Raising Funds for Syrian Children Education at CH James
With a target of $15,000 and looking to fund education of 100 Syrian children for a year, CH James hosted the Collateral Repair Project charity event. Would they meet their challenging target? The World Loves Melbourne attended the event and was moved by the speeches by refugees and the inspiration of the event.
Christopher Krambias, Jey Jeyabala and Matthew Butera (all of refugee or migrant background) organised a fund raising event at CH James cafe in Fairfield for the Collateral Repair Project (CRP), a grassroots organisation working out of Amman, Jordan to provide basic support to refugees. Christopher Krambias made it clear that all of the funds for the $100 a ticket event were going straight to the refugees' education.
Madeline Acosta provided fabulous entertainment across the evening.
We could tell this was a passionate cause for all of those present. It was a classy event, and we feel Melbourne puts on some of the best well organised charity events in Australia. CH James is a stylish cafe and festive space in Fairfield and hosted the event superbly. There was an abundance of premium drinks including bubbly on arrival. Chef Talon and his team are top chefs and they cooked up stunning canapes all night. There was no lack of top notch food and drink.
The party continued inside and outside in the courtyard. From Wagyu beef canapes to Tuna to high grade Oysters to Sliders, the food was fabulous.
Kudos to sponsors including CH James, Ocean Made Seafood and Hargreaves Hill Brewery, Axiom, CHT Architects, RT Edgar, Patras Development, French Bikini, and Printco.
The Courtyard was a magical place to be with party lights, planter boxes looking fine with flowers in bloom, new marble benches and umbrellas and mural and art of the wall. Not to mention the backdrop of the old church. We heard from a couple of refugees, who gave harrowing accounts of their lives as refugees. The stories were inspirational as against the odds they had forged a new future. What it meant was that we need to support refugees in their plight and in particular the education of these Syrian children.
Oysters with caviar.
Wagyu beef canapes.
Conviviality central.
Speeches were inspirational.
The band were superb.
Check out a message from the project itself -
Collateral Repair Project Thankyou Message from Christopher Krambias on Vimeo.
Says Christopher Krambias, son of CH James owner Theo Krambias, "Last year, I watched the Syrian conflict unfold, and felt a strong connection between that and my fathers history. Dad and his family were forced to pack their bags, leave 3 different businesses behind and immigrate to Australia to rebuild their lives. Dad was lucky, he came to a country with free tertiary education and had enough support to build himself back up to what he has today. The refugees fleeing Syria and finding refuge in neighbouring countries don't have this type of support. They exist in limbo, waiting for the day the conflict in their home country comes to an end. Until then, they can't work, their children have very basic access to school and in many cases they struggle to feed and house themselves. Over 400,000 refugees have made their way to Jordan, and half of these are children."
Did the event reach it's target? Latest figures received were $17,720 - above the target - whiich simply means sponsorship of more children!
The CRP is financially based in America where it has qualified as a 501(c)(3) not for profit charity. Meaning it has been audited and is exempt from federal income tax in the USA.
Please visit the Gofundme page. Link is here - https://www.gofundme.com/