Our friends at Caring for Cambodia are celebrating the seventh anniversary of their founding by proclaiming today to be International CFC Day. From their Facebook wall:

Today is International CFC Day! Wherever you are in the world, please take a moment to think about our students in Cambodia, your involvement with CFC, and how you can continue to help us bring a brighter future to the children of Cambodia.

CFC is a great organization doing the hard work of improving education in rural Cambodia. Founded by Lehigh graduate Bill Amelio ’79 and his wife Jamie, Caring for Cambodia focuses its efforts in five areas: school construction, teacher training, innovative learning, student achievement, and student health and well-being. CFC currently operates five schools, four libraries, and provides nearly 35,000 meals each month to over 5,000 students. Recently the organization has begun working with a local secondary school, with the goal of providing students a clear path to employment. The Amelio School was the charity’s first school, founded in 2003. For the past two years the school has been ranked best in the nation by the Cambodian Ministry of Education. Another CFC school, the Kong Much School, is ranked second. CFC introduced the concepts of kindergarten and preschool to Cambodia. You can read about the COE’s growing involvement with the organization here, here and here.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is looking forward to helping CFC improve and grow during my time at Lehigh. In the meantime however, we should take a minute and follow CFC’s advice above. Think about the children in Siem Reap and how you can help. More information on CFC day can be found here.