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Jesters ‘Care For Kids’ 2007 Shifts Into High Gear
By Lewis Underwood
As of going to press, there are 101 days to go before the Children’s Fair,
which means the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive 2007, sponsored by S.J
Lake, now moves into its intensified planning phase and PR program. From
June 1st onward starts the real organizing, the fine tuning and the
advertising blitz for our two main events: The Jesters Children’s Fair on
Sunday, September 9th, at Diana Garden Resort and Driving Range and the
Jesters Party Night the following Saturday, September 15th at Jameson’s, The
Irish Pub. Things are going to start to move fast now, so if you haven’t
already become involved, please do.
 Presently,
we have our first Diamond Sponsor, a 400,000 baht donor, S. J. Lake
Consulting Services, and 19 Platinum Sponsors (100,000 baht), namely, Baltex
Industries, BCCT, The Classroom, Club Nevada, Glencore International
(Switzerland), The Herrod Foundation, (Switzerland), Hyolim Ltd (S. Korea),
MBMG International, Mackenzie Smith Law, Mermaid Maritime, Mike Koerner,
Nagas MC, Nirvana Resorts, Pat and Reg Warner (UK), Pattaya Freemasons,
Pattaya Mail, Quayside Warehousing (South Africa), Raimon Land, and “Another
One” (anonymous). We also have at this juncture 7 Gold (50, 000 baht), 5
Silver (25,000 baht), 17 Bronze (10,000 baht), and 12 Pledges of varying
donations.
Due to your wonderful early response this year we have funded the following
projects already:
· Ban Jing Jai, a small orphanage on Nern Plub Wan Road (Pattaya) underwent
a second phase of renovation for 94, 000 baht from JCD 2006 funds. European
Construction Consultants charged only for materials and donated all their
labor.
· Noang Kaboag School in Rayong Province— we hired a local contractor to
build additional toilets for at 130,000 baht (36,750 which came from JCD
2006). This was a joint venture with PILC, who put up an additional 130,000
baht.
· Nikom #9 School (Ban Chang)—we provided funds for the renovation of the
school canteen with additional fans, rotary ventilators in the roof as well
as miscellaneous structural repair at a cost of 47,200 baht (33,040 came
from JCD 2006).
· Pattaya Redemptorist Drop In Center on Central Pattaya Road, near the
Ayutthaya Bank, is a shelter for wayward children and teens from off the
streets. With a carrying capacity of about 40, the kids are usually there
for 2-3 months before being relocated to the larger Pattaya Redemptorist
Street Home in Nong Prue. We provided 110,000 baht for roof replacement and
lockers (35,000 baht which came from JCD 2006). This was another joint
venture with PILC, who provided an additional 100,000 baht for the new roof.
· Groagyaicha School in Rayong Province has been our biggest project so far
this year when 590,000 baht was furnished to make extensive repairs to the
wooden walls and floors of the two school buildings for the 298 students in
attendance there. This was a joint venture with our Platinum Sponsor, The
Herrod Foundation in Switzerland, who provided 369,000 baht of this total.
· Young Pattaya PR Ambassadors (Pattaya) — This is the second year of this
ambitious program to recognize the best students in Pattaya schools as
tourism representatives for the city. A joint project with Pattaya City Hall
and Pattaya Mail we provided 21,850 baht that partially went towards
scholarships.
· Rayong Central Prison— We recently provided scholarships to 46 students
who have at least one parent incarcerated in this facility at a total of
66,000 baht. The Welfare Office of the prison will oversee the outlay of
funds provided.
· Rayong Training Center-We have provided 17,610 baht (6000 baht which came
from JCD 2006) for the maintenance of the organic gardening projects at this
detention center for teens in the city of Rayong.
If you would like join us in our charity drive to help the kids realize
their rights to secure environmental and educational opportunities, please
visit our website at www.care4kids.info or email us at
[email protected]. We would also like you to note at this early stage
that stalls for our Jesters Children’s Fair will be at a premium this year,
so please apply now through our website.
Pattaya Young Ambassadors visit TAT offices to learn more about tourism
Begin to understand that life is a continuous learning process
The children listen
intently to an official of the TAT Pattaya office.
Rungratree Thongsai, looks
after the children like her very own.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Early last month a group of eight young ambassadors led by Arisara
Boonsawat the winner of the Pattaya Young Ambassadors 2007 title visited
the Tourism Authority of Thailand Region 3 offices in Pattaya to get a
first hand look at the operations of this vital part of Pattaya’s future
as a world renowned tourist destination.
Nong C, as she is affectionately known is a twelve year old student from
the Sathid Udomsueksa School was met by Akkrawit Thapasit, the deputy
director who gave them a guided tour of the premises and enlightened the
children of the various aspects of their operations.
 Arisara
shows off her new “Colors of the East” pocket book published by TAT.
He said, “Pattaya is one of the most popular tourist destinations in
Thailand. This last year there is a marked rise in the number tourists
and the largest increase were the Russians, putting them on top of the
list of visitors compared to all other countries.” The second largest
group is the Koreans he said.
Akkrawit continued to coach the children by encouraging them to learn
other languages other than English. “This will help you to promote
tourism from many countries not only to Pattaya, but also to Thailand as
a whole.”
He went on to say that there are many developments in Pattaya at the
moment. “The highways are being expanded, so more people can travel here
conveniently. Of course with growth, there come many other problems.
“As young PR ambassadors you must study the workings of the city well,
so you can have correct answers for those who ask you to tell them about
your home.”
Rungratee Thongsai, the person who came up with the concept of the
program and who worked so hard to get it off the ground said, “the
second batch of young ambassadors have much more to learn, because they
have more activities and responsibilities than the first batch. They
must participate in programs that will benefit our community both in
business and in the social scene.”
Rungratree continued, saying, “They must learn that there are good
things and there are bad things. There are people who have plenty of
everything, but there are also people who are underprivileged and are
struggling to get by.
“We encourage the children to learn about themselves and their living
environment. Only with the understanding of the various aspects of life
will they be able to help not only themselves, but also others.
“The project does not give importance to only one person because that
person won the competition, but everyone is treated like a gem…they are
all winners. By showing interest and the desire to do good for others
and for our society is a victory in itself.
The children are given a
guided tour of the TAT offices.
Akkrawit Thapasit, the
deputy director, has an informal chat with the kids.
The ‘kids’ arrive in Tullimarine
to begin a year of Aussie adventures
PM reporters
Patchaporn Sae-Lee, Tonut Thongdee, and Arunee Boonchuay, the three
children who left for Australia last week under the Rotary Orphan
Students Exchange Program (R.O.S.E.) have arrived safe and sound.
(See Pattaya Mail. Vol. XV No. 21, May 25 2007)
 Patchaporn,
Tonut and Arunee prance through the arrival gate at Tullimarine airport
into the arms of caring host families.
Howard Osborne, Past President of the Rotary Club of Eaglehawk writes, “
the ‘kids’ arrived safely in Australia without any hassles in Sydney and
came through the doors at Tullamarine to meet us all with great big
smiles on their faces.
“They had a week to settle in before they officially started classes at
‘On-Track’ (State funded Training, Employment & Business Solutions - the
main educational provider) on Tuesday May 29.”
Howard went on to say that because of the humanitarian aspect of the
program, “Catholic College Bendigo, Creek Street Christian College &
Victory College all want to take part in the education program this year
which is just great and will supplement the work with On-Track.
“I will keep you posted on their progress but I think they will fit in
perfectly. We thank the Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya for your
wonderful support and assistance for this life changing program.”
The R.O.S.E. program was initiated by the Rotary Club of Eaglehawk in
Bendigo, Australia, with the intention that the Rotary club will take
several senior students from the Pattaya Orphanage under the patronage
of the Father Ray Foundation for a stay of 10 to12 months, to live with
local caring families and attend an E.S.L. (English as a Second
Language) course provided by a local accredited educational facility.
The children will return in early March 2008.
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