Lifestart Foundation
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| Lifestart | |
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| Type | Charity |
| Founded | 2004, Australia |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
| Key people | Karen Leonard |
| Industry | Development aid |
| Website | [1] |
Lifestart is a Melbourne, Australia based non-profit organisation. Founded by piano teacher Karen Leonard, it has been created to help orphans, street kids and families in Vietnam to become self-sufficient.
Lifestart Foundation is currently sponsoring street kids into apprenticeship programs, sponsoring entire families through the Adopt a Family program and assisting orphans and orphanages in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.
Lifestart Foundation is a grass-roots organization run by a dedicated team of volunteers. Run entirely on good-will, the foundation guarantees that 100% of all donations go directly towards assisting and providing for children and families in need.
The Foundation raises funds independent of donations to cover travel and administrative costs.
[edit] Lifestart's Free school
The school caters for extremely poor, illiterate, disadvantaged , neglected and abused children. The children's age range is from 8 to 20 years. All funds to set up, staff and operate the school are raised outside of Vietnam.
School opening hours are Monday to Friday, with the children participating in art and creative classes in the morning, Vietnamese literacy and numeracy in the afternoon and English language class in the evening.
Whilst school fees to attend a government school would appear to be modest, if you are struggling to feed your family then paying school fees is often not an option.
Some children have been working on the street to support their families and in turn have missed the opportunity to attend regular school. Others have come from backgrounds where education simply was not valued or deemed important.
The children who attend the Lifestart Foundation Free School are amongst some of the most eager students you are ever likely to meet. Most arrive early to school and are not in a hurry to go home at the end of the day.
Local Police visit the school Lifestart Foundation equips all students with everything they need to attend classes free of charge.
The Lifestart Foundation Free School aims to create a safe , happy and stimulating environment for these children to attend. By the very nature of the school being free we never want money or rather lack of money to be a reason why these children are not afforded an education.
