It's Sponsorship time again...

[bao-bao]

It's been gratifying to see the generosity and willingness of members on Ting Tong regarding the selfless good work being done by the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project. The donations that have been made at clubs, fundraisers and passed hats will make a difference in the lives of needy Thai children, and, more importantly, most likely the lives of their children and their children.

ItтАЩs my hope that there are some here who are also willing to participate in helping the kids out so IтАЩm duplicating the posted reminder about school scholarships I just posted on Gay Ting Tong, (with some minor changes).

For those of you who donтАЩt visit that forum, members there have held fundraisers and passed the hat benefiting the PSKSP (and others). The funds donated have helped quite a number of PSKSP children already - and that's wonderful - but I wanted to pitch the possibility here also of a personal reward I can heartily recommend from my own experience: making the commitment to yourselves that you'll become a child's school sponsor on an on-going basis. This means you'll be giving educational stability to a child and assuring that they'll be able to complete their basic education, giving them essential and valuable tools for a better life; both for themselves and their families.

For the relatively small sum of 3,200 to 4,000 Baht per school year you provide nearly everything a child needs for school except their lunch. If you stop to think about it, that's about 10 baht a day over a calendar year. Thankfully very few of us can say we couldn't come up with that.

You don't sign a contract, you just decide to do it and contact them through the web site below, let him know if you have any basic preferences (elementary school, girl or boy, two from a family if needed, etc.) and - just like expectant parents - you are "assigned" a child. If circumstances truly change and you can not afford the upcoming year's funds they do their best to arrange another means of funding so the child can continue school. One of my students was previously sponsored by a woman who due to age and health could no longer afford it.

Take a look at their web site, if you haven't already. You'll see that the funds truly DO go where you intend them to go, there is reliable transparency up front, and it is NOT a religious organization with an agenda.

http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.com/navig1.html

OK, so why am I taking your time with this now, you ask? Because it's the middle of April, and the new school year will begin in a few weeks. If you've ever considered doing this, the time to act is NOW.

You won't regret it.

You can help a child like this build a better futureтАж

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z56/khunbaobao/KhoPai006-detail-030210.jpg

[andrewcraig]

Baobao thanks for posting this. It seems to me the same group that Dick has a thread each year re the Xmas party.
I went to the site and read the blog at the top of page and that includes stories of sponsors meeting their kids and families, including some great photos.Seems to be more than orphans.They talk about slums.
Is this the same group that the Venue promotes sunday nights?

I cut and pasted this from their home page

We are a secular charity and do not support or promote any religious organisation. We are always prepared to consider working with any organisation in bringing help to children in need on the strict understanding that any such help is given unconditionally and does not involve the preaching, promoting or acceptance of any religion.

[Beachlover]

I know, but it doesn't go low enough to be beneath you equalizer!

Baobao thanks for posting this. It seems to me the same group that Dick has a thread each year re the Xmas party.
I went to the site and read the blog at the top of page and that includes stories of sponsors meeting their kids and families, including some great photos.Seems to be more than orphans.They talk about slums.
Is this the same group that the Venue promotes sunday nights?

I cut and pasted this from their home page

We are a secular charity and do not support or promote any religious organisation. We are always prepared to consider working with any organisation in bringing help to children in need on the strict understanding that any such help is given unconditionally and does not involve the preaching, promoting or acceptance of any religion.

You are correct it is the same charity, I also sponsor two little girls through them
and have always been impresssed with their responses to email, seems as though the email is manned 24/7.

I think the recent stories on their blog has shown that there are some really generous guys around and have helped families over and above the school sponsorship level.

BaoBao mentioed the Gay Ting Tong's website and there is a thread there as to how the money raised is being spent, it is worth a look even if you have no intention of helping if only to convince yourself that their are a lot of people really living in dire circumstances

I met one of the trustees when I was in Pattaya in January and believe me I am no fool when it comes to sussing people out. He was a great guy and the story of how he got involved was obviously told from the heart and although it was not mentioned as such, from the questions I asked and the answers I got I have a feeling that the cost of running the charity to the trustees is not an insignificant amount.

[bao-bao]

Baobao thanks for posting this. It seems to me the same group that Dick has a thread each year re the Xmas party.
I went to the site and read the blog at the top of page and that includes stories of sponsors meeting their kids and families, including some great photos.Seems to be more than orphans.They talk about slums.
Is this the same group that the Venue promotes sunday nights?

There's a mix of recipients here, andrewcraig - the best source for an answer is the PSKSP website - but I can share some of what I've learned over the last handful of years:

1) A few years ago Dick had posted an appeal here on SGT for funds to "sponsor" kids to attend the New Year party at the Huay Pong orphanage just outside of Pattaya, and that's what led me to contacting PSKSP about sponsoring a child's school tuition. However, the child Don tripped over on the old Pattaya pier Christmas 1999 (that I often refer to as Kid #1- Pod) lived at the Huay Pong orphanage for a number of years so there's always been a tie there between PSKSP's founder and Huay Pong. Pod was the inspiration for the organizing and beginning, as I've always understood it.

2) The Venue and Memories Music Bar have collected quite a bit of money that has been a great benefit to the Huay Pong orphanage in several ways. There are a number of stories on Ting Tong and on the PSKSP site about this. They continue to do so on an ongoing basis, to their credit.

3) Individuals can make contributions to PSKSP either to directly sponsor a student themselves or to be applied to any number of needs at their discretion, or both.

4) Liz, Sam and Lhen Lhen are NOT employees of PSKSP. While they are the people "on the ground" for PSKSP in Pattaya they are part of the Mercy Center (I'm simplifying here, but just go with it). Because of their friendship and generous donations of time ferrying me around to see my PSKSP students I personally have found it rewarding to be involved in a very minor way with a couple of causes Mercy Center captains - one being the Kho Pai slum daycare center. The picture I posted above (and the new one, below) both came from my visit there last month.

Again, the new school year begins in another couple of weeks. If anyone wishes to sponsor a student, it's time to put those wheels in motion. If you can't commit to ongoing sponsorship you could make a donation to the general fund. Both can be done through the website: http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.com/

Feel free to PM me, if you wish.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z56/khunbaobao/KhoPaiKid000.jpg

[bao-bao]

Bumping this thread since it's the weekend and more folks have time to browse the forum.

It's not (read: it's never) too late to consider helping a child.

http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.com/navig1.html

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z56/khunbaobao/Students1-W.jpg