Our Room to Read School

 

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2012 marks the 25th Anniversary year of Marine Money International. In celebration of this milestone, Marine Money is providing the means for the global organization Room to Read to build a six‐room schoolhouse in Moddaikadai, Sri Lanka. For a small company such as ours, it is a remarkable feat.

Early construction photos of the school we are sponsoring in Sri Lanka. (May 2012, (C) Room to Read).

Marine Money has previously partnered with Room to Read, featuring its founder, John Wood, as keynote speaker at our 2011 Marine Money Week. Following Wood's keynote address, he joined our chairman Jim Lawrence at a closing of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

John Wood, left, and Jim Lawrence. © 2011, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

This collaboration led to a dialogue among the Marine Money team about celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary by donating a portion of the proceeds from each of our 2012 Forums to Room to Read to build a school on behalf of Marine Money. In December 2011, members of our team met with John Wood once more and made this idea a reality.

When choosing a country in which a build a school, we wanted to tap into our roots and select a country where there is a maritime connection. Sri Lanka is a large tropical island just twenty miles off the southern tip of India. Sri Lanka, formerly a British colony known as Ceylon until the mid‐twentieth century, has a number of ports, Colombo, the capital, being its largest and amongst others, Trincomalee, the fifth largest natural harbor in the world. Sri Lanka’s breathtaking beauty belies a challenging history, including most recently, a 20 year civil war between the Tamil in the North and East and the Sinhalese majority. This difficult history has translated into suffering for many Sri Lankans.

Marine Money will sponsor the construction of a school in in the war-ravaged Northern Tamil region of the country, where the current need is greatest. This will be collaboration with the local community, which is challenged to contribute land, additional funds and effort of their own. Room to Read believes that involving the community in projects like these fosters a lifelong connection to the programs, and this philosophy has been integral to the organization’s global impact over the past ten years.

We will provide you with updates throughout the year regarding the development of our project.

We are very proud and honored to be involved with such a renowned organization and endeavor. All attendees to our events are contributing to the building of our "school." Your support and encouragement over the years have helped make this possible. Thank you.

If you are interested in helping us support Room to Read further by donating for books, scholarships, reading rooms or even additional schools, visit our team website to learn more or to donate. No donation is ever too small!

http://roomtoread.kintera.org/general/marinemoney