By BRIDGET SCOTT
A CRANBOURNE woman who raised nearly $16,000 for the United Nation’s World Food Program travelled to Laos this year to see where her money was being spent.
Putha Nim, general manager of the Cranbourne KFC, was one of the top fundraisers in the country, with 624 of KFC’s Australian stores combining each year to raise money for World Hunger Relief.
The drive to feed underprivileged families in Africa and South East Asia raised more than $800,000 last year.
Putha said she spent a week travelling around the north of Laos to small rural provinces, and also visited mountain villages, health centres and schools.
“We met with province delegates to see what they did, and they showed us cultural aspects of the area,” she said.
“It was more about the school visits, how the program worked and where the money went.”
She said some people had to travel more than 60 kilometres to access the main town centre.
She said it was incredible to see the difference the program made to those involved with it.
“We went to a school where the program commenced in 2002 and I saw two boys next to each other,” she said.
Ms Nim said both were 10 years age, but one had only just become involved in the program while the other had done it for a while.
“One was a giant compared to the other,” she said.
“It’s a good incentive for them to go to school.”
Ms Nim said she fundraised in various ways which involved donations boxes, trivia nights, auctions and more.
She said she went overseas with six other Australians and two people from young India.
“All the money raised from each individual store goes directly to the fund,” she said.
“I think that’s great.”
