[glagoliska]

Today I am shamelessly asking everybody to part with their hard earned cash to help some of the poorest children in Pattaya to have a good time for a few hours.

The cost per child is only £2.50 - so in this case every little really helps.

As in the last few years the New Year Party for the children is organized by the Pattaya Street Kids' Support Project (a UK registered Charity) in cooperation with the Mercy Centre in Pattaya.

For the record: I have no official function in either organisation. I am just a mere sponsor currently helping two boys from a very poor family so that they can go to school. In November I not only met my two students again but also had the chance to visit the new chidren's home run by the Mercy Centre.

For any further details please look here: http://www.pattayastreetkids.org/

I also attach a letter I received from the Pattaya Street Kid's Support Project.

Thank you to everybody who feels able to make a little donation.

TomUK

PSKSP party appeal 2012.pdf

[glagoliska]

Thank you to everybody who contributed to make this New Year's children's party a big success. I attach a report from the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project. You can also find this report plus many photos on their website: http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.com/navig1.html

For anybody who missed out this time around there will be another children's party next year and there are always children in need of a sponsor.

To quote from the PSKSP website:

100 Years From Today
It will not matter how big your bank account was, the sort of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove. But the world may be a little better because your help touched the life of one child.


Thank you.

TomUK

PSKSP VISIT REPORT DEC 2011.pdf

[scoussysows]

Tom - I checked their website and they don't publish a Thai bank account number. do you happen to know if they have one? just in case someone from Thailand would like to send them money. if you don't, I'm not asking you to find out for me :-) but just in case, so that people could be spared running that lap.
it's happened to me twice that I wanted to donate (to other UK based charities working in Thailand) and they were scrambling and scratching their heads and sending me from one contact to another trying to find a Thai bank account number, which made me a little puzzled.

[glagoliska]

Hi Betti!

The charity does not have a physical presence in Thailand and therefore they can't have a bank account with a Thai bank. If you don't want to make a payment to their UK bank account you could make a donation via PayPal. PayPal allows you to make a payment in various currencies including Thai Baht.

If PayPal is not an option for you you could make a donation to the Mercy Center. The Mercy Center is based in Pattaya and they do all the legwork with looking after the children, arranging sponsor visits and going shopping with the children when a sponsor has sent some money for this purpose. You can find all the details on their website: http://mercypattaya.com/ Just click on "Friends of Mercy" on the top of the page to read about payment options.

TomUK

[scoussysows]

thanks for the details, someone may be able to use them. all this sounds way too complicated to me with all these details, better for me to stick to the charities I know to be clear and very straight-forward in these issues.

[glagoliska]

Hi Betti!

Maybe you could explain what exactly you find too complicated, and if other forum members feel the same I would really appreciate some comments. It really would be a shame if the children lose out because of some unnecessary administrative hurdles. If it is not just me not explaining things properly I would like to give some feedback to the charity so that they could change their systems if necessary.

As far as I can see it you have three options to make a donation in Thailand:

1. You could go to the Mercy Center office in Pattaya and make a cash donation (or give food, clothes, toys, etc.). Obviously this is usually not an option if you live hundreds of kilometers away.

2. PayPal: Assuming it is available in Thailand, you could make a donation via PayPal using your debit or credit card and make a payment in Thai Baht or any other currency you choose. You do not need a PayPal account and it is no more complicated than buying something online. I have used PayPal myself and if I can do it everybody else can.

3. Bank transfer: You could make an electronic payment from your Thai bank account to the Mercy Center bank account with Bangkok Bank. I contacted them and asked for their bank details which they sent to me, but for security reasons they asked me not to publish these details on the internet. They would also like to know who made a donation so that they can reconcile their books and are also able to say thank you to the donor. Therefore I think it is best to contact them via the Mercy website to request their bank details. You only need to go to the "Friends of Mercy" page and click on the "Contact us for details" button at the bottom of the page. This way you could also stipulate what your donation should be spend on if you wish to give money for a certain project.

I hope I have explained the payment options a bit better now, but if there are still questions unanswered do not hesitate to contact the Mercy Center direct. They are really good in replying to any questions you might have. Whenever I had a query I would send them an email in the evening and in most cases I received a reply the next day.

I have met the staff from Mercy on three separate visits to Thailand and they are all a very friendly bunch of people who really do care about the children they look after.

TomUK

[scoussysows]

thanks Tom. good news that they communicate well and answer emails.
I should not have made negative comments based on my experience with another UK-based charity working in Thailand. I apologise.
I don't have paypal and have been struggling to set it up. all I can do is internet banking to a Thai account number. if a charity publishes it online, it makes it clear and straight-forward for me.

[glagoliska]

Betti, no need to apologise. I would feel slightly miffed myself if I tried to support a charity and they were just ignoring me. I know there are a few other UK based charities around, but I don't have much experience with them. I think most of them are fairly small and only geared up for fundraising in the UK. Somebody trying to make a donation from abroad might just be something they don't know how to deal with, especially if the charity is only run by volunteers.

I have started supporting the Pattaya Street Kid's Support Project about two years ago and although they don't have any paid staff they have always been pretty quick in replying to my emails. Even at the Mercy Center some of the staff are volunteers and they put in quite a few hours every week not only caring for the children but also spending a lot of time enabling any sponsors who wish to do so to meet with "their" sponsored child. For them you are not just a number who adds to the charity's revenue - I always feel like a VIP when I visit "my" students.

Regarding PayPal: As I wrote above you do not need to be registered with PayPal. You can still use it for donations provided you have got a debit or credit card. It is fairly simple. I have done it myself in the UK, but of course, it might be different in Thailand.

I agree with you that it would be easier if they were to publish their bank details on the website, but having to contact them first might just be the Anglo-American way of doing things. For example, in Germany companies usually print their bank details on the invoice whereas in the UK most of the time I have to phone the supplier and ask for their bank details to be send to me.

TomUK

[glagoliska]

I received the Annual Report 2012 and tried to attach it here, but it seems the file is too large. So for anyone who is interested to read it here is the link to the PSKSP website: http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.c...port_2012.html

During my recent trip to Thailand I had the pleasure of meeting Don, the founder of the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project. He happened to be in Thailand at the same time as myself and we agreed to go on a day out with our sponsored children. That was the first time we ever met, although in England we only live thirty odd miles apart, but I guess it is much easier to meet up in Thailand. Liz from the Mercy Centre had arranged a visit to Khaow Kheow Open Zoo. I took my two sponsored boys, Don brought along a boy he sponsors personally and one of the boy's friends from the Mercy Home. Our little group was completed by Boonying, one of the Mercy volunteer drivers, who joined us with his little grandson. I foolishly offered to take a few more children, but luckily Liz did not take me up on my offer. At the zoo, whenever we made a stop near some animal enclosures, the boys would just jump out of the van and run to wherever the animals were. By the time we caught up with them they were already on their way back. It was really hard work to keep track of only five children and I am proud to say that we managed to get them all safely home. I think the highlight of the zoo visit for the boys (and for myself) was feeding the animals (elephants, ostriches, some deer and a very lazy hippo) and playing with some young binturong (bear cat). I could see they all had a great time and enjoyed themselves as much as I did.


Later on the way back home we dropped off two of the boys at the Mercy Home and a little boy came to me and asked me to mend his sandal. Luckily I do have a natural talent as sandal repair man. I only wished I could have spent more time at the home playing with the children.


TomUK

[Shemker394]

I came across this forum during a Google search on another subject.
I am Treasurer of Pattaya Street Kids Suport Project and I am sorry to hear that anyone has experienced problems in trying to donate via a Tha bank account.
We do publish our bank details on our website but this is a UK account and as we are a UK registered charity we are not under the UK Charity Commission's regulations permitted to have a Thai bank account as we do not, as Tom has explained, have a physical (registered office) presence in Thailand.

Anyone wishing to donate the the charity from a Thai bank account can make a donation to the MERCY Pattaya bank account in Pattaya and we will be happy to pass the details on via email to anyone interested in doing so. As MERCY are a very small team we do ask that anyone wishing to donate advises us of the amount and the name used for the donation. This way MERCY are able to identify the remittance as being for PSKSP rather than having to try and work out what a donation should be allocated to.

We are happy to answer any queries via our email which is streetkids@ntlworld. We attempt to answer all emails within 24 hours.

I can confirm what Tom says about the visit to the zoo. On a day when the temperature topped 103c by miday we were outrun by the boys at every stop and were pleased to arrive back at te MERCY Home for some cooler air.

[glagoliska]

Another year has gone by and once again PSKSP and the Mercy Centre in Pattaya are preparing for the next New Year's Parties for the children from the slums and the Hauy Phong and Mercy children's homes.

As in the last year they managed to keep the cost at 2.50 Pounds per child.

For more detailed information please have a look at their website:


http://www.slumkids.org/2013_parties_appeal.html


Thanks again to everybody who can help to make a difference.

TomUK