Rise Now finished their first playground in Mexico with funding from the Emily Sandall Foundation! The Director of Rise Now said that the community was very enthusiastic and involved in the process. Despite the challenge of building off grid with generators in a super remote location, it was a clear success. We hope that this park will provide enjoyment and learning opportunities for years to come for the small community.
A deserving camper was awarded a Emily Sandall campership for their trip at YMCA Camp Menogyn this summer.The scholarship application is below.Paul started this fund after his awesome 2008 PCT hike and it has grown with our wonderfully generous Foundation community donations.
We hope that the camper has a wonderful summer at YMCA Menogyn and continues their love for the wilderness and community service.
History and Background of Campership:
Emily Sandall was a Menogyn guide from 2001-2004. Her passions included wilderness adventures and
humanitarian service. When not leading canoe and backpacking trips she worked with street children and
child laborers in Nepal and Mexico. She saw many opportunities in life to teach, to challenge, to laugh, and
dance, and sing and camp, and especially to help others. She lived simply but passionately. Tragically Emily
died in an accident Nov. 2006, at the age of 25.
The Sandall Family and the Emily Sandall Foundation have established YMCA Camp Menogyn camperships in
Emily’s name in an effort to keep alive her spirit of giving and her love for Menogyn. The scholarship is
designed to help a deserving young person experience a Menogyn wilderness trip. The recipient should
show passion for helping others through some community service work. Emily in her short and remarkable
life always tried to combine wilderness adventure with helping others. Her family hopes to foster that in
others through this scholarship.
It is the Sandall family’s hope that this scholarship stimulates interest in community service and wilderness
exploration in deserving teens over many years.
Emily would love to know that her scholarship helps a teen experience the wilderness. She would also love
to spread the message of the importance of volunteer service- helping those less fortunate by giving them
a voice. Emily’s life work combined her love for the wilderness and humanitarian service with passion and
joy. Please tell us how these values are demonstrated in your life.
The Foundation pledged their donation to the Sankhu Palubari Community school. A House party was held at David and Mary Parker’s house for the Sankhu Palubari Community School and our pledge was matched.They took a moment to remember Emily and her contributions to the school during the program.
We will be supporting the textbooks for students in nursery through grade 10.This year the students will have a new school, as their school was destroyed in the earthquake.
The Sankhu-Palubari Community School (SPCS) in Nepal provides a free education — from pre-K through grade 10 — to the neediest children in this rural Kathmandu Valley area. Founded by The Advocates for Human Rights and operated in partnership with Educate the Children-Nepal and the local community, the school gives a genuine alternative to child labor and a brighter future.
Beginning its first year with 50 students, SPCS now has more than 340 students enrolled. In 2014, the third class of students that began kindergarten at the school graduated from 12th grade. All graduates have continued on to study at a university in Nepal.
The SPCS curriculum includes Nepali, English, grammar, math, science, and social studies. Extracurricular opportunities include poetry, art, music, Nepali dance, speech, and sports. Students also learn the fundamental principles of human rights through “Alfulai Chinau,” a human rights curriculum developed especially for the school. The school also provides a daily meal, health checks, and immunizations for all students.
We are very proud of the school, Advocates for Human rights, and thank David and Mary Parker for their long friendship with Emily.
WORD’s Summer Arts and Leadership Camp (SALC) serves up to 50 homeless children and youth, free of charge, as well as those at-risk of homelessness in the Missoula community, ages 8-14 years. This is the only annual camp of its kind in the state. The students served by this camp are typically below peer level in academics and social skill development, and have spent great personal resources coping with transient housing and the attending family and school chaos. Children whose families are in transition and who are economically disadvantaged are unable to access the same opportunities and resources that their middle-income counterparts do. Summer camp provides opportunities for students in transition to benefit from new experiences, mentoring relationships, leadership skill building, and a deeper connection with their community. In addition, camp activities are closely tied to statewide grade-specific learning targets adopted by Missoula County Public schools (MCPS).
This camp is invaluable to the youth that it serves, offering a real chance for them to strengthen and improve not just their academics, but to also improve their problem solving and social skills which often will carry them through a school year full of strife and transition on the home front. Summer Arts and Leadership Camp provides an opportunity to develop educational goals, conflict resolution skills, and positive self-esteem in homeless and at-risk youth. These skills are transferable to both the students’ home and school lives, reducing conflict and strengthening their family life as well as increasing their school success.
This academic year the Emily Sandall Global Citizen award was given at the Sankhu-Palubari Community School to Ms. Sunita Dangal, a Grade 7 student. She was selected for her active participation in the student government activities and overall achievement. In the debate competition, Sunita placed 3rd in the school. Sunita was awarded an Oxford Dictionary sent by the Emily Sandall Foundation.
Here is the inscription:
“Congratulations on receiving the Emily Sandall Global Citizen award. Emily cared deeply for the quality of education and human rights for the students of your school.She lived in Sankhu and worked at your school in 2001. She fund-raised for your school through high school and college.
Emily was an excellent student like you and strived to make the world a better place through her global community service.
Emily would be very proud of you and your achievements.
We are proud of you and congratulate you again.
The Emily Sandall Foundation
Continue to strive for excellence, hard work and kindness. Thank you.”
Emily would be so incredibly proud of this award and Sunita on her excellent achievements.
