Phuket Community Foundation

Thanks to a donation of B10,000 from Paul and Heidi Müller of Switzerland, the PCF was able to pay for a slap-up lunch for almost 200 kids at Baan Bang Rong School in the northeast of the island, to celebrate Children’s Day.

Children’s Day, January 9, is celebrated across Thailand with song and dance performances, along with plenty of games with small prizes for the winners. This year it fell on a Saturday, so was celebrated in schools the previous day.

In addition to the Müllers’ donation, the kids also received  home-made coconut ice cream, made by Manosit Jangjob and paid for by Riam Niyomkichakarn. The Kusoldharm Foundation donated 250 bottles of water, Thanawut Tohthong donated 200 packs of colour pencils and Millenium Graphic donated 200 sheets of paper for drawing.

The PCF would like to express its gratitude to these people for making Children’s Day special at this school in one of the poorer parts of Phuket.

The PCF will open its third toy library at Wat Muang Mai School in Tambon Thepkrasattree on Friday July 24 at 2pm. Everyone is invited. Expect dance shows and a puppet show from staff of Phuket International Hospital.

The wat is on the left of the main road, 6.6 km north of the main intersection in Thalang town, and about 900 m before the turnoff to the airport (see map below). We hope to see you there. And if you have kids, bring ‘em along too.

Members of the various visiting CFs arrive at the salt mine in Prešov.

Two members of the Phuket Community Foundation board have completed a four-day visit to two community foundations in eastern Slovakia, funded mainly by the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF).

The two – treasurer Piyarat Kulvanich and board member-elect Alasdair Forbes – were part of a study tour organised by the GFCF and the World Bank to look at the work of the Prešov and Bardejov CFs, which are seen as shining stars in the CF firmament.

Other organisations on the tour were the Bangkok Forum and the Korat, Satun and Songkla CFs, as well as two people from the Lin Foundation of Vietnam.

Katka Minarova of the Prešov CF.

Apart from lengthy discussions during which the brains of the Slovakian CFs were thoroughly picked for ideas and insights into management, fund-raising and grant making, the visitors were also taken to see projects supported by the Slovakian CFs, including a 15th century salt mine, now a  museum run by the government (but almost unknown to anyone but the two government employees working there; the CF is attempting to help raise its profile as a tourist attraction) and a very successful school for autistic children set up in a former Franciscan Monastery, with CF financial and volunteer help.

The PCF would like to thank Jenny Hodgson and the GFCF for funding the trip; Jozef Jarina of the Bardejov CF; and especially the indefatigable, unfailingly cheerful, patient and amazingly energetic  Katerina “Katka” Minarova of the Prešov CF, who was our guide and mentor for most of the trip.

A more comprehensive report will be posted once we return to Phuket.