Seward Phoenix
GAIL L. RICHARDS
July 10, 2008
Seward gallery owner Melissa Fouse first learned about the rampant sex trade of children in Cambodia from a neighbor near her other home in Anchorage.
Now Fouse donates 80 percent of profits from Burmese antique sales at her Resurrection Bay Galerie to help keep many of those children off the streets and in school.
“I am strongly interested in doing what I can to prevent girls in any part of the world from being sexually exploited, and the proceeds from these pieces go to fund that effort as well as offer these street children an education,” Fouse said.
Fouse’s Anchorage neighbors Martin and Sharon Bushue lived in Phnom Penh from 2003 to 2005. They founded a benefit for the abused called Cambodian School Kids after witnessing severe child exploitation and sex trade trafficking.
The foundation started with the support of 20 children who had previously been sleeping on the streets of Phnom Penh seeking handouts from tourists. These children are from families devastated by war and violence that have occurred as recent as 1999, according to the Bushues.
Many are left without parents to provide for siblings and grandparents.
The Bushues personally raised funds to help provide self-esteem, education and a dry place to sleep for the children. Numbers of children saved from the streets continue to grow with additional funding, according to the Bushues, who say that $40 a month goes a long way to provide protection and comfort.
Fouse, who reopened Resurrection Bay Galerie on June 6, first heard about the children’s foundation in May. The gallery had been closed for a few years following the death of Fouse’s mother and previous owner, Margaret Branson.
“My friend had a fabulous Burmese bull’s head that she was trying to sell as a Cinco de Mayo decoration. I quite admired it,” Fouse said, adding that she decided to become an active participant in fundraising for the children after seeing other pieces and discovering what the proceeds were intended for.
“I’ll be selling them at least until the 25th of July, when they’ll be taken back to Anchorage for a benefit auction,” she said of the pieces that sell for $25 to $360.
“After that, I hope that any remaining pieces will come back to be in the gallery.”
Gail Richards is a Seward artist and freelance writer. She can be reached at 224-2426 or gail@gailrichardsart.com.
GAIL L. RICHARDS
July 10, 2008
Seward gallery owner Melissa Fouse first learned about the rampant sex trade of children in Cambodia from a neighbor near her other home in Anchorage.
Now Fouse donates 80 percent of profits from Burmese antique sales at her Resurrection Bay Galerie to help keep many of those children off the streets and in school.
“I am strongly interested in doing what I can to prevent girls in any part of the world from being sexually exploited, and the proceeds from these pieces go to fund that effort as well as offer these street children an education,” Fouse said.
Fouse’s Anchorage neighbors Martin and Sharon Bushue lived in Phnom Penh from 2003 to 2005. They founded a benefit for the abused called Cambodian School Kids after witnessing severe child exploitation and sex trade trafficking.
The foundation started with the support of 20 children who had previously been sleeping on the streets of Phnom Penh seeking handouts from tourists. These children are from families devastated by war and violence that have occurred as recent as 1999, according to the Bushues.
Many are left without parents to provide for siblings and grandparents.
The Bushues personally raised funds to help provide self-esteem, education and a dry place to sleep for the children. Numbers of children saved from the streets continue to grow with additional funding, according to the Bushues, who say that $40 a month goes a long way to provide protection and comfort.
Fouse, who reopened Resurrection Bay Galerie on June 6, first heard about the children’s foundation in May. The gallery had been closed for a few years following the death of Fouse’s mother and previous owner, Margaret Branson.
“My friend had a fabulous Burmese bull’s head that she was trying to sell as a Cinco de Mayo decoration. I quite admired it,” Fouse said, adding that she decided to become an active participant in fundraising for the children after seeing other pieces and discovering what the proceeds were intended for.
“I’ll be selling them at least until the 25th of July, when they’ll be taken back to Anchorage for a benefit auction,” she said of the pieces that sell for $25 to $360.
“After that, I hope that any remaining pieces will come back to be in the gallery.”
Gail Richards is a Seward artist and freelance writer. She can be reached at 224-2426 or gail@gailrichardsart.com.
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