Tracy Cosgrove
About a month ago Tracy Cosgrove from the Melissa
Cosgrove Children’s Foundation was told of the horrifying attack of a
British man employed by the Regents School, Pattaya. Adam Picklea was left
comatose by the side of the road after an unprovoked attack and was taken to
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya’s ICU.
Tracy went to the hospital and met up with Adam’s parents
a few days after they arrived in Pattaya and learned that the Thai insurance
provided by the school would not cover his hospital bill; in fact, by the
end of the repatriation it only covered 5% of the bill.
For their first port of call, Tracy’s staff got in touch
with Pattaya City Hall who in turn made a donation of 20,000 baht to kick
start the fund. After a few brainstorming sessions, she contacted some of
Pattaya’s 5 star hotels and asked them to let their chefs put on a gourmet
dinner with the venue to be announced. From 10 June wheels were set into
motion for a Chefs Gala Dinner at the Hilton Hotel Ballroom.
Tracy Cosgrove (2nd left) and
Andrew & Adele Pickles (center) pose with the chefs that made the charity
evening great.
The amount of work that followed was unbelievable; not
only did all Pattaya’s chefs get together, the chefs of Pattaya Chefs
Society contacted their suppliers as far a field as Bangkok, told them the
story of Adam and soon ingredient lists were coming in fast and furious to
Thai Chef Sam’s desk (executive Chef from All Seasons Pattaya). This was
kick started by local supplier KPK who said they would donate beef
tenderloin.
Tracy says Sheraton’s executive chef, Spencer Kells, was
the backbone of the effort, as he coordinated the chefs, dealt with the
million and 10 emails, and placed all the hotels into teams of two, who then
had to come up with a spectacular dish made with the ingredients available.
The aim was not to have to buy anything, and to be able
to donate all proceeds from ticket sales to the Adam Pickles Fund. Tickets
were designed free of charge from a staff member at Compass, volunteers
rustled up, business contacted for raffle and auction prizes. The Hilton’s
executive chef gave over control of his kitchen to 7 more chefs from the
Sheraton, Dusit Thani, Amari, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Centara Mirage, Pullman
G, and an army of Thai chefs from many other hotels.
It all came together June 21, when the Chefs Association
began with a canap้ buffet in the reception area of the beautifully
decorated Hilton Ballroom, where 230 guests took their places. Food was
served by service staff from all the hotels; entertainment was provided by
an MC from the Hard Rock Hotel, Mary and her friends who were amazing, and
all gave up their time for free. Beautiful violinist Chatwilai Maunprasert
played during the reception and when guests were walking to the ballroom.
Adele Pickles, Tracy Cosgrove
and Andrew Pickles display some of the items up for auction, all paintings
supported by Peter Banner..
Tracy said a word of welcome, together with Adam’s father
and Chef Spence from the Sheraton Hotel. The room looked amazing, and the
staff, who had never worked together before, all worked like clock work.
Each hotel had their serving staff dressed in the hotel uniform and it was
truly a full team effort.
During dessert an amazing array of goods were up for
auction, ranging from a bronze Buddha donated by Thai Decor, 2 nights in the
Composers Suite of the Hard Rock Cafe and various sporting and art
memorabilia.
The raffle raised an amazing 91,000 baht and prizes
included nights at the Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok, Four Seasons Pattaya, dinner
vouchers from Rabbit Resort, Mata Hari and Casa Pascal.
Thanks to all volunteers, especially the chefs, an
amazing 600,000 baht plus was raised. Final figures will be available after
the auction items have been paid for.
One of the lovely things that came out of this Tracy says
is when one of the Thai chefs said, “I have heard about people doing things
for charity before but now I understand how we can all make a difference and
in my heart I feel happy to be part of this.”
Another said, “Just think now, Adam is laying in his
hospital bed and there are over 300 people all thinking about him. That has
to be good ...”
Tracy handed over the money to Adele and Andrew Pickles
on Saturday. It’s been an emotional few weeks but at least the Pickles can
go back knowing Pattaya Cares. This money was used to go towards Adam’s
hospital bill in Pattaya and the fundraising will continue.
On Sunday Adam was flown home to Leeds Hospital in a
special plane with an ICU unit on board.
At the end of the day, the Pattaya community all got
together and made a difference to show we care. Over the last few weeks
there have been several different events held by different groups of people
to raise money for Adam’s cause.
To follow more news on Adam’s progress and the fund
raising going on around the world, visit Adam Pickles fund raising Facebook
page.
Tina Hager and Maria Mulberry
donate money to Adele & Andrew Pickles.
Papinun Chaithaweewaranon,
Suchada Malarak, Natwara Amatyakul and Lawrence Knowles from Blue Sky
Developer Co., Ltd.
Steph & Brent Cockerill, Wiki
Hamilton and Nici Taylor.
Yvonne Ziegler, Spencer Kells,
and Siti Survo.
Nattaphong Yoomuenawai,
Wanassanan Intamon, Thanida Mongkonwutthidaj and Budsaba Malinon, all from
Kim Chua Group Co., Ltd.
John Collingbourne and Yada
Ruairuen from Collingbourne Auctioneers, toast with Roger Mynott, owner of
Thai Decor Company and Somnuk Tunkratok.
Santa Bill Francis, Ketkaow
Siriporntum and Peter Heselwood.
Virginia Sorensen, Kamolthep
Malhotra, and Kannikar Ottesen are certainly enjoying the evening.
Ib Ottesen, Jack Larsen and
Kurt Pepersen.
Dr. Jan Chris Von Koss, Jane
Bailey and Dieter Reigber.
Jonathan Gibbons, Mark Bowling
and Terrence Allen Collins.
