For the last three weeks, I’ve been in kind of a daze. We raised the 13k we needed to build a school in Cambodia in the first week of Passports with Purpose. Working with bloggers, sponsors, PR folks, and a whole network of people that love to travel, we raised enough money to build a school in seven days! Then, in the two weeks that followed, we raised enough to give the kids that will attend the school a kitchen garden, a school nurse, and a clean water supply.
Every now and then it would hit me. “Holy cats, we’re building a school!” I’d email Beth and Debbie and Michelle (the Passports with Purpose cofounders) and they’d say, in reply, something like, “OH MY GOD, I KNOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?”
Sometime this summer, the Passports school opens in Preah Vihear, Cambodia. I hope that we can be there to see the opening, not just so we can see it with our own eyes and meet the kids who are going to attend, but because I really want to share the reality of what we did with everyone who helped make it happen. I would like to be be able to share photos and stories and say to everyone who gave money — the bloggers and sponsors and organizations that gave prizes — I would like to be able to say to them, “LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID! LOOK AT THE GOOD YOU MADE IN THE WORLD!”
Taking a break from selling knock off guidebooks at Angkor Wat.
This little guy should have been in school.
We used a tagline in our efforts: We believe in the power of travel to create change. And everyone who participated in Passports with Purpose this year made that true. You believe in the power of travel to create change, too, we have seen it made real. Our school, where kids in recovering war ravaged Cambodia, will learn and eat and get their scrapes bandaged and grow up with hope for something better is real because of you.
So, thank you. Thank you to everyone that pitched in. As we come to the end of 2009, I hope you all feel as amazed and excited and optimistic about the future as I do. What better way to end the year than to do something that builds a better future? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
- Platinum Sponsor: Virtuoso
- Silver Sponsors: Got Passport: Will Travel, We’ll Serve, Best Travel Deals, BootsnAll, HomeAway, Raveable, Travelfish, Traveller’s Point, Uptake, and Hostel Bookers.
- Supporting Cast: Meg Paynor, PR, Anna Brones, Undersolen Media, Matt Knannlein, Intergalactic Design Studio
- Bloggers, far and wide — the complete list is here.
i’m very excited that PWP was such a hit. You all did an amazing job!
Congratulations again on a fantastic year!
Congratulations on the school! What a wonderful achievement. Although 13K is a lot of money, it is extremely cheap in comparison to all of the good that it will bring to the community for ages and ages to come. Job well done!
It is a truly remarkable thing that you have achieved. You should be very proud of yourselves
Remarkable achievement! Hats off to you. You have invested 13K in eternal profit. God will bless your generation.
[...] version of the previous year’s strategy that had worked so well and netted $13,000 for building a school in Cambodia - but it was, in essence, leveraging the same core of committed, big-hearted people to reach a [...]