A sincere thanks for the donations of 2011
Here is a brief account of the donations collected by FMSI in 2011, while we await a much more detailed report, which will coincide with the publication of the annual report we are already working on.
We have received donations from two Marist solidarity organizations (officially constituted NGOs): MAPS (Marist Asia-Pacific Solidarity), an international development agency created in 2002 by the Brothers of the Australian Province of Sydney, and MFMV (Maristen Fürsorge und MissionsVerein), based in Fürth, in Bavaria, which involves the schools of Mindelheim and Cham, situated in the same region of Germany. The donations received from the two NGOs amount to €13,500.
About €9,000 have come to us from Marist establishments, including the school in Toulouse (École Montalembert), France, and the Italian schools of Giugliano (Naples) and San Leone Magno (Rome).
Another part, very important for us, comes from private donors: almost €3,500. Even if the amount does not seem much, it testifies to the growing confidence of certain persons in the transparency and efficacy of our Foundation.
Sometimes, this money is dedicated to precise ends indicated by the donor, thus contributing to support a particular project of the Foundation: activities with street children in Hungary, the work of the Marist Brothers in Cambodia or in the shantytowns of Nairobi (Kenya), or for the school of Bafut, in Cameroon… In these cases we have, of course, respected the wishes of the donors. Other donations, on the other hand, have come without any stated goal; quite simply, knowing the work of the Marist Brothers and sharing in the Foundation projects, some persons have wanted to support these projects and the work in question by their generous contribution. In the second case, sure of acting according to the donors’ wishes, we have used the money for those projects which have seemed to us most urgent.
We must add, as well, that the Foundation has received €106,230 in connection with the presentation of specific projects: €100,000 have come from the CEI – Bishops’ Conference of Italy– and €6,230 from a private European organization. The two amounts have been credited to the FMSI account and immediately transferred to the beneficiaries of two projects: Baucau in East Timor, and a formation initiative for the actual work and support of children’s rights, in the care of the FMSI Geneva Office.
The solidarity activity of FMSI has naturally been much more important: the financing of 16 micro-projects and especially the assistance and accompaniment of numerous macro-projects, presenting them to the many European organizations and donors. Many of these projects have received substantial economic aid, and we are now at the stage of realization. We will next speak of all these activities on the web page and in an ad hoc publication which we are in train of preparing, which will treat of all the work achieved in 2010 and 2011.
While waiting for this, we can assure you that those working on the front line with children and young people much poorer than ours, rich and replete, receive in return their smiles and sincere thanks. We have experienced this ourselves on each of our voyages and at each of our meetings.
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