The Street Kids Still Need Your Help.!

[MP5]

Well done Mobi....a few quid is on it`s way to you

Thanks Fox, for the kind words and the more than generous donation. It's really appreciated.

Can anyone tell me the log in name of Howard of PCN?

I want to send him an email regarding the kids charity, but I can't remember his pseudonym.

Thanks

Try!

hm1973

[Mossfinn]

So I shall swallow my pride, shake myself down and carry on. My skin is getting thicker by the day.

Great Stuff Mobi, I am well enough to travel again soon, so I will see you/mission in October,

Good Luck

Moss

[Mobi]

Try!

hm1973

Thanks MP5!

got it - sent it - and received a reply

[elsie]

Are there any urgent needed items, Mobi? If not, I'll get something from the old list I got.

BTW, I'm glad you have decided to continue on this thread. It's nice to see update news about the mission here, since some of us are a bit far away. Well done.

[Mobi]

Are there any urgent needed items, Mobi? If not, I'll get something from the old list I got.

BTW, I'm glad you have decided to continue on this thread. It's nice to see update news about the mission here, since some of us are a bit far away. Well done.

Hi LovelyCutie,

The current urgent items are:

FABRIC SOFTENER

BABY WIPES

FLOOR CLEANER

YOGHURT

MILK - ORDINARY DRINKING MILK.

But any items from the list are always needed. In fact they are really low on money to buy stuff right now, so whatever you can get will be great. I will try to come to Bangkok and collect, if you let me know when.

Thanks

Mobi

[Mobi]

Hi everyone - here some imporatnt news for those living in the UK, or have access to UK based accounts and wish to donate money to the Mercy Project.

I have reached agreement with a UK based charity, namely:

THE PATTAYA STREET KIDS SUPPORT PROJECT

A project to help and protect the street kids of Thailand

UK Registered Charity no. 1104335

This charity already supports the Mercy Project, amongst others, and they have very kindly agreed to accept donations on behalf of the Mercy Mission, and pass them on to the Project here. If you make a donation through them, please mark the donation "Mobi at Mercy" so they may identify the donation properly.

So, from now on. to make a UK based donation to the Mercy Project by Standing Order or Giro, pay the money to:

Barclays Bank PLC ( United Kingdom)

Sort code: 20-98-74

Account No: 50943711

To make a donation by Pay-Pal (www.paypal.com) using your Credit Card simply quote our Email address: [email protected] when asked for the Beneficiaries’ E-mail address.

If making a donation using Pay-Pal please remember to include "Mobi at Mercy"in the 'Notes' box.

Remember that if your are a UK Taxpayer they can reclaim from the Inland Revenue 28pence for every £1 that you give, without any extra cost to yourself. All you need to do is to sign a simple Gift Aid Form. If you wish to take advantage of this scheme and would like a Gift Aid Form please let us know and we will send you one. If you prefer to download the form which can be found at:

http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.com/Gift_Aid_formsX.PDF

UK taxpayers who complete a Self-Assessment Tax Return can also support the charity by nominating the charity to receive their tax repayments as a donation. This does not replace the Gift Aid Scheme and is only available if you complete a SAR form. To make a gift of any tax repayments you need to quote our Charity's unique code number:

SAR56VG in the relevant section of the SAR.

The Registered Office, where you can also send cheques, made payable to: Pattaya Street Support Project, is:

4 Ferring Lane

Ferring

West Sussex BN12 6QY

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1903-763286

Fax: +44 (0)1903-750341

There will be no bank transfer charges on getting the money to Thailand, and NONE of the money donated will go in admin.

Edited September 1, 2006 by Mobi D'Ark

[elsie]

I will try to come to Bangkok and collect, if you let me know when.

Thanks for the update, Mobi. Well, if you really don't have plans to be in Bangkok in a week or two, I might just take a trip down there for a weekend.

[Mobi]

I will try to come to Bangkok and collect, if you let me know when.

Thanks for the update, Mobi. Well, if you really don't have plans to be in Bangkok in a week or two, I might just take a trip down there for a weekend.

I have to go to BKK either next week or more probably the week after for dental and hospital appointments. (I haven't made them yet) so could fit in with you.

However - I wouldn't dream of messing up your plans to have a wild weekend in Pattaya. So be my (our) guest. let me know what you decide.

[Mobi]

Bumpity bumpity bump

[elsie]

I have to go to BKK either next week or more probably the week after for dental and hospital appointments. (I haven't made them yet) so could fit in with you.

However - I wouldn't dream of messing up your plans to have a wild weekend in Pattaya. So be my (our) guest. let me know what you decide.

That's great. I'll let you know.

[Pattayatony]

Just a little bump!!!

Mobi, I have been given some baby clothes please dont let me forget them next time we meet up.

What is the URL for the web site?

[hiromj]

Mobi,

Change of plans. Looks like I will be back in Pattaya on Sept 19th. I'll get in touch with you sometime after then.

Cheers,

Hiro

[Chang_paarp]

Just a little bump!!!

Mobi, I have been given some baby clothes please dont let me forget them next time we meet up.

What is the URL for the web site?

The new URL is http://www.mercypattaya.org

[hiromj]

Bump.

[chuckd]

I delivered a large bag of children's clothing a couple of days ago. The Center appears well run and organized and seems a very worthy cause for the forum to support.

Congratulations to Mobi for bringing it to our attention and doing the necessary work in keeping the interest alive.

Edited September 8, 2006 by chuckd

[Kerryd]

Bump !

[elsie]

Mobi, do you have plans to come to Bangkok?

[Mobi]

Mobi, do you have plans to come to Bangkok?

I just got back from Bangkok this morning

I thought you were coming this way, to have a weekend of fun and revelry

Not to worry - I'll be back there next wednesday and Thursday - so could pick some stuff up then, if it's convenient.

Mobi

[dgoz]

Good luck Mobi it's a great cause and it's good to see so many others wanting to help. It's easy to forget how good we had it growing up in Farangland.

Just out of curiosity, do many Thai people (especially the rich ones) help out with this type of thing and other needy organisations in their own country?

[Mobi]

Good luck Mobi it's a great cause and it's good to see so many others wanting to help. It's easy to forget how good we had it growing up in Farangland.

Just out of curiosity, do many Thai people (especially the rich ones) help out with this type of thing and other needy organisations in their own country?

To answer your question: there are some Thais who are extremely generous and kind, and others who have gone out their way to help in their own way, like the Thai firm who installed the new water tank system, and said "pay me when you can" etc.

Some of the most generous contributions from the appeal I made on this forum have come from a Thai - but I won't embarrass her by telling you who that is.

But I have to say that in general, Thais are quite oblivious to the poverty and suffering around them and very few make the effort to help or give. One of the most distressing things, is that certain groups of Thais actively work against the operation of the centre, as they do not like the fact that two farangs are doing something that they should be doing - it's that bloody loss of face thing rearing it's ugly head again.

The centre has had all kinds of headaches trying to get its foundation status approved - because many organizations - including other Thai Christians groups - don't want it here - it makes them too uncomfortable because they should be doing something themselves. They’d rather all this poverty and suffering were swept under the carpet. It's very sad, but true.

Some farangs have been very generous, and many want to do their "bit" for the kids. It's very heartening, but frankly I get a bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task facing the Centre. They need 100k a month just to cover their overheads, and if they don't find 12 million by the end of next year to buy the premises, they will all be out on their ears.

All the TV members who have been to the centre have confirmed on this forum that the centre is doing wonderful work and that we should support them in any way we can

Well I am trying to “do my bit", but the folks at the centre seem to think that I can work miracles - but I'm just a retired farang, with a bit of time to spare, but with no skills at raising money. We really need to crank this up, and are desperately short of resources to organize and administer money making efforts.

For example: Dianne has this idea to get 100 people to agree to sponsor the running costs by each paying 1,000 baht per month. This is a good idea, and I want to push it on the forum, but until someone can work out the logistics of how we sign these people up, how we keep track of them and their monthly payments - it's going nowhere. One idea is that they put the monthly amounts in collection boxes scattered around town - in an envelope - might work but need organizing. (If the money is just paid by atm, we have no way of knowing who paid it.) Then there are a lot of people who want to sponsor individual kids. We have tried to discourage this as the logistics are so hard, and the very nature of the kids’ situations (some come and go) makes it difficult to administer. I was there the other day when a Korean ladies' group came by, asking about sponsoring individual kids. I talked to Dianne about it -a and we agreed that if that's the only way we can get money, then we should do it - but again the logistics are frightening - someone has to do bios for the kids - someone has to liaise with the sponsors and update them on the kids' progress etc. There's no-one to do any of this.

Sorry, a bit of a ramble.

Any suggestion or volunteers re the above will be most welcome.

May I remind everyone that the link to the kid's website is:

http://www.mercypattaya.org/

And when you get there, click on "how can I help?" and you will see the options: providing manpower, buying food and goods, or sending them money etc. Full details are on the website.

Thanks for reading this.

[Chang_paarp]

Mobi, many of the larger organisations that advertise on TV have "sponsor a child" schemes. They use graphic images of children in poverty.

For your regular monthly donation of $X to the organisation you are given a photo and a name, you are given reports about the child, and any correspondence between you and the child goes through the organisation. However the money goes into general revenue for the organisation, usually used in the region the child lives in. You do not "own" the person in the photo.

This is the concept that some people are looking for. (I think)

[JohnC]

O.K I know I said I could not get involved, however, having like many here visited the centre I am now involved in a number of initiatives for the centre. The idea of sponsoring a child has its merits I would suggest a better option would for people to financially sponser the mission for the cost of helping one child. This takes away the need for photos and updates of an individual, however it would not take a lot to set up a regular newsletter keeping sponsors informed of progress and events. Apart from the obvious financial needs the biggest problem is finding people who have the expertise and time to run any fundraising scheme and my observations lead me to believe that is the main weakness. Fred & Dianne are full time running the centre and do not have the time for extra curiculam activities. Mobi like myself is a retired falang and our input is minimal in relation to the wider picture, we can only do so much without it taking over our lives.

What could be done would be to set up a fundraising committee to share the load equally and each member undertake a specific task this then would not be too onerous. I have suggested to Fred he consider an open day when the missions work could be publicised, I have contacts in the media and can help with this but I am not a marketing expert so again if they had a fundraising committee this is a task they could undertake. I am open to views and opinions on all or any of the above as it is only my humble thoughts which in no way degenerates from the sterling work Mobi has and is doing.

[Mobi]

Thanks Chang_Paarp. That is a good point you make there, and would certainly make life easier, and facilitate administration of the sponsorship money.

JohnC thanks so much for your input. Very good stuff. Maybe we should meet up soon and put our minds together - probably with Fred and Dianne. As you say, we all have a litlle time, so it just needs to be channelled properly. I have had a few Pms' and calls from people who want to give of their time, and up to now I have just referred them to Dianne. Maybe I should take more initiative with these potential helpers.

As you say, Fred and Dianne are already overwhelmed, and the likes of you and me alone are not the answer they are seeking.

I am out early tomorrow for most of the day, but will try to pm you at some point.

[Tompa]

Hi Moby,

You may have thought about this before but if not here goes.

I’m sure many TV members have their own internet businesses with web sites. How about designing a small banner that you could ask TV members to put on their web sites? The banner would link to the Victory Family Church web sites where you can make donations. This should increase the awareness about this charity and hopefully increase the donations.

Maybe you could talk to TV and see if they could put a small banner on their site for free. There are many other Farang oriented sites in Thailand such as ajarn.com and 2bangkok.com that may be interested in helping out as well.

Tompa,