Recently, the Jesters came to the aid of poor children in the Ban Chang area who could not afford school uniforms and books. 

Alerted to the situation by K. Mat, home care nurse from Ban Chang Hospital and K. Porn, director of Dek Dee Early Training Center, we met at Prasert Book Shop in Ban Chang on the morning of May 8^th, where 20 families were anxiously waiting.

After buying the necessary books and uniforms they had only spent 15,300 baht from the 20,000 baht budget.  Since K. Mat is constantly in touch with the poor families in the vicinity, we told her touse the remainder for other needy kids there and to issue us a receipt later.

The smiling faces were moving.

We ventured outside of our traditional realm of Chonburi and Rayong Provinces in response to the national calamity that flooded two thirds of Thailand’s provinces in late 2011.

With the recommendation of the YWCA in Pattaya and the Police Academy in Nakon Pathom, we chose to come to the aid of the isolated Wat Puttamrangsi School in Baan Laak Tak Pha, which had
been inundated with 1.5 meter of flood water for a 2-month period.  The school has an enrollment of 126 students, mostly the children of poor farmers and laborers.

Once the waters receded, parents, faculty and other community members banded together to clean up and restore the school to its former state. However, funds were still required to make repairs,
as well as seal and repaint walls inside and out on the ground floor classrooms. In addition, all of the white boards and educational visual aids had to be replaced too.

After an assessment, we agreed to provide 250,000 baht to get the job done.

Last Sunday, we went out there to look at the finished product and we were delighted to see the wonderful job they had done. Everything was immaculately clean and brand new looking. Moreover, their gratitude was bountiful. To mark the occasion, an informal ceremony took place, followed by a spread of local delicacies.