I Would Walk 1000 Miles

[NOTE: Having WordPress issues uploading images at the moment, so I’ve posted pics of the shirt on Flickr]OK, folks. Here is a chance to own a very exclusive Real Betis Vietnam football shirt as worn by the amazing kids at the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. There were never many of these shirts and BDCF are looking for new sponsors so there simply will not be any more of this particular design.Featuring the Real Betis badge and name, BDCF logo and Catholic Relief Services on the sleeve, the shirt has a large number 7 on the back along with the charity URL. It’s lightweight material with “breathable” fabric under the arms and down the sides. It is brand new - I’ve worn it once to check it for size and fit.The size is “XL” and this is a western XL by my judgement, not a Vietnamese one. The V-collar means it hangs off me. I’m an average size for a 35 year-old white guy.So here’s how it works. I will cover all costs involved in this little raffle including postage to wherever the lucky winner resides. Hopefully we’ll raise more than the overheads! “Tickets” are one Australian Dollar each and you “buy” them by making a donation to Blue Dragon via PayPal. When you donate, please leave a comment here and tell me how much you donated and therefore how many times your name will be popped into the hat.

The donation page is here

We’ll say the deadline is October 15th 2009 which gives you the thick end of a month to save up. I’ll pick the winner at random then and get in touch with them via email, so please include a valid mail address on your comment. Don’t worry - nobody can see your email address except me and I promise with hand on heart that I will only use said address to let you know if you’ve won and to get a mailing address from you.So… what are you waiting for?

I’ll be cross-posting this to the other blogs shortly so apologies for duplication. I just heard from Mike at Blue Dragon about an author, John Shors, who’s written a novel based on street kids in Vietnam. Mike read the draft and has approved it - which is impressive given the usual stereotypes of street children. Apparently Shors has avoided all of these and Mike should know, given the fact he’s been working with these kids for so many years.The book, Dragon House, is published by Penguin and available pretty much anywhere. You can order an autographed copy direct from John at the official web site… or if you go to Blue Dragon’s page and donate upwards of $100, John will send you a free one! Either way, part of the proceeds from the novel will be wending their way to the kids in Vietnam.

Another huge thank you, this time to Scott and Julie at Rhino Car Hire. They’ve opted to give a regular donation to Blue Dragon in exchange for some advertising here and I can tell you that the money will be very well spent. There are a load of excellent projects taking place right now and they always require funding.

So if you’re in the market to hire a car in the UK, Europe - or anywhere else for that matter - drop by Rhino Car Hire first and check out their prices. I’ve had a gander myself and I can tell you they’re very competitive. Look at it this way - a portion of every rental they make goes to the kids in Vietnam. How could you pick anyone else now?

If you need cheap ferry tickets to France, then I would be grateful if you take a quick trip to FerryCheap.com. They’ve just made a generous donation to Mike at Blue Dragon, in exchange for which they’ve asked for a dinky link here.

Link provided. Thank you, Chris at FerryCheap!

Not one by me (yet!), but one that will benefit the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. Rather than just direct you over to Mike’s Blog post about it, I’ll repeat the details here:

Quotations for Positive People is a collection of inspiring quotes that has been compiled by Larry Welch - and he’s offered to donate all of the profits to Blue Dragon! Thanks, Larry!

We’re going to use the funds for some of our most positive work - providing homes to children who live on the streets. So, buy the book! Give it to your friends! Pay your staff in copies of the book rather than boring old cash!

Click here for more info: http://www.trafford.com/07-1419

It’s never too late to make a donation, as CheapFerryTickets.com (SeaFrance Ferries) have just proved. A huge thank you to them for donating enough to put one of the kids through school in this new year. It’s never too late to make a donation. Please don’t think that just because the Walk is over that the cash should stop coming in. There will be a need for it - and it will be hugely appreciated - for much time to come!

I am a bad, bad man. I have been going over this web page (moving it to another server, and gradually mothballing it) when I noticed that I’d forgotten to thank someone hugely important. An unsung heroine, if you will.

Stand up and take a bow, Marina. She did a lot of letter-writing and sending on my behalf, bought me a copy of Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring, and ferried some of the supplies I needed from the UK into Europe when I met her for Graspop last year.

So I apologise for missing you off the Acknowledgements page, where you now have a rightful place!

The total of all donations of which I’m aware is… £1921, $US895 and SKK1000 After converting into US Dollars and not taking into account PayPal/bank transfer fees, this works out as $4970. I have a whopping bank transfer to make tomorrow. An enormous "thank you" to everyone from myself, Mike and all the kids and staff at Blue Dragon. All the kind donors of whom I am aware can be seen on the donations page. Please don’t forget that just because I’ve finished the Walk and totalled this lot up that BDCF won’t appreciate further donations. Go direct to their web page to see how you can help out.

Another one of those "thank you"s that I’m throwing around like confetti to all those who’s cash I’ve received. I’ll see some of you in the next week or so, and to the rest - can you please either send a cheque, make a bank transfer or donate your pledge direct to Blue Dragon? Current donations stand at: £1678, $US830, SKK1000. Details can be seen on the donations page. There is more to go on there as well. Helen’s fiancé has a jar at work which needs totalled up, and I have some from friends and family that needs gathered. PayPal means fees, bank transfer and cheque don’t - please get in touch for the details of those methods. We’re going to try and get as many (if not all) of the donations as possible before transferring the funds direct to Mike and the kids in Hanoi. Hopefully this will be done in the next two weeks. And, yes, I’m already thinking of other ways to raise awareness and money for Blue Dragon…

Another quick “thank you”, this time to my aunt Isabel who has been fundraising while I’ve been away. She just delivered a wodge of cash to my parents after a night she organised with raffles, pass-the-parcel and so on. The sum raised was a fantastic £480!

With luck, I should know the full amount raised within the next couple of weeks. I have a handful of donations still to collect, some people are still donating and I have to catch up with some of them to get the money.