NEW SHIPMENT OF PURE COTTON SCARVES FROM CAMBODIA
Patti and Barbara have a fresh supply of lovely scarves, all pure cotton, from the weaving centre we support in Cambodia. We also have some black ones.
Of course we have no venues or events at which to sell these.
If any of you think you may be interested in some of these as gifts, please email Barbara and she will set them out on tables in her driveway for you to see. Yonge & Lawrence area in Toronto. ON Lawrence, East of Bayview.
Cost is $15.00 EACH or 2 for $25.00. And of course, we would be happy to mail these also to anywhere in North America.
The money all goes to the weaving centre ladies in Cambodia.
Patti's scarves are larger and a bit more expensive.
Contact Patti Lee at
or Barbara Seagram at
 2020 Water Projects Update
In spite of the pandemic, over the last few months, our Cambodian organization, the Banyan Tree Organization, has been able to work on some construction projects.
Tim Savin, our Director, and Meas Phonn, our Assistant Director, have spearheaded all of the projects: 2 toilets at a primary school, 4 toilets and a handwashing station at a high school, a handwashing station at a third school, and toilets for 4 poor village families.
The three schools mentioned are all government schools near to our own schools and our students go there, as well. We have endeavored to provide the local government schools with good sanitation facilities. This helps to keep the girls in school, at any time of the month.
This could not have been accomplished without the assistance and support of A Vision for Clean Water (AVFCW), a charity headquartered in Troy, Michigan. Our thanks to them and to our donors, who have helped to make a big difference in the lives of many in Cambodia.
THANK YOU!
Dear Banyan Tree Organization,
On behalf of Sok Ann Prey Sandek High School teachers, I would like to express my respect and gratefulness for this great contribution for our school.
We, teachers and students are so pleased to get a new hand-washing station. It would be part of a big behaviour change to increase the hygiene for those kids. And I am really hoping this change will have spread to their family.
Again, thanks so much for your generosity and I am looking forward to meeting you any time in the future.
Sincerely, Kanharin
NOTE: Kanharin is a female teacher whom Patti met this year. She is lovely and works at a nearby government school and is distributing Days for Girls kits to the girls in that school.
THANK YOU!
Thank you Banyan Tree Organization (BTO) from the bottom of my heart for providing four toilets and one handwashing station to Samdech Decho Hun Sen Angtasom High School, said So Yieng (School Director at Angtasom High School). BTO finished building on August 10, 2020.

THANK YOU! 
We raised over $31,000.00 for Laos @ our November 8th fundraiser to supply families in remote villages with clean drinking water! 254 water filters to date! We are delighted.
Attendees enjoyed a workshop (hands-on) with Barbara Seagram and after lunch Patti Lee and Steve Rutledge gave a presentation about Laos. A sanctioned ACBL game followed with Masterpoints being issued.
Thanks as well to Enid Roitman who helped assist as always. It was a super fun day!
We also help with bringing water to villages that have no water source. Adopt A Village In Laos does all this, building dams and laying all the pipes. It is phenomenal work. Please remember that 100% of your donation goes towards the projects, not to overhead! Every little bit helps.
Thank you to ALL the attendees @ the Kingston Bridge Centre for their generous donation at Barbara's fundraising seminar (Better Bridge for Better Lives) held October 30, 2019. They raised $6,320! It is wonderful!
Did you know? It costs approximately $52,000 CAD per year (salaries of the teachers and librarians, all of the supplies for the teachers and students, lease payments, electricity, maintenance etc.) to maintain our four schools!

Thanks to Steve Overholt and the players @ the Etobicoke Bridge Centre
...for their charitable donation. This donation will be used by Maria Pollieri (Toronto team for Days for Girls), an Etobicoke-based grassroots charity that sews and distributes sustainable feminine hygiene kits to 6th graders around the world, with the sole purpose of keeping them in school and giving them their days back. Their motto is EveryGirl.Everywhere.Period. The funds raised by the Etobicoke Bridge Club will be used towards the kit components, primarily fabric, sewing notions, and panties!
"We now use all their kits to distribute to all the girls at our schools in Cambodia. It is a great programme. We were able to acquire 192 kits for our school girls in Cambodia," said Barbara and Patti.
On behalf of the Toronto Days for Girls Team and their volunteers (Richview Collegiate, Etobicoke Colegiate, Rotary Clubs of Toronto West and Etobicoke, the Etobicoke Quilters Guild, Cloverdale Sewing Center, St. Demitrius Women's Circle, and many others), and Barbara and Patti, thank you very much for your support.
In Memory of CAROLYN HEYN
On Monday May 6th and Tuesday May 7th, Joan Johnson ran two bridge games in honor of Carolyn Heyn, who died earlier this year. These games were in memory of a wonderful bridge teacher, a good friend to many, and an amazing, fantastic lady.
Carolyn loved the charity, that Barbara Seagram and Patti Lee started, to assist the children of Cambodia to get educated and to learn good sanitation habits. It also helps village families by supplying families with toilets, and helping the adults to learn new skills and thereby to get jobs.
Together, Carolyn and Joan had run a fundraiser in May, 2018 to raise money for this charity; at that time, they raised over $12,000 USD …. a huge amount of money. Knowing Carolyn’s love for the Cambodian projects, Joan suggested that anyone, who wanted to, might contribute to this good cause. And so many people responded with donations. The total is now over $4,200 USD.
Money goes a long way in Cambodia. $4,200 USD represents 1/8 of all the costs to support all 4 schools and over 600 students for a full year OR it means that 7 families will each have a good, safe, private toilet.
As Joan said, “Carolyn will be looking down from heaven with a big smile on her face”.
We will miss Carolyn, but we will honor her memory with these funds. Thank you all so much.
With gratitude
Patti Lee and Barbara Seagram
 OVER $5,000 USD RAISED! WOW! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You to Pat and Sally and to all of you, who came out and supported this event.
Barbara and I are both so appreciative of your generosity.
The money raised will have a major impact on the lives of the children and families in Cambodia.
Money certainly goes a long way in Cambodia:
$5,000 is 1/7th of the amount of money we need to support all 4 schools and over 600 students for a year (including salaries for 16 people, taxes, leases, hydro costs, and supplies) OR $5,000 would build 8 toilets (separate buildings with extra room for the women to wash themselves. A toilet means that a family has a safe, private facility. Since many families are 3 generational, each toilet is used by 6 - 8 people).
CAMBODIA FUNDRAISER - THANK YOU!!!
Patti and I would like to thank all of you for attending our Cambodia fundraiser yesterday. We had a record number of attendees: 172. You were all amazing. The event was a huge success. We raised over $54,000.00 and we're still counting. We are hoping to still reach over $55,000.00.
Patti and I are still trying to build a war chest so that the schools can continue on for many years after we can no longer do the fundraising.
The silent auction was a great success raising almost $14,000.00. (VIEW ITEMS) Thank you to the donors who gave such excellent items for auction.
Thank you to all of you for your enthusiastic bidding on these items! The art auction was a big success! Thank you to our wonderful artists, Ann Katz, Indrani De Silva, Joyce Cram and Ron Katz for their donations and also to Westmount Art Gallery, a wonderful west end art gallery that is always so good to us.
Thank you to our volunteers: Enid Roitman who organized the whole silent auction and never stops helping us prepare for the entire event and works tirelessly throughout.
Ann Katz came the day before to set it all up with us and stayed to pack it all up, as did her husband, Ron Katz who did all the heavy lifting for two full days.
Thank you to John Rayner who was the star of the show and gave a superb lecture on Fourth Suit Forcing with quizzes and hands to illustrate.
Two hours of bridge heaven. John has been so generous with his time over the past few years.
John and his lovely wife, Jill Thompson now run Bridge at the Briars. More information can be found under under cruises and trips. It is a wonderful weekend.
Lee Daugharty. Most of you know Lee. What a guy! He loaned us 24 card tables and all the bridge mates and then came and picked them all up on Friday. Lee is the Director at the Briars.
Josee Hammill is our wonderful teacher at our School of Bridge. Josee just won the Audrey Grant Award for teaching excellence. Josee always helps a great deal with all our events.
Stephen Laufer was our director on Friday and did a great job. I always forget to say thank you to my husband, Alex Kornel who is always there for us and helped with directing the game.
Lucia McCurdy sold (& modelled) lots of scarves for us; Susan Trumper, Josee and Indrani sold art auction tickets. Several other volunteers pitched in. You were all fantastic. Forgive us if we have missed your name.
A HUGE thank you to all of you who generously donated to our Laos project, held on September 21st!
Thanks to you, we raised $21,211.00 for Laos. This will buy 170 water filters which will be enough for two remote villages. 170 families will reap the benefit of having clean water for the first time ever. That is over 1000 people. We cannot thank you enough.
80 people attended our fundraiser on 21 September. Congratulations to Elaine Givertz and Catherine Wang who were first overall and won 5.5 master points! Thank you also to all of you who brought toothbrushes and toothpaste over the past few weeks. That was phenomenal.
Results for the Laos event can be found at https://www.barbaraseagram.com/Results/180921LA.HTM
Please view "Our Laos Projects 2017" flyer for pictures of our adventures in Laos and to learn more about the challenges of this wonderful country.
THANK YOU...
 To Denise Donovan, Steve Norris (the organizers of the Caledon tournament) and attendees on September 22nd. They raised $653.00 for the children and our schools in Cambodia.
The Caledon Sectional Tournament is a great tournament for all levels of players. There too was lots of events for the less experience attendees!
Congratulations to the winners of Barbara Segram's & David Bird's Pocket Guide to Defensive Play at Bridge and Barbara's popular cheat sheets!
A HUGE thank you to all of you who generously donated to our Laos project, held on September 21st!
Thanks to you, we raised $21,211.00 for Laos. This will buy 170 water filters which will be enough for two remote villages. 170 families will reap the benefit of having clean water for the first time ever. That is over 1000 people. We cannot thank you enough.
80 people attended our fundraiser on 21 September. Congratulations to Elaine Givertz and Catherine Wang who were first overall and won 5.5 master points! Thank you also to all of you who brought toothbrushes and toothpaste over the past few weeks. That was phenomenal.
Results for the Laos event can be found at https://www.barbaraseagram.com/Results/180921LA.HTM
Please view "Our Laos Projects 2017" flyer for pictures of our adventures in Laos and to learn more about the challenges of this wonderful country.
September 2018 - Thank you to Keith Balcombe and Rob Hanley
...who hosted a Cambodia fundraiser at their wonderful bridge club in Oshawa on September 7th, where $2,463.00 was raised.
They held a fantastic raffle with amazing prizes. Barbara taught a seminar and 80 attended and stayed to play afterwards. Jerry Howarth (the voice of the Blue Jays) attended also and generously donated two pairs of Blue Jay tickets and stayed to play bridge.
August 2018 - Thank you Burt Garrel Regional: Liverpool (Syracuse) NY Bridge Players

...and to Mary Miller, Tournament Chair
...for giving Patti the space to sell the Cambodia Weaving Centre Scarves at this event - AND to all the players who bought them! All money raised goes to the ladies doing the weaving!
July 2018 - Thank You, Bridge Players from Elmira, Painted Post, & Horseheads, NY
One more family will be the happy recipients of their own, private toilet. This is as a result of a wonderful donation in July 2018 by a small group of ladies, who play bridge weekly, from Elmira, Painted Post, & Horseheads, NY.
This is such a fantastic gift, both for the privacy and security of the girls and women in the family, but also as a major health and sanitation improvement. So many children become sick or die from illnesses due to sanitary issues.
Thank you from both of us and from the children in Cambodia!
Our sincere thanks,
Barbara Seagram & Patti Lee
OVER $12,000 USD RAISED! WOW!!!!
A BIG THANK YOU TO JOAN JOHNSON & CAROLYN HEYN
and the Bridge Players from Palos Verdes Peninsula, California!
A huge thank you to Joan, Carolyn, and the Bridge Players from Palos Verdes Peninsula for their amazing support of our projects in Cambodia. They raised over $12,000 USD. Absolutely wonderful!
Joan & Carolyn and their team (Maria Ashla, Nicole Berte, Robin Hill, and Phyllis Yarnall) organized a bridge bonanza on Thursday, May 17th in Rancho Palos Verdes. They had a bridge lesson in the morning, a delicious lunch, and a duplicate bridge game in the afternoon.
Throughout the day, they held a Silent Auction, with many lovely items, donated by local merchants.
Money goes a long way in Cambodia.
As an example, the money raised represents enough money to pay all of the salaries, taxes, hydro, supplies, etc for one of our schools for almost two full years, or to supply 20 families with their own private toilet.
The whole day was a wonderful success, and the resultant money raised will have a major impact on the lives of the children in Cambodia.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You to Joan, to Carolyn, to the rest of the organizing committee and to the Bridge Players from Palos Verdes Peninsula, who came out and supported this event. We are so appreciative of all that you have done.
With gratitude,
Barbara Seagram & Patti Lee
OVER $7,500 USD raised!!! WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!!!
On May 3rd, the Penfield Country Club near Rochester, NY welcomed 100 attendees to a day of bridge.
Barbara taught two bridge lessons; Patti Lee made a presentation about our projects in Cambodia; there were lovely breakfast pastries and a wonderful lunch, a fabulous Silent / Chinese Auction combined, and lots of door prizes. The attendees were generous in their support; and many who could not attend also donated. And, the whole event was run by an amazing committee of 6 women, who worked tirelessly for some months leading up to the big day.
As a result, they raised over $7,500 USD!!! Thank you so much to all of the attendees and others for your generous donations. We are very grateful.
And a huge thanks to the committee: Pat Smith, Sally Hill, Mary Miller, Susan Rice, Mary Lyke, and Kathy Toole. They handled everything: the promotion of the event, the registrations, the organizing and collecting of the items for the Silent / Chinese Auction, the beautiful presentation of the items, and arranging the site and all of the lovely food.
And on May 3rd, they were there: promoting the Auction, collecting donations and the payments for the Auction, and just generally ensuring that everyone had a wonderful day. Thanks also to Barbara McIver, Judy Newkirk, & Cindy Poole, who helped at registration that day.
Another big thanks to the Sponsors, who donated such amazing things for the Silent / Chinese Auction. Thanks, as well, to the Penfield Country Club. Their staff worked Wednesday evening and Thursday during the day, to ensure that all went smoothly.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! to each and every one of you. For those who attended, we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did.
Yours sincerely,
Barbara Seagram & Patti Lee
Thank You... OVER $52,000 raised! A HUGE THANK YOU to ALL!!!
On April 20th 2018, our annual Cambodian Fundraiser was held at the Trinity Presbyterian Church on Bayview Avenue. There was a lesson from Barbara, a presentation from Patti, lots of door prizes, and many goodies to be bid on in the Silent Auction. And, 160 people came to support our schools and other projects in Cambodia.
They generously donated to our event. Some of them also gave us items for the Silent Auction. And many others, who were not in attendance, either donated money or Silent Auction items or both. (Sponsor Listing)
AND, we raised over $52,000!!!! Thank you so much to all of you. We are very grateful.
Thank you also to Alex Kornel, Ron Bishop, and Stephen Laufer, who all gave up their day to be with us and run the bridge game so efficiently and with such aplomb. Thanks to Ann & Ron Katz, Josee Hammill, and Enid Roitman, who were there for the set up on Thursday evening, as well. Thanks to Jane Stephenson for assisting with registration.
And many thanks again to Josee and Enid, who worked tirelessly at the event to ensure all went smoothly, working the registration and organizing the collection of the Silent Auction payments at the end of the day. Enid also prepares all of the slips for the Silent Auction and makes it look so inviting. She is amazing! Without all of this help, we really could not run this event.
So, many thanks to all of the people, that made it happen. And a huge thank you to all of our Sponsors, who donated such amazing things for our Silent Auction. Please see the list of their names on our websites and please support them. They really deserve all of our support.
Thanks, as well, to Trinity Presbyterian Church for allowing us to hold our fundraiser there. The staff worked Thursday evening and Friday during the day, to ensure that all went smoothly. We are so appreciative.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! to each and every one of you. For those who attended, we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did.
Yours sincerely,
Barbara Seagram & Patti Lee
January 2018 - NEW School Opens!
 We are very excited to announce the opening of our NEW school in Taprom Village, Kampot Province.
Construction is complete and the teachers received the first enrollment of 158 eager students on 22 January. Monks alo were in attendance to bless the school. (View larger pictures on FACEBOOK)
Our new school has a cistern is for water to wash their hands, something all the students are learning about! They do not drink the water from the cistern. Families drink rain water which is “pure”.
Prior to this school being built, students studied in an "outdoor" classroom, which will still be used to cater for various classes.

Visit banyantreeorganization.com for more information about ALL of our schools in Cambodia.
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