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Charity drive raises over one million baht for Haitian relief
Ariyawat
Nuamsawat
Pattaya residents continued to reach out to victims of
last month’s devastating Haitian earthquake, with more donations made during
the fundraising drive organized by the city and the Pattaya Business &
Tourism Association on January 30 at the Central Festival Center on Beach
Road.
Khun Dujduen Ruongvachetivong (left) and Peter
Malhotra (right) are assisted by a pretty Alcazar girl in their plea for
donations.
Marquee Pattaya tourist attractions all donated their
time to attract visitors willing to put some baht into the donation boxes.
Cabaret dancers from the Alcazar Show and ballet students from Dance Studio
Pattaya delighted fans who later enjoyed cultural displays form the Four
Regions Floating Market and the award winning, unique traditional
marionettes from the Joe Louis Puppet Theatre.
SFX Cinemas also got into the act, donating proceeds from
showing of the blockbuster “2012” to the Haitian Relief Fund. Tickets ranged
from 200 to 2,000 baht each.
Leading members of the public took turns at the
microphone to encourage passersby, both Thai and foreign visitors, to make
donations towards the fund. Stefan and Toy Ryser, both past presidents of
the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard, helped in making announcements in the
German language and did a brisk business selling ‘Help Haiti’ t-shirts. Paul
Strachan of PMTV, who has kept a close watch on the situation ever since the
disaster struck in Haiti, spoke of the victims’ dire needs. Peter Malhotra,
past district governor of Rotary District 3340, said, “We may think that the
survivors are lucky to be alive, but if we don’t help them with food, water,
medicines, clothing and some form of shelter, then they face a much greater
risk of starvation and the spread of disease. We must Help Haiti now.”
Khun Dujduen Ruongvachetivong, past president of the YWCA
and owner of the Dance Studio, spoke emotionally of the suffering children
and pleaded for assistance. Chirawat Sukontasaph chief of Pattaya City
security section also helped in motivating the people to drop a few baht
into the donation boxes.
At press time all the collections of the ‘Pattaya for
Haiti Fund’ were being counted at City Hall.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome said, “I am extremely pleased
that we were able to raise a large sum of money to help the unfortunate
victims of Haiti. I also feel very proud that the people of Pattaya both
Thai and foreign rallied behind this initiative and supported the
fundraiser. Pattaya will gain recognition and respect from the world
community for showing that we have charitable hearts and have made merit for
the people of the world.”
The organisers announced that the funds would be transferred to the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for purchases of
necessities for the people of Haiti.
Passers by young and old opened their hearts
and pocket books to give donations.
Steve Ryser looks on as two volunteers sell
Help Haiti t-shirts.
The Alcazar show drew hundreds of people to
the donation stations.
Hanuman of the Joe Louis theatre peeks into
this lady’s purse looking for money.
This sign says it all.
Captain Chirawat Sukontasaph with his good
looks drew
the ladies to the donation boxes.
Paul Strachan of PMTV makes an emotional
appeal for help.
The Pattaya Dancers was another pretty
attraction.
The Help Haiti team, (l-r) Stefan Ryser,
Jamroon Vitsavachaipan,
Dujduen Ruongvachetivong and Navin Petchtrakul.
Domaines Schlumberger arrives at the Royal Cliff
Dr. Iain Corness
With Pattaya in reality a very young city, to be host to a winery
with a history of over 200 years in one family was quite a coup for the
Royal Cliff Wine Club and its president, Ranjith Chandrasiri.
 David
Rubenstein, Alexandra Rubenstein and Jytte Simone are privileged to meet the
legendary Chef Walter Thenisch.
The estate of Domaines Schlumberger has passed through many generations of
the Schlumberger family and boasts the most hectares of ‘Grand Cru’
vineyards in Alsace. This estate, according to renowned wine critic Robert
Parker is “one of the 100 greatest wine estates of the world” as highlighted
in his influential Wine Advocate.
To address the packed Grill Room (the event was sold out within hours of the
members being notified) was the president and CEO of Domaines Schlumberger
himself, Alain Beydon-Schlumberger who flew in specifically for this special
event.
 Laticia
Grill, Chitra Chandrasiri and Suphaporn Robinson pose for a lovely picture.
The gala dinner event, with sponsorship from Canpac and Ekachai Mahaguna,
offered six varietals of wines, featuring five whites from the Alsace region
and one red from the Rhône Valley. Alain Beydon-Schlumberer advised the
members that Alsace wines were made by the Romans and the vineyards
maintained through the centuries by the monks. However, after the French
Revolution, his family began to buy up the best vineyards. Their wines were
AOC until 1983 but they have earned the appellation of ‘Grand Cru’ since
then. They are not a producer of mass-market wines, their 800,000 vines
delivering 800,000 bottles per year. They also use only their own grapes,
and the ‘teroire’ of the region remains the principal driving production.
 The
beautiful Ottesens, Panida, Nanthida and Kannikar...guess which two are
sisters.
As always, Executive Chef Walter Thenisch came up with another innovative
menu to go with the wines, with the Alsatian ‘Flammekueche’ (a kind of
Alsace ‘pizza’), with crème fraîche, onions and bacon accompanied with
mesclun salad being universally popular, taken with the Domaines
Schlumberger Pinot Blanc Les Princes Abbes 2006, but the wine paled into
insignificance with the Muscat Les Princes Abbes 2007, which in turn was
upstaged by the Domaines Schlumberger Riesling Grand Cru Kessler 2006 drunk
with the jumbo pan-seared Alaskan scallops with fennel shavings on orange
butter sauce.
The main course was an Aurora 60 day grain fed Tasmanian lamb rump coated
with freshly pounded herbs on grilled bell peppers, potato roundels and
thyme infused jus natural, taken with the only red of the evening, an Ogier
Caves des Papes Crozes-Hermintage Les Brunnelles 2006 from the Rhone valley.
After the dinner, many of the wine club members took the opportunity to
explore the newly expanded (underground) cellar which featured some of the
most famous wines in the world such as Romane Conti with one bottle priced
at 300,000 THB, and please don’t touch!
This had been an exemplary dinner. The five courses were excellent and of
correct portion size for such a huge culinary feast, and the wines were new
to most everyone, and were fine wines in the true French manner.
Enquiries regarding the wine club can be directed to Ranjith Chandrasiri
ranjith@ royalcliff.com.
Kurt Leimgruber, Isabella
Fuchs and Peter Brutschin toast to lifelong friendships.
Voila, food is served. (l-r)
Robert Arjen Peters, Baron Jan Chris von Koss,
Kurt Krieger enjoying their special table in the wine cellar.
Celebrating an exemplary
dinner, (l-r) Paitoon Ritdej, Food & Beverage Director; Walter Thenisch,
Executive Chef; Alain Beydon- Schlumberger, President, Domaines
Schlumberger; Ekachai Mahaguna, General Manager, Canpac Beverages Co. Ltd.;
Ranjith Chandrasiri, President, Royal Cliff Wine Club and Deputy General
Manager, Royal Cliff Beach Resort; Vichai Poo-alai, Restaurant Manager
Grill Room & Wine Cellar.
The Grill Room was packed with beautiful people.
Jesters’ Care For Kids 2010:
Glencore International goes Diamond again!
Joe St. Laurent hands over a
donation to Kru Kak of Sunganseuksa accompanied by their staff, along with
and Bernie and Woody. Oiy is in the blue dress behind Bernie.
Lewis Underwood
Glencore International has stepped up big time once again and has
kicked off our New Year in grand style. Tony Herbert and company are Diamond
Sponsors (400,000 baht) for the 3rd consecutive year, which is a huge
momentum booster for us in the early stages of our new charity drive.
 An
autistic girl plays in the physical therapy room at Sunganseuksa.
Actually, their donation is 500,000 baht this year, which means they are
also a Platinum Sponsor (100,000 baht) too. What is truly remarkable is
since Glencore joined us in 2007 as a triple Platinum, their total donation
to date is a whopping 1.5 million baht. And that translates to a huge boon
for the needy children in the region through the provision of educational
opportunities, specialized learning and safe shelter!
In the meantime, as we collect funds for Jesters Care for Kids 2010, we
still preoccupy ourselves with the distribution of the remaining funds
raised this past year.
Last month, Joe and Oiy St. Laurent and their son Ern accompanied us to
Sunganseuksa Phiset 12 to hand over our annual 100,000 donation there. This
center, which is located in Ban Bueng, provides care and learning for
disabled kids and is the regional seat for other institutes benefiting such
children, including Khao Baisri in Sattahip where we are presently
constructing a home for disabled boys.
Joe and Oiy, who are perennial Gold Sponsors (50,000 baht) for our charity
drive, brought Sunganseuksa Phiset 12 to our attention 3 years ago. Since
then we have matched their amount to double the donation to center.
The photo attached of the autistic girl in the padded cylinder is a sample
of some of the physical therapy equipment we previously provided for them.
We also recently visited Ban Jing Jai, the orphanage for 65 children in Nong
Prue off Nernplabwan Road. The occasion was to take Steve Mascari there to
donate 34,000 baht, which were the proceeds raised from their Steve Donovan
Memorial Golf Tournament held in late November last year. Steve Donovan, a
dear friend to many of us, was also a staunch promoter, donor and volunteer
for the Jesters.
Ban Jing Jai is regularly provided for by the Pattaya Sports Club, who pay
their monthly rent, while we cover their monthly food costs and utilities.
Nevertheless, they still seek more help and we encourage others to get
involved too. Rick Bevington, for example, graciously devotes his time there
as a handy man and also gets the kids to help him with meaningful
activities, such as starting and maintaining a kitchen garden on the land
adjacent to the premises.
If you would like to learn more about how you can help projects like the
above and the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive 2010, please visit our
website at www. care4kids.info.
With Glencore International’s generous donation now in the books and the
first committee meeting of the New Year under our belts, we can already feel
the adrenaline coursing through out veins.
Steve Mascari hands over their
donation from the Steve Donovan Memorial Golf Tournament to Piangtah at Ban
Jing Jai.
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