On Tuesday 18 December, Garuda Indonesia in Sydney once again opened its doors for what has become an industry tradition at Christmas time – the annual Garuda “open house”. Each year friends and colleagues are invited to celebrate the holiday season with some excellent food, a few drinks and the opportunity to share the spirit of giving that epitomizes Christmas by entering a raffle to raise funds for a Balinese charity.

This year the charity was the Baithel Children’s Home in East Bali.

“For several years, Garuda Indonesia’s Sydney staff has been supporting the children’s home with funds raised through regular “jeans” days,” NSW Sales Manager for Garuda Indonesia, Kerry Timms, said.

“The home provides shelter, food and care to some 200 children from Bali and other neighbouring islands; some as far away as Irian Jaya. Their lifestyle is very basic and meals consist mainly of rice and a few home grown vegetables but Bapak Gama and Ibu Sara  (pictured) provide a loving and stable environment for the children.”

The raffle raised $384 for Baithel with first prize of a magnum of champagne going to Carmel Eastick and Adam Watson of World Reps. Second prize, a 1.5 litre bottle of Shiraz, went to Elena Lonergan of TIFS.

“The real winners will be the children of Baithel, who collectively consume 75kg of rice per day! So, as you can imagine, the organizers are very grateful for any amount of financial assistance.” said Mr. Timms.