The Organizing Committee for the 8th annual Jesters
‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive has shifted into high gear in preparation
for the two main fund-raising events in September, the Jesters Children’s
Fair and the Jesters Pub Night. We invite readers to come along and join in
our 2005 Charity Drive.
Last
year’s Jesters Children’s Raffle Crew: (Front L to R) Gow, Angie, and
Bernie. (Back L to R) Tukata and Lisa (and ‘Bernie Bear’).
We certainly have a hill to climb, as 2004 was an
exceptional year for the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ campaign when over 5
million baht was raised and, since our inception in 1998, the Jesters
Charity Drives have raised, and distributed, over 19 million baht to needy
causes. Each carefully chosen to benefit disadvantaged children on the
Eastern Seaboard, and recently in Southern Thailand too. This level of
fund-raising could not have been achieved without your support.
The second edition of our Corporate Sponsorship letter
has recently gone out and we are pleased to report that already this year,
13 Platinum Sponsors are committed. We are most grateful to: Baltex
Industries, Bluescope, The Classroom, Club Nevada, Jameson’s Irish Pub,
Laem Chabang International Terminal (LCIT), MBMG International, Mike
Koerner, Nirvana Resorts, Nova Park, Pattaya Mail, SJ Lake Consulting
Services and Tetra Pak Tubex, Inc.
Securing corporate sponsorship prior to the September
events allows us to fund ongoing projects initiated earlier in the year,
some of which have already been completed. (Reported in Pattaya Mail issue
March 11th)
Some new beneficiaries have been added to our ever
growing list, including the Rayong Shelter, an emergency shelter recently
constructed for boys at the Huay Pong premises in Maptaput. This is a joint
venture with the Pattaya International Ladies Club (PILC), the Rayong Ladies
Circle (RLC), and Pattaya Sports Club (PSC).
Projects are also underway in the South in the wake of
the tsunami, such as the ongoing provision of school lunches at the Sangka
Oo School in Koh Lanta. In addition, we have donated 553,000 baht to both
the immediate relief and long term recovery efforts in the South, including
the construction of a new school building at Thap Lamu, Khao Lak.
Our ‘Next Step’ program continues this year by
providing a scholarship for Khun Em, a young mechanic, who has recently
passed his entrance exams to begin, next month, a two year course at
Technology Rajchadamongel, a technical college in Bangkok.
We will also provide scholarships for 18 children at the
Choon Chee Boarding School in Ban Bung, and locally for 12 students who have
excelled at their studies in local Pattaya schools. The latter are on the
threshold of beginning secondary education, in spite of their austere living
conditions and family poverty.
A joint venture is planned with Bluescope in Ban Chang to
build housing for impoverished elderly people who are looking after their
grandchildren. These are children whose parents have died of AIDS, or are
otherwise incapacitated.
Another project being looked at is the Chonburi Shelter
in Banglamung that provides temporary and emergency refuge for people in
strife desperately needing relief, and especially young pregnant women.
We will, of course, continue our undying support for the
Fountain of Life Center that provides an invaluable service to poor kids
from the slums, by establishing birth certificates for those born outside
hospitals, by providing rudimentary education, medical and dental care, as
well as scholarships to enter government schools.
We will also continue to support the Pattaya Redemptorist
School for the Blind and the Rayong Training Center, as well as other
carefully chosen projects in Chonburi and Rayong provinces.
Our two main fund-raising events are the Jesters
Children’s Fair on Sunday, September 11th, again at the Diana Garden
Resort and Driving Range, and the Jesters Pub Night the following Saturday
on September 17th, at Jameson’s The Irish Pub.
New black promotional T-shirts are now available, as well
as a smart new look ‘Care for Kids’ free bumper sticker, to advertise
these events.
Other ways in which you can contribute to the 2005
Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive, besides making donations, is to
advertise in our Fair Program guide, donate prizes or gift vouchers for the
Pub Night Grand Raffle, and/or items for the Pub Night Grand Auction.
If you would like to help us continue to help the needy
children in our community, please contact us at [email protected], or
visit our comprehensive website at www.care4kids.info. Donating has never
been easier with the on-line facility we now have available.
We will keep you up to date with progress, projects
underway or completed, through regular articles in Pattaya Mail, and linked
feature programs on Pattaya Mail Television that will take you to the
organizations and pro jects benefiting from the funds raised, and show
you some of the children and young people receiving the help.
Ride along with the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive 2005. Your
support, no matter how small, will contribute to our end result, helping
needy children in Thailand, and that is what makes it all worthwhile.
Gap
bagged 4 silvers and 1 bronze and Alex won a bronze for Garden International
School at the Banchang Seafood Festival swimming competition.