Monday, 17 December, 2012
POSTED BY Brenley MacEachern 2 hours ago via GlobalGiving
"While in Belize my partner and I visited the Ocean Academy, a high school in Caye Caulker, on the last day of school and met some of the students, teachers and one of the co-founders, Heidi Curry. Before the Ocean Academy opened, there was no high school in Caye Caulker which meant that other than a few students from privileged families who could finance the daily commute to mainland high school, students finished school at the age of 12 or 13. Danny Michel who we randomly ran into a few days ago and somehow ended up singing together at a jam night, has been a huge supporter of this school and has raised over $35,000!! I have decided that for Christmas this year, rather than going out and buying gifts for each of my family members I've decided to donate $1000 on their behalf - a year's tuition. Skip the mall friends.. make a donation instead!!
Brenley made a donation to Danny Michel Scholarships & School Repairs, Belize on GlobalGiving. Brenley made a donation to Danny Michel Scholarships & School Repairs, Belize on GlobalGiving.
This fund will provide scholarships for 20 students who are the first in their families to attend high school in Caye Caulker, Belize (school is not free in Belize). Ocean Academy, Caye Caulker's first high school (opened in 2008), provides academic and job skills programs that enable children to break free from systemic poverty. Canadian singer/songwriter Danny Michel will visit the scholarship recipients and work alongside the students to repair the most urgent needs of the school building.
Project: Danny Michel Scholarships & School Repairs, Belize
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Saturday, 15 December, 2012
NEW PHOTOS FROM FIX-IT DAY
Thursday, 13 December, 2012
Donors, fans and friends
Well, I've arrived in Belize and made it over to the Ocean Academy for the last day of school. Seeing the kids again was just wonderful. I'm so proud of all of them and overjoyed to see they're still in school dedicated and working hard. I can't thank them enough for all the beautiful cards...such thoughtful words. Please know I accept these on behalf of all who've donated.
I'm happy to say again, your donations are literally changing lives. A 3rd floor is under construction which will provide three large class rooms giving everyone a little more elbow room. On Saturday we're all going to pitch in to do some general maintenance around the school. Watch for the photos. Thank you to everyone. It's an inspiration to be involved in a such a meaningful project.
Monday, 19 November, 2012
THE OCEAN ACADEMY 2013 SCHOLARSHIPS AND SCHOOL REPAIRS
In December I'll be heading down to Belize again to check on how the kids at Ocean Academy are doing a year after your astounding donations. Your generosity made a huge difference for these kids last year and now I feel connected to getting them all the way through school.
With this year’s school fees coming up again, I myself will be making another donation and I ask you to consider matching your donation from last year.
While in Belize I'll meet with the staff and personally see that your money finds its way directly to them. This year, the kids want to show everyone how important the scholarships are to them by rolling up their sleeves to work alongside me to repair the most urgent needs at the school. We’ll spend a day together to fill in the library’s dirt floor, repair broken furniture, and brighten up some walls with fresh paint. I'll be getting my hands dirty and will post full reports, videos & photos
ALBUM ARTWORK AUCTION Deadline Dec 8, 6:00pm
Current Bid - $650.00
This is a small framed charcoal drawing by wonderful artist Meaghan Olinski. It's framed, dated and autographed by the artist and the only one in existence.
To bid on this beautiful keepsake email your bid to dannymichelmusic@mac.com and make sure you type "MY BID" in caps in the subject line.
The deadline of the auction will be my Dec 8th big show at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto, ON, Canada. (At the exact same time, the students of the Ocean Academy will be performing their Christmas Extravaganza show in Belize.) We'll announce the winner on stage that night and even present it to them on stage if they are able to be there.
See it with your own eyes along with more of Meaghan’s work on display now at the ever groovy Jane Bond in Waterloo ON.
Thanks so much to Meaghan for her blessing to let this little bird fly and her wonderful donation to the kids.
The Danny Michel Ocean Academy Fund
Helping put real kids through school in Belize, Central America. Donate, watch, enjoy, listen
The Story
After visiting the beautiful country of Belize yearly for a decade now, my connection to the land, ocean & wonderful people has grown deeper and deeper. It was where I sat and wrote my last album "Sunset Sea". The experience was so wonderful, I plan on doing it again. But after getting so much from this beautiful country, I feel it’s time I give something back.
O C E A N A C A D E M Y H I G H S C H O O L has recently opened on the small island and the kids, who I recognize and have seen grow up, are now able to attend. Until now, the island has had no high school resulting in many kids dropping out at age 12 because they couldn't afford to travel to mainland schools. The original idea was to run a little home-school for 5 or 6 children, but then 35 families showed up on the first day along with adults asking for GED classes. Ocean Academy currently enrols 59 students in 4 grades + adult night classes in computers and ESL. Ocean Academy is accredited, but only partially funded by the Belizean government. We are really so blessed in Canada to have universal education. Education in Belize is NOT free. Students pay tuition, books, uniform and at some schools they even pay for their drinking water. OA is a community non-profit school. Tuition is $1000usd/year (=$2000.00bzd) which is a lot to ask of Belizean families, but much less than the cost of the daily water taxi they had to pay to attend mainland schools before it opened. Still, 85% of the students cannot afford to pay full tuition. The school is constantly seeking out tuition scholarships for their students so that they don't drop out due to financial strain and often barters tuition, donated school supplies, work-studies, and as many scholarships as it can find. Ocean Academy school and Belizean staff run on a shoe-string budget.
M E - Music, Education & Hope in Belize
In November I‘ll be traveling to Belize to write & do some recording in a studio near Guatemala. But more importantly, I’ll be working with the kids at Ocean Academy. Scotty Poock (left) runs a great music program with the kids and I’ll be helping out how ever I can. I’ll also be teaching songwriting and helping the kids prepare for a Christmas concert. Throughout it all I’ll be documenting the entire experience through video updates so you can see me working with the kids and watch EXACTLY where your money is going. I will personally deliver the raised money to the Ocean Academy, helping the actual kids/families you may have enjoyed seeing in my video for “Feather, Fur & FIn”. Until then, I am raising as much funding for Ocean Academy as I can. I’ll be collecting money at live shows and through this website. The balance will be posted every few days for you, the kids and all to see.
Y O U
Over the years I’ve been involved with many fundraisers, but feel this is where I can really help, where I can personally make a difference, and hand deliver every penny to Ocean Academy. And YOU can watch the whole process and be a part of where your donation goes. Maybe we’ll even make one of those big over sized cheques! As a donor, your email will added to a list to receive updates, photos, videos and lots of fun stuff. This is a chance for you to contribute to something special and help change the lives of some wonderful children. I also promise to come back with a great new album up my sleeve. So I ask, if you can spare anything please do.
Thanks, Danny
The School Assembly
Danny gives a tour of the school
April 16, 2013
Current balance
$43,637.70
THE BEST WAY TO DONATE
is through “The Ocean Academy Danny Michel” Fund at Global Giving: HERE
Your donation can go even further with Global Giving's special matching funds offer (up to $200) for recurring payments set up in December.
Please send an email to me at dannymichelmusic@me.com letting me know about your donation so we can update the total here
Recent donors:
Anne Dumais
Jane LeFeuvre
Amy Polkinghorne
Anonymous
James Ansell
Christine Koeck
Dietmar Leibecke
Brian Thompson
Risa Schwartz
Anonymous
Peter Heywood
Edward Ferguson
Natalia Kirillova
Natasha Wells
Stephen McConkey
Kathleen Daintith
Amy Polkinghorne
Katja Neumann
John Luxford
Mike Silver
The Michel family
Melissa DiRenzo
Brenley MacEachern
Sharon Morrice
Ken and Vicki Shonk
Lindy Brown
Judith Coombe
Amy Polkinghorne
Barbara Schweizer
Paul Armstrong
Christen Shepherd
Stephen Hawkins
Anonymous
Amit Saha
Kris Wood
Michael Regan
George Frengos
Lisa Kilgour
Barbara Schweizer
Kirstie Russell
Jo-Ann Hutchison
Gareth Cunningham
Jennifer Hollister
Peter Schwartz
Christopher Lusty
Michelle Holmes
Stephen McConkey
Tamera Barnett
Gary Stewart
Stephanie Duff
Maureen Grenier
Chris McCarthy
Donna Allan
Tara Mora
LAST YEARS BIG NEWS
archive
- See who’s on the donor list!
LAST YEARS WORK
Tuesday, 25 December, 2012
"The kids in their own words"
Danny Michel's Ocean Academy Christmas update
Merry Christmas and thank you to everyone who has donated to the Ocean Academy fund this year. In the last few weeks we've raised $5198.00 for a running total of $36,853.00. I thought it would be nice to let you see some faces and hear a few success stories so I went around and spoke with some of the OA Graduates.
Have a peek while the kids tell you in their own words how their lives have been changed by you generosity and care.
All the best,
Danny Michel
Tuesday, 16 April, 2013
Thank to the kids at the OA for all their good luck wishes to me this week at the Junos. You guys are great!
