May 18, 2008       

Dear ALL

HAPPY VESAK!! ... and Project CYLCONE NARGIS Update #1

Greetings to ALL for a Happy & Enlightening VESAK !!! 
We  encourage you to celebrate this special joyous occasion with THOUGHTS OF LOVE and COMPASSION for fellow brothers and sisters in Myanmar and China, and the victims of Cyclone Nargis and Earth Quake in the respective countries.

Our deepest Gratitude and sincerest Appreciation to all the kind and compassionate Firefly Mission members, supporters, sponsors and  friends for all your generous donations, hard work, kind words of encouragement and quick response to our call for action for Project Cyclone Nargis. With palms together we respectfully bow to everyone with gratitude.

Project CYLCONE NARGIS Update

Death Toll, Missing & Homeless

At this moment, the death toll is reported to be 77,738 and increasing. Another 55,917 people are still reported missing and additional 1.6 million and 2.5 million people are homeless.

Our Partners in Myanmar

We have finally managed to contact our partners in compassion in Myanmar They are all safe and have started their ground work preparing to help us distribute medicine and relief supplies.

School Building in Ta Man Village, Bogalay

The school building we sponsored in Ta Man Village, Bogalay has been damaged by the Cyclone but not extensively, according to our contacts who visited the village recently.

Funds Raised

The target that we set earlier to raise S$120,000 has been exceeded. Donations and pledges currently stand at:

SGD249,933.00 + RM 4,175.00 + USD 1,950.00

RM48,265.00 + SGD3,500.00 (collected in Johor, Malaysia)

and more donations are flowing in.

Our Geographical Focus

Delta region affected badly by the cyclone. Our coverage will be widened depending on the availability of funds.

Phase 1 - Emergency Relief

A team of 4 volunteers coordinators had arrived safely in Myanmar yesterday (17-May) with about 500kg (Est S$50,000) of medicinal items (included: antibiotics, analgesics, anti-pyretic, non-steroidal anti-Inflammatory, anti-histamine, oral rehydration salts, anti-diarrhea, multi-vitamins, face masks, gloves, surgical dressings, antiseptics) had been smoothly delivered. They are currently working closely with our partners in compassion in Myanmar to deliver this medicine to those affected. Other relief aids are also being work out with our local partners in Myanmar.  They will also investigate/gather more information on the situation in Bogalay.

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery is supporting our efforts by collecting emergency supplies on our behalf at their 88 Recycling Kiosk. We are planning to send those items collected in a week or two by container.

Phase 2 - Rehabilitation

This is a medium to long-term project, where we will undertake projects focusing on restoring livelihood of villagers with donations of farming equipment, tools etc. We intend to also repair and rebuild some of the basic infrastructure, such as schools, orphanages or hospitals etc.

Vesak Day Fund Raising
Several temples are kindly supporting us by permitting FFM to raise funds from their members.

(1) Wat Palelai, Bedok Walk
(2) Wat Ananda, Bukit Merah

Cash Donations Preferred

Donation in kind is discouraged. As the sea ports have been damaged, all goods will have to be air freighted. This is costly and permitted volume is very limited. The best way to help is therefore through cash donations.

Please Continue to Donate Cash

Make your cheques payable to: “Firefly Mission” and indicate at the back of the cheque “Cyclone Nargis – Myanmar Appeal”
Kindly send the cheque to: 3 Hume Avenue #08-05, Singapore 598719

OR

If you prefer electronic transfer, please deposit your donation to:

Firefly Mission’s DBS Autosave Account: 001-902726-8

For accounting and good record keeping, we would appreciate if you could drop us an email indicating your particulars and donation.

On receipt of your kind donation, we will send you an acknowledgement letter coupled with an official receipt.

100% Goes to the Charitable Cause

As you are aware, FFM donates every cent that it receives to the charitable cause for which the funds are raised. All administrative, travel, living and lodging expenses are fully borne by our volunteers. We are a volunteer driven organization with no overheads

Transparency and Accountability

All donors may check their names in the donors list from our website
http://www.fireflymission.org/acknowledgement.html

To make the Relief & Rehabilitation work possible and to reach out to more people, we look forward to your compassionate and continued generous support.

For more information, please visit our website @ http:// www.fireflymission.org

May All Beings be Well, Happy & Peaceful.

With Much Gratitude & Metta

Yee Kong and All Exco Members
 

for  firefly mission

... together we light up the world

Website: www.fireflymission.org
Email: enquire@fireflymission.org