Our People

Gerry Valois, CA, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - Gerry is a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Gerry has worked with PwC, since 1993. Gerry has worked in the area of Audit and Assurance and is currently a director in the Business Advisory practice. Gerry has volunteered time mentoring youth with Big Brothers, Ndinawe and has just started with Junior Achivements. He spent three months touring humanitarian organizations in Vietnam and Cambodia. He volunteered with the Center for Children’s Happiness, The School for Children of Poverty and the Green Gecko project in Cambodia.

Elia Van Tuyl, Palo Alto, California, USA - Elia was the owner of Van Tuyl Appraisal, a real estate appraisal firm, before turning to charitable pursuits in 2002. In 2005, he toured humanitarian projects throughout Asia. He was particularly impressed with Center for Children’s Happiness orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and did a documentary video about CCH. In subsequent months, he and his wife, Halimah, became increasingly involved with CCH. In July 2006, they founded Friends of Center for Children’s Happiness in the United States to fund raise for CCH. Elia now also functions as Donor Liaison for CCH, assisting Director Mech Sokha in communicating with donors and well wishers worldwide. That is Elia in the photo above.

Halimah Van Tuyl, Palo Alto, California, USA - Halimah is a veteran elementary school teacher working in the Palo Alto public schools in California. In addition to being a Director of Friends of Center for Children’s Happiness fund raising organization, she has made extended visits to Center for Children’s Happiness orphanage in Cambodia, to consult about educational programs there. She helped launch the “CCH Road Show,” where CCH children go to impoverished locations to dramatize solutions to social problems such as drugs and trafficking. She also started the CCH library, which provides children at the orphanage, for the first time, access to good quality books, and structured time in which to read.

Gerry at the Center for Children’s Happiness

Halimah with kids