 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
||||
 |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
| REX FOUNDATION P.O. Box 29608 San Francisco, CA 94129-0608 (415) 561-3134 info@rexfoundation.org Fed ID # 68 0033257 |
|
|
REX ANNUAL REPORT 1999 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This year saw the beginning of Project AVARY – an enrichment program for children with incarcerated parents. The project was envisioned by Rex Foundation board member Chaplain Earl Smith of San Quentin State Prison. Working with inmates in several programs designed to sustain and nurture families through the period of incarceration, Chaplain Smith observed that the children often fail to get much needed attention. He wanted to develop a program to give these children some of the support, guidance and joy that is often absent from their lives. He approached Rex administrator Danny Rifkin who agreed to take on the responsibility of establishing the program and become its executive director. With Rex Foundation acting as fiduciary agent and providing a start up grant of $10,000, the vision became reality. The first Project AVARY summer session, in July, 1999, brought 32 children to the Sierra foothills for a week of fun and exploration. Project AVARY brings together Bay Area children from diverse backgrounds who share the difficulties presented by a parent's incarceration or ongoing involvement with the criminal justice system. The program focuses on four different areas of exploration and development: Social Skills Development in Daily Life, Self Expression through the Creative Arts, Athletics, and Natural History and Environmental Education, all aimed at enhancing children's emotional and social skills, expanding their self-knowledge, challenging their sense of what is possible and enhancing their respect for themselves, others and the natural environment. Project AVARY provides girls and boys, ages 9–11, a respite from the pressures of their daily lives, during an intensive summer session in an outdoor camping environment. During the school year, Project AVARY holds periodic gatherings in order to provide the children an ongoing opportunity to participate with the camp community. Project AVARY has applied for 501(c)(3) non-profit status, but retains close collegial ties with the Rex Foundation. c/o The Rex Foundation, P.O. Box 2204, San Anselmo, CA 94979
NUBIAN VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT FUND A grant program under the tutelage of master Oud player, Hamza El Din This year also saw the first of several intended grants to be used for village development in Nubia. With the help of Hamza El Din, the Rex foundation has undertaken what promises to be a long term committment to the region. The following letter from Hamza gives some of the background and intended outcomes of the Nubian Fund program. Dear Rex Foundation, As you may know, I was born and spent my early years in Toshka, a small village along the Nile in southern Egypt just north of the border with Sudan. The village of my childhood and my heart's true home no longer exists in its original location, which today lies beneath the backwaters of the Aswan High Dam. The people of Toshka, many members of both my immediate and extended family included, along with many other villages, were moved to new land north of Aswan, away from the river. Toshka has been resurrected on a new site and Nubian life continues there much as it has been for centuries. However, the new villages are less geographically isolated than the old land, and the past century has seen a large migration of Nubians to the neighboring Egyptian and Sudanese communities. Both of these phenomena have necessitated educating young Nubians for the life they will lead within a new and changing world. When Mickey Hart and Rex generously offered to donate the royalties that had accumulated from the music Mickey had recorded of anonymous street musicians in Egypt, it seemed a fitting use of the funds to supplement the artistic and general education of the Nubian youth in the new Toshka. The money will be used primarily as a supplemental fund to enrich the educational experience of the children at the middle school level. A computer and several musical instruments have already been purchased, and we hope to be able to provide further assistance for other projects in the future. Although I will have the ultimate financial control of the use of the funds, it is my intention to let those closest to the situation on the ground indicate their preferences for its best use. I hope and pray that we are able to use these monies wisely and that Allah blesses everyone, from Mickey and the street musicians with whom it started to all those involved at the Rex Foundation, who have made possible this wonderful opportunity. (See February 2000 update).
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
