Jesters ‘Care For Kids’ 2007 Shifts Into High Gear



By Lewis Underwood
As of going to press, there are 101 days to go before the Children’s Fair, which means the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive 2007, sponsored by S.J Lake, now moves into its intensified planning phase and PR program. From June 1st onward starts the real organizing, the fine tuning and the advertising blitz for our two main events: The Jesters Children’s Fair on Sunday, September 9th, at Diana Garden Resort and Driving Range and the Jesters Party Night the following Saturday, September 15th at Jameson’s, The Irish Pub. Things are going to start to move fast now, so if you haven’t already become involved, please do.

Presently, we have our first Diamond Sponsor, a 400,000 baht donor, S. J. Lake Consulting Services, and 19 Platinum Sponsors (100,000 baht), namely, Baltex Industries, BCCT, The Classroom, Club Nevada, Glencore International (Switzerland), The Herrod Foundation, (Switzerland), Hyolim Ltd (S. Korea), MBMG International, Mackenzie Smith Law, Mermaid Maritime, Mike Koerner, Nagas MC, Nirvana Resorts, Pat and Reg Warner (UK), Pattaya Freemasons, Pattaya Mail, Quayside Warehousing (South Africa), Raimon Land, and “Another One” (anonymous). We also have at this juncture 7 Gold (50, 000 baht), 5 Silver (25,000 baht), 17 Bronze (10,000 baht), and 12 Pledges of varying donations.
Due to your wonderful early response this year we have funded the following projects already:
· Ban Jing Jai, a small orphanage on Nern Plub Wan Road (Pattaya) underwent a second phase of renovation for 94, 000 baht from JCD 2006 funds. European Construction Consultants charged only for materials and donated all their labor.
· Noang Kaboag School in Rayong Province— we hired a local contractor to build additional toilets for at 130,000 baht (36,750 which came from JCD 2006). This was a joint venture with PILC, who put up an additional 130,000 baht.
· Nikom #9 School (Ban Chang)—we provided funds for the renovation of the school canteen with additional fans, rotary ventilators in the roof as well as miscellaneous structural repair at a cost of 47,200 baht (33,040 came from JCD 2006).
· Pattaya Redemptorist Drop In Center on Central Pattaya Road, near the Ayutthaya Bank, is a shelter for wayward children and teens from off the streets. With a carrying capacity of about 40, the kids are usually there for 2-3 months before being relocated to the larger Pattaya Redemptorist Street Home in Nong Prue. We provided 110,000 baht for roof replacement and lockers (35,000 baht which came from JCD 2006). This was another joint venture with PILC, who provided an additional 100,000 baht for the new roof.
· Groagyaicha School in Rayong Province has been our biggest project so far this year when 590,000 baht was furnished to make extensive repairs to the wooden walls and floors of the two school buildings for the 298 students in attendance there. This was a joint venture with our Platinum Sponsor, The Herrod Foundation in Switzerland, who provided 369,000 baht of this total.
· Young Pattaya PR Ambassadors (Pattaya) — This is the second year of this ambitious program to recognize the best students in Pattaya schools as tourism representatives for the city. A joint project with Pattaya City Hall and Pattaya Mail we provided 21,850 baht that partially went towards scholarships.
· Rayong Central Prison— We recently provided scholarships to 46 students who have at least one parent incarcerated in this facility at a total of 66,000 baht. The Welfare Office of the prison will oversee the outlay of funds provided.
· Rayong Training Center-We have provided 17,610 baht (6000 baht which came from JCD 2006) for the maintenance of the organic gardening projects at this detention center for teens in the city of Rayong.
If you would like join us in our charity drive to help the kids realize their rights to secure environmental and educational opportunities, please visit our website at care for kids charity drive Pattaya Thailand or email us at jesterscd@care4kids.info. We would also like you to note at this early stage that stalls for our Jesters Children’s Fair will be at a premium this year, so please apply now through our website.

Pattaya Mail