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Diana Group brings dinner, yoga to CPDC
The children very
much enjoy their delicious supper.
Manoon Makpol
The Diana Group provided dinner and taught children yoga
when hotel chain staff again visited the Child Protection and Development
Center.
CPDC Co-Director Plisorn Noja welcomed Diana Group
Managing Director Sopin Thappajug, yoga instructor Nongkran Wattana and
other staffers July 12.
In addition to offering the kids their evening meal, the
Diana employees talked to the children to give them encouragement and teach
them about morality. Following the chat, adults and children joined in games
that made the kids both active and happy.
Tao Donjaisawat, Paiboon Piyarak and Muan Burapha, three
of the CPDC youths, said they were pleased to have such kind visitors and
hoped they’d come more often. Diana Group members said they didn’t mind the
travel to the center and enjoyed passing out dessert at the end of the
night.
The Diana Group has a long history of support for the
shelter, including funding construction of its first multiuse building.
So much fun works up an
appetite.
Fun and games for all.
Diana Group Managing Director
Sopin Thappajug (right) presents healthy treats to the youngsters.
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Five-star dinner for five-star students
Head of EAL Jonathan Berry with GIS students at
the Hilton Hotel, Pattaya.
Chris Stokes, Deputy
Head, Upper Secondary
Students from Garden International School (GIS) graduated
in style at the Hilton Hotel in Pattaya.
The Year 11 IGCSE students headed to the Hilton on
Saturday, June 11 for a wonderful night of entertainment, food and
celebration.
In what was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the
school year, parents, families, teachers and guests come together to enjoy a
splendid night that will live in the memory for a long time.
The night was organised by a group of GIS students, with
a little guidance and support from Mr. Stokes, and included piano solos, a
fashion show, singing and a few speeches, punctuated by lots of spectacular
food.
Organisers (Hanna, Nuk, Ayesha, Rosa, Ben R, Heta)
co-ordinated everything from choosing a venue, contacting the marketing team
there (K. Som), the graphic design of the tickets, collecting money, setting
the menu to arranging for professional photography.
It’s always a slightly sad occasion to see a year group
leave, but the night gave everyone an opportunity to reflect on school life,
on growing up and on what the future may hold.
About half of the graduating students will continue their
studies at GIS in August, as they start the school’s successful IB Diploma
course in the next academic year. To the others we wish them luck in their
adventures at various universities around Thailand, or abroad - wherever
they may be heading!
For the moment though, well done on a successful year and
a fully deserved big night out!
Garden’s Year 11 students look
fantastic for their graduation dinner.
Garden students with, from
left, Principal Dave Moroney, geography teacher Tommy Elderkamp, maths
teacher Paul Chesters and Chris Stokes, deputy head, upper secondary.
We did it! Year 11 GIS
students celebrate their graduation.
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Magic for Mercy at Pattaya Mercure
How did you do that?!
Lyndy Moore
Eggleton
A magic show was the highlight of a fun packed
weekend for Pattaya’s own children’s charity, Mercy Center. It was
arranged by Mercure Hotel GM Alex Chakrabarti to celebrate the occasion
of his son Louis’ 4th birthday.
This face says it all!
Naturally, there was cake and pizza and the most
delicious ice cream. The light room by the pool at this, one of five
Accor group hotels in Pattaya, was the perfect setting for a magic show
and the Thai performer entranced the Mercy children who were previously
enjoying the thrill of playing with a seemingly unlimited supply of
balloons, toys and games. Alex’s generosity extended to include a
personal donation of 5,000 baht which will go towards finishing the
Mercy Center’s new forever home for 50 high risk Pattaya kids.
The staff of the Mercure was most attentive to the
swimmers in the group and instruction and appreciation was at hand for
those who chose a more artistic afternoon.
Australian hotel guest, Barb from Adelaide, was most
impressed by the polite and endearing behavior of the Mercy Center
children - all of whom suffered from abandonment, misuse, abuse or loss
of parents before they joined the Pattaya Mercy family.
Mercy Center currently provides a home and loving
care for twenty high risk children with a new facility for a further
thirty almost completed. The Mercy/Pattaya Street Kids scholarship
initiative provides funding to enable over 220 students to attend school
and the slum support project provides basic foodstuffs and essentials
for seventy families in Pattaya’s poorest areas.
Mercy Center is commemorating the tenth anniversary
since it opened its doors to help the neediest of Pattaya. There’s going
to be a celebration in September at the start of a new decade of care.
Show your care, please.
Contact: Dianne on 038 416 707 to find out how you
can help support Mercy Center projects. Email: [email protected] &
visit: www.mercypattaya .com. You’ll be glad you did!
The birthday boy and the
Mercy Center children have a great day at Mercure.
Barb, from Adelaide
Australia, who stays at Mercure with her husband Trev, helps out during
the birthday fun.
Wow, goodies for everyone!
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Jesters Care For Kids 2011: Distributing rice to the disabled
Bill handing out bags of rice.
Lewis Underwood
Earlier this month, we reported about our latest
venture assisting Sam’s “Eastern Association for Disabled Children” and
his monthly distribution of rice. For those who might not have seen that
feature, Sam Somkiat, who is a Thai national and disabled himself, has
dedicated his life to helping other disabled people, particularly
children.
Luc handing out bags of
rice.
Each month Sam hands out bags of rice to families
just outside the Nongprue Municipality, usually on the first Saturday of
the month. This month though, due to the national election, it was
postponed until the following Saturday, July 9th.
Sam had approached us last month about helping him
with the rice cost and after hearing about his plight, we agreed to
support his cause, as well as to turn up and actually hand out the rice
to the families.
Sam’s modified bike with
yet another alternative name, ‘Share Love with a Friend Project’.
Around 10 a.m. that day, the families started to
arrive. Some came on foot, hand-in-hand with their children; others had
to carry theirs, a few were pushed in wheelchairs, and still more came
via motorcycles, modified to facilitate getting around with their
disabled kids.
It was a low-key, but close-knit affair where the
parents and their kids assembled around a large table almost like a
family reunion coming together for a special occasion.
And special it was. As they casually formed a queue,
each family received good quality rice, 2 bags per child with a smile
and ‘wai’. It was a touching experience witnessing, not only the
compassion between the parents and their children, but also the
sympathetic connection between the parents too.
The highlight of the day, though, was Luc donating
his wheelchair to a 7-year old girl, who is paraplegic. Due to her
condition, she cannot travel to Nongprue to collect the rice, so we
delivered the wheelchair and rice to their home off Chaiyapruek 2 Road,
where we also met the grateful family as well.
We look forward to next month’s rice distribution
too, so we can become familiar faces to these kids and parents and
hopefully get to know each other better.
In the meantime, if you, too, would like to help
special kids like those above, please visit our website at
www.care4kids.info and on Facebook at www.facebook .com/care4kids.
Please remember that our Jesters Children’s Fair is
on Sunday, September 11th this year at Diana Garden Resort and our Gala
Party Night on Saturday, September 24th at the Amari Orchid Pattaya.
Luc with girl receiving
wheelchair and the grandmother.
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