Corporate Social Responsibility
Feb
Mad Monkey & Cambodian Children’s Fund
What is Cambodian Children’s Fund? Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF) was created in 2004 when Hollywood marketing executive Scott Neeson saw an opportunity to affect change in a small Cambodian community. CCF is an education program that helps children and their families lift themselves out of poverty. What started as a school has expanded considerably, as CCF now helps children on every level from providing food, to medical services, to vocational training. How Cambodian Children’s Fund Started When Scott traveled around Southeast Asia in 2003, he found himself in the outskirts of Phnom Penh where he saw thousands of families living in poverty. Wanting to help, he bought a house for a family and sent the kids to school. He started flying back and forth from L.A. to Phnom Penh, helping one family at a time in an area next to a garbage dump. It was at this dump where children were searching for things to sell to help make money for their families. After seeing these kids digging through the dump day after day instead of attending school, Scott realized that it wasn’t enough to only provide a home or even help the children get an education. To really make an impact, he knew you have to start at the grassroots level — so he started a different kind of school. “The only way to provide lasting, generational change, is to ensure that whole families are lifted from poverty. CCF provides not only for the health and wellbeing of children, but for their families and community.” – Cambodian Children’s Fund The original aim of the school was to provide education for a few kids with his own money. Over the years, it has evolved and grown to two schools (a primary school and high school) with more than 2,400 students and 64 programs. Scott saw that for most families, education wasn’t a top priority. They were malnourished, without proper healthcare, and had other problems at home. His goal was to work with the entire family and to overall grow the community. It is with this intention that he created the CCF – both a school and a support system to get families out of poverty through education, community outreach, leadership, healthcare, childcare and vocational training. What does Cambodian Children’s Fund do? The CCF is so much more than just education. Because healthcare isn’t easily accessible, there’s a medical center where they see over 100 patients a day. They have a sponsorship program to match individual students with donors. Unlike most sponsorship programs, the CCF has a one-to-one model where a relationship is built between the sponsor and the child through regular communication. The CCF also has a Child Rescue Center to assist with childbirth, and a drop-in center where parents can safely leave their children while they work. The students also attend public school for half of the day, but every subject is taught at the CCF. The high school focuses on STEM subjects and even has a 3D printer for the students to use. Students are involved in leadership programs where they are required to do 100 hours of community service every year and the CCF helps soon-to-be-graduates find jobs. An Afternoon at Cambodian Children’s Fund School Every year, some of Mad Monkey’s staff make a visit to CCF primary school to present our annual donation to the class we sponsor. This year we stopped by in January. We walked up to the second floor to the computer room to see a dozen uniformed students experimenting with PowerPoint. Colorful…