Here is a brief update on our partnership this year:

· The Livia Stoyke Foundation has once again renewed their commitment to the school by contributing $5000 through us for 2011 to Grade 9-12 sponsorship! (www.livia.ca)
· The wonderful finance volunteers at St. Paul’s United Church are to be thanked for taking the initiative of sending out thank you cards to all of our donors who are not members of St. Paul’s.
· This fall, my cousin Noah Wishart requested donations to the Racecourse School for his Bar Mitzvah and raised over $700. Also, this summer, St. Paul’s Lorene Turner hosted a tea in support of the Racecourse School and this event raised approximately $900! Many thanks to Lorene and Noah for showing such leadership.
· We now have two families who have made multi-year donation commitments. This type of commitment allows us to plan for the future and ensure that we can meet the commitments we make to the school. If you are interested in making a pledge for 2012 or for multiple years please let me know (heather@racecourseschool.com).
· Our 8th annual Fundraising Dinner/Silent Auction was a great success. We once again had approximately 100 people and raised well over $4000. Thanks to all who attended, who donated items for the auction, who bid on items at the auction, and who helped out with the event!
· We have now made our second transfer of funds in 2011 for a total of $23,000 contributed to the operating expenses at the school. The funds which we transferred went towards teacher’s allowances, school user fees for graduates of the school, school requisites for current students, staff development and compassionate assistance for staff.
· We have approximately $18,500 fundraised for next year. We have a ways to go to meet our goal of $23,000 for 2012.

We have now transferred over $50,000 CAD for the new school block (separate from our commitment to operational expenses). The block is housing grade 8 students who are being educated at the school for the first time now that the space allows for them. Once we have confirmation that the work has been completed to standard, we will transfer the remaining 10% to the contractor. The funds for the classroom construction were primarily donated by a family in Calgary and the desks for the classrooms were purchased with money from the operational funds that we transferred. We plan to transfer additional funds for the painting of the new school building, once we have received a quote for the cost of the work.

The Racecourse Community School is a volunteer run primary school for orphans and vulnerable children in the Racecourse Community of Kitwe, Zambia. The community school movement in Zambia began in the late 90’s as a local reaction to the overwhelming number of orphans and vulnerable children who could not afford to attend government schools. The Racecourse Community School is the largest community school in the Copperbelt Province, educating over 1700 pupils with only 20 local volunteer teachers.

The school faces many challenges due to the effects of HIV/AIDS and the impoverished state of the community. Despite these challenges, the school has maintained an outstanding success rate on the government exams and continues to demonstrate an extraordinary drive to achieve success in community development.