By John Padorr | Advisor
A poor grandmother, Mrs. Lek - with four grandchildren under her care and no means of support - walks two miles to visit our Mercy Centre every day. We prepare a lunch and dinner for her family, placed in re-usable tins that she exchanges on every visit.
Grandmother Lek’s plight is not unusual in our neighbourhood, the “70 Rai” community in the heart of Bangkok’s largest slum. And Grandmother Lek is hardly alone in seeking our support. Every mom dad, grandparent, aunt, uncle and child in the community knows they can visit our Mercy Centre in times of need. They know that we will keep keep destitute families and individuals on their feet, feed them, and support the education of their children. In return, our brothers and sisters in the slums love and educate their children, and take pride in their community.
Your donations support these families and thousands more like them through our Child Protection, Education, and HIV/AIDS programs. By far the largest group we reach are kindergarten children. We operate 23 kindergartens throughout the poorest communities in Bangkok with a total enrolment exceeding 2,500 3- to 6-year-old children. We also operate a kindergarten for a destitute community of ethnic Mokan (informally known as sea gypsies) in Ranong Province and feed and educate all the children in their village (60 children). Plus five schools in Bangkok in construction worker camps for the children whose parents (mostly Cambodian) build the skyscrapers around the city (200 children). Plus a school for street children, the Janusz Korczak School of SE Asia, in our Mercy Centre (40 children).
Almost 20% of the school children who enrol in our schools come to us malnourished.
We weigh the children and measure their height regularly, keep records of their development; and provide additional snacks and meals to to the children who are most in need of extra nourishment.
Your donations of rice also help feed the 180 children who live with us as family in our Mercy Centre homes and shelters, the 200 street children we support and protect daily, hundreds of the poorest of the poor living with AIDS, and entire communities after fires or mass evictions.
We prepare almost one million meals every year and require 2.5 metric tonnes of rice every month.
A $5 donation feeds dozens of children. A gift of $30 (equivalent to a 50-kilogram sack of rice) reaches hundreds upon hundreds of poor children and families.
Thank you so much for your past support. Please visit our Mercy Centre in Bangkok. You are always most welcome and will always be a part of our family.
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