Then he inspired Ricker Goldsborough, who raised money among his friends in the
Tennessee Treetoppers. Then more folks
came aboard and by the time we went to Ecuador in late October Ricker and
Jeff were able to present a substantial donation to both the medical clinic in
Guayaquil and the school in Canoa. See here: Social
Responsibility.
Coming back from Ecuador, Ricker set up a non profit foundation, the Cloudbase
Foundation, to gather further funds from pilots and their friends to help
children wherever we fly. The idea is to build a strong connection between the
pilot community and local people helping children. Jeff O'Brien was very careful
to find substantial local groups doing the kind of work that we want to help and
can use the money to efficiently deliver services.
This month Belinda and I donated an additional $6,100 (on top of our previous
$400 donation) to the James Dean
Byrd Foundation to build a new classroom at the school in Canoa. We sent the
money directly to them as it will take a few months for the Cloudbase
Foundation to obtain its non-profit status. Ricker has collected additional
funds that will go toward funding a teacher for a year ($3,000) and for the
medical clinic.
Here is what the school administer wrote to us:
Just read of your commitment to the school. Jim is sitting beside
me and we are overwhelmed. Thank you is such an inadequate phrase. This is an
amazing donation. Of course, we will have the plaque as you described. And as
Ken told you we plan to start building as soon as school finishes at the end of
January. I will start ordering and buying the building materials right after New
Years. Thank you so very much for making this possible and for helping our kids.
Each classroom has a plaque on it honoring those who donated to
make the classroom possible. This classroom plaque will state:
Hombres Pajaro
Belinda and Davis
This plaque again makes clear the connection between the pilots who fly there at
Canoa (and wherever), and the assistance that we offer to the children of Canoa.
We want to continue to build community good will wherever we fly.
Consider what you can do to support Jeff, Ricker, and the Cloudbase Foundation
as well as our specific efforts in Canoa and Guayaquil. Please take a moment to
look at Jeff's video (all the way through) and read the web sites to see what
we, all of us, are doing.
