School Grounds in 2009

School Grounds in 2009
Future site of the Library

Ron Paul Felt Memorial Library

Ron Paul Felt Memorial Library
Blueprint Perspective

IN MEMORY OF RON PAUL FELT
(1981-2004)

My son, who passed away at the young age of 22, left a legacy of dedication to improving educational opportunities for children in Indonesia. Prior to graduating from Jakarta International School, he and a friend organized a high school club devoted to raising funds to assist children in the neighboring kampung with educational costs. This ongoing fund helps defray costs of uniforms and textbooks, allowing many poor children in Jakarta the chance to attend school where they may otherwise be forced to drop out.

In his honor, our family has chosen to assist the children of the San Isidro Integrated School, to improve their educational environment and to build a new edifice that will house a library and computer lab. Ron Paul valued reading and learning and he loved children. We hope to dedicate the future library to his memory.

PROJECT MISSION

The Heart Felt organization seeks to improve the educational environment for the children of San Isidro in order to prepare them for a better, more meaningful and more purposeful life.


Accomplishments to Date:

In 2009, before our involvement and assistance, San Isidro Integrated School was overcrowded. A Kindergarten and six grades met in 5 classrooms with nearly 40 children in each room. The desks and chairs were rotting and full of splinters. The mostly-English textbooks were old and tattered, many with missing pages. The children had no library or computer resources, and few reading books were available in classrooms.

Since that time, thanks to the support of family and friends and increased local government interest, the school has improved in the following ways:

- SIIS expanded through Grade 11, and the final Grade 12 classroom will be built in 2014

- All of the old desks were replaced

- The children learn from newer, better quality textbooks and, as a result, their National Test Scores are improving

- The students have access to more books to read

- A computer lab is set up

- The playground is vastly improved

- A fresh-water tank is installed

- Improvements are continually being made as needed


GOALS:

#1: To construct the Ron Paul Felt Memorial Library

#2: To provide space for the computer lab in the new library

#3: To continue to gather and ship textbooks, instructional materials and library books to San Isidro

#4: To continue to locally purchase needed classroom materials annually

#5: To maintain an enjoyable playground

#6: To establish Sister-School relationships between San Isidro and US schools and to involve any schools and organizations interested in contributing to the education and welfare of San Isidro students

#7: To help San Isidro teachers improve their English-language teaching skills

#8: To provide assistance as new needs arise



---Classroom Improvements---


Classroom Setting in 2009

Classroom Setting in 2009
Jonber teaching Grades 3 and 4

Old Desks

Old Desks
Rough hewn desks and chairs have been replaced

New Desks

New Desks

Worn Out Textbooks

Worn Out Textbooks
The old textbooks have now been replaced with

New Textbooks

New Textbooks

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Shipment Sets Sail!

Last Sunday my friend Delene and I drove 800 miles from Park City, UT to San Jose, CA.

The next day we met Tom Felt's truck, heavily loaded with donations bound for San Isidro, at ACE Warehouse in Hayward.
Delene Scrafford and Odette Mabalatan at ACE Warehouse


Rhett (the driver), Odette (our shipping specialist), and four missionaries from the local mission office of the LDS Church converged in the late afternoon to unload the donations.

While Elders Watson, Wilde, Fairbanks & Fahina unload, Odette & I pause for a photo.

After unloading the trailer and truck bed, these missionaries helped us repack donations into approved shipping cartons.



Elder Read and Elder Chiu relieved the first crew of volunteers and worked very hard over the next couple of hours repacking donations.



By 8:00pm exhaustion set in, so we made arrangements to continue the job on Tuesday morning. Delene's friend Sheldon Teranishi arrived and, with the help of Epie and his friends, we managed to have everything packed by noon.

Sheldon Teranishi (at left) helps load books and computers into shipping cartons

At last, 61 cartons and 24 computer monitors are ready to ship. Within 3 weeks, all donations will have set sail on the Pacific Ocean bound for the Philippines.

Soon the children of San Isidro will have many new books to enjoy and, for the first time ever, have access to computers at school!

Ready to ship!

I cannot begin to express sufficient appreciation to the many generous people who donated time, muscle, vehicles, books, and computers to this wonderful cause.

I especially want to thank Tom Felt for providing transportation of the donations from Utah to California and Odette Mabalatan for donating free shipping from California to Manila.

We welcome any monetary donations to help alleviate the cost of nearly $3000 to ship these books and computers from Manila to the school in San Isidro.

If you would like to help, please contact me at theresafelt@gmail.com. Thank you!
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