 USD per day, that's less than $3.50p for around 10 hours work or 35 pence an hour.
The city is more or less totally deserted with literally no visitors, there is no money being spent, no income….nothing…zero. As you can imagine, if you were only earning $4 a day "in normal circumstances", then you can probably understand why many families really don’t have any ability to save money to help themselves get through the times when the going gets tough…really tough.
There are many reports of people hearing children crying themselves to sleep at night through hunger.
Many families are trying to live off the land by foraging for fruit and vegetables, frogs, snakes and Rats etc, but the basic essentials that we all take for granted in the UK such as Rice, Eggs, Cooking Oil, Salt and Sugar are products that thousands of families in Siem Reap simply can no longer afford.
Real Hunger exists, in Siem Reap Province, because a large number of families, living at or below the poverty line, do not have enough money to consistently put food on the table.
Job losses, due to Covid 19, have pushed the total number of hungry families to an estimated 20,000. That means as many as 80,000 souls in the Province, are going bed hungry tonight without knowing where there next meal will come from.
Why the Siem Reap Food Bank?
Having lived and experienced an amazing life in South East Asia for over 18 years, I wanted to contribute in a meaningful way, to help some of the most vulnerable people through the ongoing Covid 19 crisis.
After many discussions with my wonderful friend, Christopher Leonard who is currently living there and witnessing first-hand the stone cold reality of the situation, we decided together to spend considerable time researching and validating food giveaway programs currently operating in Siem Reap.
Christopher, spent quality time with Naret and Rick and we could both see that with more money, international awareness and resources, The Siem Reap Food Bank could reach out to so many more families in desperate need of support.
The Siem Reap Food Bank continues to make a real sustainable difference to people in risk of extreme poverty and hunger.
So I decided to volunteer my time to support this incredibly important project and I wanted to share with you why I have chosen this specific Food Bank.
The Siem Reap Food Bank initially launched in April to provide Essential Care Food Packages to people living with disabilities to help them survive the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Siem Reap Food Bank support families headed by or including people with a disability, that have seen their livelihoods disappear, along with the tourists and shops, restaurants, hotels and businesses being shut down.
With the situation continuing to get worse it soon became clear that the Siem Reap Food Bank would not just need to support families with disabilities through this unprecedented time, but any families identified to be in urgent need of an Essential Care Food Package to help them survive.
How Your Kind Donation Helps These Families:
Below is one example of a family the Siem Reap Food Bank is helping every month with a £26 Essential Care Food Package:
Mai Lin, a single mom of 4 children, all under the age of 12, suffered a paralysing stroke about 5 years ago. At the time, she was overwrought with fear that she would no longer be able to take care of her babies.
However, she learned how to make shopping bags from old newspapers and the income generated was sufficient for her to support her family and was even enough to send her children to school. Mai Lin’s income dried up completely with the closure of the Genevieve’s Fair Trade Village shop that sold her products, at the onset of the CoVid19 shutdown.
Along with her first food drop, just before Khmer New Year (April 13th 2020), came the promise of monthly food drops until she is able to get back to making a living for herself to ensure her family survives.
What's Contained in a Monthly Essential Care Food Package:
We only need 1,000 people from across world to donate as little as as £10 pounds (less than then the price of a few takeout coffees) to succeed in reaching our campaign goal to support 100 families.
Please, help us meet our funding goal by making any donation you can afford.
We know that this is very tough time for many, so if you are unable to donate funds can please help us by sharing this appeal in any way you can via ( social media, friends and family as well as any networks you have connections with) help us create awareness and momentum for this ongoing humanitarian crisis.
On behalf of the families you are helping, thank you for your kindness, you really are making a life changing difference.
Myself and Christopher are volunteering for the Siem Reap Food Bank, with Christopher managing the Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 Event and I'm helping to create awareness for the gofundme campaign.
GoFundMe does not operate in Cambodia. Therefore, I started this campaign in the UK on their behalf with a Funding Goal to support 100 families that's 400 hundred people we can help and support over the next six months.
We project that at the very earliest tourists may return to visit Angkor Wat, in December 2020.
Be kind - Be Loving - Be Safe
Akhun Charan (Thank you very much in Khmer)
Brian Taylor & Christopher Leonard
Important information about how funds for this campaign are being processed & delivered to the Siem Reap Food Bank
I am a volunteer for The Siem Reap Food Bank, I'll be assisting them with social media campaigns to increase UK and international awareness. GoFundMe does not operate in Cambodia. Therefore, I started this campaign in the United Kingdom on their behalf to assist them to help an many families as they can.
I solemnly pledge that 100% of all funds raised through this campaign site are automatically transferred to my UK Bank account and then transferred directly into the Siem Reap Food bank ABA bank account in Cambodia.
HOW DONATIONS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED
Our goal is to make sure the Siem Reap Food bank has continuous cash flow to purchase food & other essential items throughout the coming months, therefore monies will be transferred to their bank account on a regular basis.
The Siem Reap Food Bank Use of Funds: To purchase and distribute essential food and health items for families in need of food support living throughout the Siem Reap province.
Essential costs: To pay for the products being purchased and supplied, plus a few dollars for delivery.
The Siem Reap Food Bank accounting is up-to-date and open to inspection.
Donor Fees - GoFundMe adds a default Tip of 15% to each donation to help them maintain and improve their free platform. The GoFundme Tip is voluntary and you can change the default tip amount when you donate. The minimum donation amount is £5
"How to change the default tip amount" - www.gftv-sr.org/gfmtip.html
We will regularly update our gofundme page so you'll be kept informed on how much you donations are making a significant contribution in sustaining families and saving lifes.
There are so many families that need your help more than ever, with your support and donations (no matter how much you can afford to give ) we can help keep their physical and mental health intact throughout this Covid19 Pandemic by helping them survive, whilst offering them a glimmer of hope for the future.
Code of conduct:
The Siem Reap Food Bank operates the foodbank according to the core principles expressed in the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non Governmental Organizations NGOs in Disaster Relief
Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 is a fundraising event with 9 cyclists with disabilities who will cycle 251 kilometers from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap over 4 days.
Each cyclist fundraising goal is to end hunger, for at least the next 6 months, for their own family and 90 other families in need of food support by raising funds for the Siem Reap Food Bank through the ride.
https://www.lifecyclecambodia.org/
The cyclists have several things in common:
They are all strong, capable, cool, fun-loving, and admirable.
They each grew up in poverty and it is still a daily concern for themselves and their families, especially now with the economic impact of COVID-19.
They are motivated to help others who need food and health support.
They all have a physical disability due to either birth defects, illness, or accidents (landmine, traffic, industrial etc.).
They all aspire to be community leaders, not for recognition or glory, but for their love of the people in their community.
Phnom Penh to Siem Reap - 251 Kilometers over 4 daysThe Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 fundraising ride departs from Phnom Penh on Thursday 16th July and finishes in Siem Reap on Sunday the 19th July.
The team will ride through the rural communities of Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom and Kampong Kdei and around the spectacular Angkor Wat Archaeological Park on this 4-day cycling adventure across the beautiful Cambodian countryside.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1 - 16 July 2020 >> Phnom Penh: Opening ceremony
Day 1 to 4 - Cycling >> Details below
Day 4 - 19 July >> Siem Reap: Finishing ceremony
Note: Due to COVID-19 restrictions the opening and finishing ceremonies will only host the riders, their families and local sponsors.
Who is the Inspiration behind the Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 Event and The Siem Reap Food Bank
Naret Chhoy, is a jewellery and clothing designer and Director and Trustee at Genevieve’s Fair Trade Village in Siem Reap. The shop supports and celebrates the work of people and artists living with disabilities.
Having lost her job with the closure of the shop since the outbreak of the pandemic, this incredible and inspiring woman, with her own disability, is devoting her time and amazing efforts to help some of the most vulnerable families in the community with Essential Care Food Packs.
Naret is one of the amazing 9 Cyclists riding in the Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 Event to raise money for the Siem Reap Food Bank that her and many other volunteers founded in April to support vulnerable families in need of food support due to Covid19.
Your Generous Donation Today Can Help by Feeding a Family of 4 for 80 pence a Day with the Siem Reap Food Bank.
The Basic Care Food Package costs just £26 pounds, which can feed and help sustain an average family of 4 people for one month!
That's less than the average family of 4 people in the UK would spend on one takeout meal a month!
Donor Fees - GoFundMe adds a default Tip of 15% to each donation to help them maintain and improve their free platform. The GoFundme Tip is voluntary and you can change the default tip amount when you donate. The minimum donation amount is £5
There are so many families that need your help more than ever, with your kind and generous support your donations (no matter how much you can afford to give ) means we can help keep their physical and mental health intact throughout this Covid19 Pandemic by helping them survive, whilst offering them a glimmer of hope for the future.
Siem Reap Province - Cambodia
Siem Reap is a beautiful idyllic tourist town just a stone's throw away from the spectacular Angkor Wat Archeological Park in Cambodia.
"If you have ever been to Siem Reap, or Cambodia in general, you will know how warm, friendly, kind and compassionate the Khmer people are".
Since the lockdown began, hardly any tourists are visiting the city, with visitor numbers to the Angkor world heritage site down by 99.5%, only 650 people visited the Temple in the month of April, that's 20 people per day compared to around 5,000 back in January.
This situation has created a major problem in Siem Reap. The average wage in the city for people who worked within or in connection with the tourist industry is around $4 USD per day, that's less than $3.50p for around 10 hours work or 35 pence an hour.
The city is more or less totally deserted with literally no visitors, there is no money being spent, no income….nothing…zero. As you can imagine, if you were only earning $4 a day "in normal circumstances", then you can probably understand why many families really don’t have any ability to save money to help themselves get through the times when the going gets tough…really tough.
There are many reports of people hearing children crying themselves to sleep at night through hunger.
Many families are trying to live off the land by foraging for fruit and vegetables, frogs, snakes and Rats etc, but the basic essentials that we all take for granted in the UK such as Rice, Eggs, Cooking Oil, Salt and Sugar are products that thousands of families in Siem Reap simply can no longer afford.
Real Hunger exists, in Siem Reap Province, because a large number of families, living at or below the poverty line, do not have enough money to consistently put food on the table.
Job losses, due to Covid 19, have pushed the total number of hungry families to an estimated 20,000. That means as many as 80,000 souls in the Province, are going bed hungry tonight without knowing where there next meal will come from.
Why the Siem Reap Food Bank?
Having lived and experienced an amazing life in South East Asia for over 18 years, I wanted to contribute in a meaningful way, to help some of the most vulnerable people through the ongoing Covid 19 crisis.
After many discussions with my wonderful friend, Christopher Leonard who is currently living there and witnessing first-hand the stone cold reality of the situation, we decided together to spend considerable time researching and validating food giveaway programs currently operating in Siem Reap.
Christopher, spent quality time with Naret and Rick and we could both see that with more money, international awareness and resources, The Siem Reap Food Bank could reach out to so many more families in desperate need of support.
The Siem Reap Food Bank continues to make a real sustainable difference to people in risk of extreme poverty and hunger.
So I decided to volunteer my time to support this incredibly important project and I wanted to share with you why I have chosen this specific Food Bank.
The Siem Reap Food Bank initially launched in April to provide Essential Care Food Packages to people living with disabilities to help them survive the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Siem Reap Food Bank support families headed by or including people with a disability, that have seen their livelihoods disappear, along with the tourists and shops, restaurants, hotels and businesses being shut down.
With the situation continuing to get worse it soon became clear that the Siem Reap Food Bank would not just need to support families with disabilities through this unprecedented time, but any families identified to be in urgent need of an Essential Care Food Package to help them survive.
How Your Kind Donation Helps These Families:
Below is one example of a family the Siem Reap Food Bank is helping every month with a £26 Essential Care Food Package:
Mai Lin, a single mom of 4 children, all under the age of 12, suffered a paralysing stroke about 5 years ago. At the time, she was overwrought with fear that she would no longer be able to take care of her babies.
However, she learned how to make shopping bags from old newspapers and the income generated was sufficient for her to support her family and was even enough to send her children to school. Mai Lin’s income dried up completely with the closure of the Genevieve’s Fair Trade Village shop that sold her products, at the onset of the CoVid19 shutdown.
Along with her first food drop, just before Khmer New Year (April 13th 2020), came the promise of monthly food drops until she is able to get back to making a living for herself to ensure her family survives.
What's Contained in a Monthly Essential Care Food Package:
We only need 1,000 people from across world to donate as little as as £10 pounds (less than then the price of a few takeout coffees) to succeed in reaching our campaign goal to support 100 families.
Please, help us meet our funding goal by making any donation you can afford.
We know that this is very tough time for many, so if you are unable to donate funds can please help us by sharing this appeal in any way you can via ( social media, friends and family as well as any networks you have connections with) help us create awareness and momentum for this ongoing humanitarian crisis.
On behalf of the families you are helping, thank you for your kindness, you really are making a life changing difference.
Myself and Christopher are volunteering for the Siem Reap Food Bank, with Christopher managing the Life Cycle Cambodia 2020 Event and I'm helping to create awareness for the gofundme campaign.
GoFundMe does not operate in Cambodia. Therefore, I started this campaign in the UK on their behalf with a Funding Goal to support 100 families that's 400 hundred people we can help and support over the next six months.
We project that at the very earliest tourists may return to visit Angkor Wat, in December 2020.
Be kind - Be Loving - Be Safe
Akhun Charan (Thank you very much in Khmer)
Brian Taylor & Christopher Leonard
Important information about how funds for this campaign are being processed & delivered to the Siem Reap Food Bank
I am a volunteer for The Siem Reap Food Bank, I'll be assisting them with social media campaigns to increase UK and international awareness. GoFundMe does not operate in Cambodia. Therefore, I started this campaign in the United Kingdom on their behalf to assist them to help an many families as they can.
I solemnly pledge that 100% of all funds raised through this campaign site are automatically transferred to my UK Bank account and then transferred directly into the Siem Reap Food bank ABA bank account in Cambodia.
HOW DONATIONS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED
Our goal is to make sure the Siem Reap Food bank has continuous cash flow to purchase food & other essential items throughout the coming months, therefore monies will be transferred to their bank account on a regular basis.
The Siem Reap Food Bank Use of Funds: To purchase and distribute essential food and health items for families in need of food support living throughout the Siem Reap province.
Essential costs: To pay for the products being purchased and supplied, plus a few dollars for delivery.
The Siem Reap Food Bank accounting is up-to-date and open to inspection.
Donor Fees - GoFundMe adds a default Tip of 15% to each donation to help them maintain and improve their free platform. The GoFundme Tip is voluntary and you can change the default tip amount when you donate. The minimum donation amount is £5
"How to change the default tip amount" - www.gftv-sr.org/gfmtip.html
We will regularly update our gofundme page so you'll be kept informed on how much you donations are making a significant contribution in sustaining families and saving lifes.
There are so many families that need your help more than ever, with your support and donations (no matter how much you can afford to give ) we can help keep their physical and mental health intact throughout this Covid19 Pandemic by helping them survive, whilst offering them a glimmer of hope for the future.
Code of conduct:
The Siem Reap Food Bank operates the foodbank according to the core principles expressed in the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non Governmental Organizations NGOs in Disaster Relief
Fundraising team (2)
Brian Taylor
Organiser
England
Christopher Leonard
Team member