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Takeo Orphanage Visit – Fund President Lee Darter
(June 20 -22, 2019)
I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to meet the university students from Takeo Orphanage. These are the most amazing people I have ever known. They tell me how much I, “Daddy” Ron and the Ron Abney Educational Fund have changed their lives, but they have all profoundly changed my life as well. Each and every one of them has given me more strength and power than I ever knew I had. I am so grateful to them and the resilience they have shown in the face of adversity. My family now includes two doctors, two lawyers, several bankers, a few accountants, many administrators, a veterinarian, a few IT people and a waste management professional. There are five couples, all of whom were raised in the Takeo Orphanage, who have married and had children together. These people who were raised without a family have become family to each other. I am so proud they consider me one of their own. My family just grew by 47 today. 
–Lee Darter, RAEF Facebook post on June 20, 2019
Today I taught art to the orphans at Takeo Orphanage in Cambodia. I think it was the happiest I have ever been in my whole life. To be in a place that Dad loved so much and get to know the kids was amazing . . . and I got to hand out a bunch of stuffed animals as well!!! I will never complain about anything again after teaching in 108 degree weather with no air conditioner! We are coming back in 2021 to mural paint the walls if anyone is planning for their summer travels!
–Lee Darter, RAEF Facebook post on June 22, 2019
Lee and her mother-in- law, Pam Shuman, distribute gifts of stuffed animals to the kids
Danny (videographer) and Mr. Soda visit the Takeo Orphanage (April 2016)
Enjoy this YouTube video narrated by Danny Grozdich from The Gradual Report. It was filmed when Mr. Soda, our Director of Operations in Cambodia, hosted him on a tour of Phnom Penh and then took him to meet the children at the Takeo Orphanage.
Takeo Orphanage Visit – RAEF Treasurer Sandy Swindal (December 31, 2014) & Video “Ron Abney’s Final Return to Takeo”
Sandy Swindal, Treasurer of the Ron Abney Educational Fund, visited Takeo Orphanage on December 31, 2014, to fulfill Ron’s wish to be buried at the Takeo Orphanage. She brought his ashes to be interred there exactly three years after his passing on December 31, 2011.
Ron Abney, my dear first cousin, loved to talk about Cambodia, his love for the children of the Takeo Orphanage and his work to support them in any way he could. In the early 2000s, he asked me to make a donation to help provide college scholarships for the children, and I was happy to do so. After Ron passed away, his daughter Lee Darter established the Ron Abney Educational Fund in 2013 to continue her father’s dream of sending Takeo orphans to college. She asked our mutual cousin Kathy Higginbotham and me to join her on the Board of Directors.
On December 31, 2014, I made the Takeo Orphanage my first stop on a three-week visit to Southeast Asia. I brought along an extra suitcase filled with school supplies and toys purchased by Lee, Kathy and myself to be distributed to the children and also a box containing Ron’s ashes. Ron had previously told Lee that he wanted his ashes to be placed at the orphanage.
Mr. Soda, the RAEF operations director in Phnom Penh, and his family offered many hours of service to make all the arrangements for the Buddhist funeral ceremony and Ron’s stupa (burial monument). They also prepared a packet of treats for each of the 75 children at the orphanage. These gifts were funded by RAEF donors. Lee herself donated the money needed for the ceremony and stupa in honor of her father.
Each orphan also had to acknowledge his or her agreement to do so by placing their thumbprint on a document. Also, government officials had to give their approval.
Mr. Soda and his wife, Suk Mom, drove me the three hours from Phnom Penh to Takeo. The orphanage is in a lovely location on the outskirts of Takeo town, just across from a lake. The buildings and grounds were very clean and well maintained with lovely outdoor areas.
I then brought Ron’s ashes into the common room. There they were placed in front of his photo, which was surrounded by a display of paper cut-outs, candles and incense. The monks began chanting the ritual mantras, and the children and adults offered their prayers and blessings for Ron. Their love and respect for “Daddy,” as they had called Ron, was palpable.
Watch our 1-minute video: “Ron Abney’s Final Return to Takeo”
After the ceremony, it was time to give the children the gifts we had brought. They lined up according to age and came, one by one, to receive a toy and packet of goodies from Mr. Soda, Suk Mom, Kim Kemlang and me. I will never forget the children’s smiling faces and the joy which filled my heart in this face-to-face manifestation of what it is to give to the orphans at Takeo Orphanage.
After we finished distributing the gifts, I met thirteen of the college students and graduates who had come up from Phnom Penh for the ceremony. They each were gifted a pen-and-pencil set in a nylon pouch from the RAEF Board of Directors. They all expressed to me their sincere gratitude to the donors of the RAEF in making it possible for them to attain a college education.
Ron Abney’s love for the children of the Takeo Orphanage will indeed live on through the generous support of the donors to the Ron Abney Educational Fund. And for generations to come, the children of the Takeo Orphanage will remember “Daddy” Ron and honor him at his beautiful memorial just inside the gates.
CAROLINE’S LEMONADE STAND (2013)
Caroline, a delightful young lady from Ron’s hometown in Georgia, was only six years old when she heard Ron speak to her Vacation Bible School class about the Takeo orphans. She was so moved by what she heard that she began a pen pal relationship with Dul Srey Touch, one of the orphans. In 2008, she decided to set up a lemonade stand with the goal of helping her beloved pen pal to attend university. Over the five years she operated her summer refreshment stand, she earned more than $2,000. That was enough to pay for two years of Touch’s college fees as well as help some of the other orphans with their fees! Caroline later was awarded a college savings bond for herself from Kohl’s Department store in recognition of her charitable enterprise. The RAEF Board members are all so very proud of her and cannot thank her enough for her support and hard work, even in the rain!
Read the amazing story of Caroline’s lemonade stand and her gifts to the Ron Abney Educational Fund in this news article.
WHITNEY WEBB VISIT TO TAKEO (2013)
Whitney Webb visited Takeo Orphanage in December 2013. She was very impressed by the work being done there and the influence Ron Abney had on improving the children’s lives.
I first heard of Takeo back in 2010, while living and volunteering at an orphanage in Siem Reap. After spending several years in Asia, Africa, and most recently working in financial education in the US, I returned to Cambodia in December of last year and made a visit to Takeo. My main goal was to run a 1/2 day session with the teens in regards to personal finance. I have volunteered in several orphanages around the world, and I was largely taken by surprise at the level that Takeo was operating. While still modest by many standards, the living conditions for the children are amazing, allowing personal space, beautiful shared outdoor areas, and some of the most organized structures and guidelines I have seen implemented. Below the surface, things got even better. While running the sessions with the teenagers, I was stunned by their English skills, compassion to one another, respect for us as visitors, and most importantly their hopes for their own lives. While Takeo is located several hours from Phnom Penh in a somewhat secluded area, these kids were well beyond the dreams of those I have worked with in some of the bigger cities. The girls and boys alike had concrete goals and plans for their future, and I truly believe that the possibility of college drove them to succeed. After seeing the impact that the opportunity of further education has on these kids, I suggested Takeo as a recipient for a grant from the Ruth and Hal Launders charitable trust, which was recently approved for $10,000. I am hopeful for the kids at Takeo orphanage and hope to continue to support the program in any way that I can.
Whitney Webb
Director of Operations
Independent Means
1209 1/2 De La Vina St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
The Ron Abney Education Fund would like to thank the Ruth & Hal Launders Charitable Trust for their generous grant. We would also like to thank Whitney and Jack Webb for their continued support.
ARTICLES ABOUT RON ABNEY & THE TAKEO ORPHANAGE
Breaking News: Mr. Ron Abney Passed Away on Saturday Dec. 31, 2011 – posted on Temple News, January 2, 2012
From Grass Huts to Grass Roots
By Ed Grisamore, published in The Telegraph, Macon, GA, March 4, 2009