Lotus Pedals - Help Cambodian Girls Get to School!

In the past year, you have allowed us to provide 236 bicycles, pumps, repair kits and locks to impoverished, at-risk girls across Cambodia so they can safely get to school each day:

• 152 bicycles were given to Girls’ Access to Education (GATE) students and youth club members in Siem Reap.
• 43 bicycles were given to orphaned and highly vulnerable girls living in the remote regions of Kampong Cham.
• 33 bicycles were provided to girls living in the red lights districts of Phnom Penh.
• 5 bicycles were given to young urban sex workers so they can attend literacy classes and skills training.
• 3 bicycles were given to a recent GATE graduates so they can commute to university in Phnom Penh.

We have attached several photographs of the bicycle giveaway ceremonies, and thank you again for giving us 236 more reasons to celebrate back to school season.

GUESS WHAT? WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS!

We know you care about girls getting to school, so we thought we would tell you about another GlobalGiving project that was recently selected to participate in an exciting competition happening RIGHT NOW!

Girls in rural India face the same challenges as girls in Cambodia when it comes to getting to school.  Heavily trafficked and potholed roads, however, mean bicycles are not an option.  Instead, we provide safe, chaperoned bus transportation to approximately 100 girls in Mewat, Haryana—the most regressive districts in terms of girls’ education in all of India.

Lotus Outreach has been selected to participate in the first ever Girl Effect Challenge.  In the next 30 days, we will compete with approximately 50 other organizations around the world to become one of six beneficiaries of the Girl Effect Fund, a collective giving pool that has raised nearly $700,000 to date.

By becoming a Girl Effect partner, we will not only receive significant financial support for our Blossom Bus project in 2012, but we will also get critical exposure to Girl Effect fans around the world.  Need proof that this will make a difference?  The Girl Effect has 17,500 followers on Twitter, 260,000 "likes" on Facebook and nearly 1,000,000 views on YouTube!  And it isn't hard to see why the Girl Effect is so popular: watch this video to learn why.

WE CAN’T WIN WITHOUT YOUR HELP

Between now and November 15, our Blossom Bus project must recruit as many unique donors as possible.  We are asking all of our supporters to give just $10 during this time period to help us win the competition.  Every donation raised during this period will not only bring us one step closer to our dream of partnering with Girl Effect, but will ensure adolescent girls in Mewat, India can safely return to school.  By providing bus transportation, we will help many of these girls escape childhood marriage and become the first girls to reach high school in the history of their villages!

You can make your $10 donation today at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/the-blossom-bus/

HELP US GO GUERRILLA

We know we can do this!  You helped Lotus Outreach win a similar challenge in 2009.  But we also know how important it is to get our supporters mobilized and engaged.  Please tell your friends, family and colleagues about this competition and ask them to pledge their support.  Every donation counts so please help us spread the word far and wide through email, Facebook and Twitter!

Questions?  Please contact info@lotusoutreach.org.

Links:

• Blossom Bus Donation Page
• Track our progress!