date: 02 10 2005

Dear Friends and Volunteers,

Thanks to all for your ongoing support of our efforts in Phuket. Together, we have raised over $25000 already, and this is just the beginning.

FIRST + SECOND TRIPS
Both trips are doing pretty well in terms of the number of volunteers. The first team has twenty-two people signed up, and most have made their reservations to travel to Thailand. Therefore, we are considering it full, but recognizing plans may change. If you'd like to put your name on the waiting list in case anyone cancels, let us know.
The second group is at 20 people. Let us know if you'd like to be part of this trip (but do it soon as spots are filling up!)

THIRD TRIP
We want to evaluate interest in a third trip to Thailand. The dates would be for arrival in Phuket on April 18th and for a departure on April 30th. If you think you might be interested in participating with this third team of volunteers, please make sure your volunteer information sheet has been filled out and send Mach an email to confirm your interest in this third project team.

ACCOMMODATIONS
Please note that accommodations remain an issue to be resolved for groups two and three. We have guaranteed free housing at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital in Phuket, and are also exploring other options at local dormitories or guest houses. Volunteers for groups two and three may be asked to pay a nominal fee for the cost of accommodations during their stay in Thailand. We promise, however, that we are continuing to work on this issue and will do our best to limit additional costs.

OTHER PROJECTS
"Hope - A Book of Illustrations from Thai Children" is already underway and is imagined as a collection of drawings from Thai schoolchildren. Our intent is to pull the illustrations into a book that can be sold in the United States, with a significant portion of the profits sent back to the schools and local communities. If anyone is interested in designing the book and helping to coordinate this project, please let us know. We already have about 100 drawings from kids from the Kalim school in Phuket.

Local Playground Construction with Kaboom!
Kaboom! builds playgrounds in local communities and has a history of creating safe places to play in various communities in the United States and around the world. We are in contact with Kaboom! and hope to be able to send a team later in the year to build a playground (or several) in Phuket. If anyone is interested in helping to coordinate the playground project between the United States and Thailand, please let us know.

Community Wall Murals. We have identified several locations in Phuket that can benefit from a little public art and expression. We hope to work on designing and painting these murals with the local Thai children and think the mural projects will provide a nice contrast (and occasional break) from the construction at the Kamala Center.

We have added some new photos on the website. We'd like to encourage volunteers to take photos so everyone can see the progress of our various efforts.

FUNDRAISING / EVENTS
Chicago, Friday February 11th, 6-9pm
Happy Hour at Maeve Tavern
1325 West Wrightwood (at Wayne, near Southport)
25 dollar donation includes food and drink
contact: ncurby@yahoo.com

New York City, Saturday February 12th
Art4Life and the Players Theater
115 MacDougal Street
25 dollar donation includes free entertainment and refreshments
more info: www.art4nyc.com
to help, contact: maya@phuketproject.org.

New York City, Sunday February 27th
Musical Relief at The Continental
Third Avenue at the corner of St Marks Place
10 dollar donation includes bands, artists, djs and more
to help, contact: maya@phuketproject.org. We need people to hand out flyers, coordinate bands, and man the info table.

Don't forget to sign up for our email group at YahooGroups so you stay in the know and connect with other volunteers. You can find someone to share a room with, talk to volunteers who are already there, and ask questions.

Thanks everybody,

The Team at PhuketProject.org