When Melanie Whitham and Rémi Villeneuve travelled to Thailand in 2006, they fell in love with a group of orphaned children under the care of some old friends.

On the same trip they learned of the precarious plight of the disappearing Asian elephant. Deciding to combine these two concerns, Whitman and Villeneuve will return to Thailand in January bringing this group of children from the Whispering Seed home on the Thai-Burmese border for a week of camping and learning at the Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai.
“We wanted to support this effort with a very special fundraising event, something in line with our beliefs,” said Whitham, founder of the Peace school a number of years ago, and now heading Groupe Peace. “We are holding a buffet lunch and auction. The event will bring together the holiday spirit, responsible consumerism, support for local artists and merchants while helping this humanitarian and environmental initiative.
“We’ll start with a healthy organic buffet followed by a live auction. All the items we are auctioning are environmentally friendly, fair-trade and/or organic. We are also auctioning services and coupons that offer alternatives in health and home and leisure. We have clothes made from bamboo, refurbished toys, gift certificates from health food stores, riding and yoga lessons and subscriptions to green magazines. In all we have 70 items to auction, all donated locally by artisans, professionals and merchants.”

For full story, please pick up today's Record

Wendy Denman
Brome County News Correspondent

Wednesday, November 19, 2008