COVID-19

I want to start off by saying that we are safe and healthy. We do not know anyone personally who has been infected with the coronavirus here in Thailand, and for that we are thankful.

We live in Pattaya, a tourist town famous for bars, clubs, and Walking Street. In 2019, Pattaya had 9.4 million tourists. The majority of tourists who come to Pattaya are Chinese. With a huge tourist industry plummeting to zero during this pandemic, Pattaya workers are left without an income and are struggling to feed their families.

 

Ploy packing emergency bags of food

The majority of the parents and caregivers of the children we support have no work at all during this time. Many of them work as dishwashers in a restaurant, a maid at a hotel, or in the notorious Walking Street at a bar or massage parlor. All of the bars/clubs/massage parlors have been completely shut down and have left many people with no income at all.

Giving food to the caregivers

Giving food and supplies to the children

Giving activity books to the children

We have parents and grandparents of the Blessing Home children saying they cannot pay rent or buy food for their family. We have been able to give out bags of food to each family this week with their scholarship, and we have committed to keep providing emergency food for them until their businesses are allowed to open. We will not allow the children in our program go hungry. We gave each child a large bag of rice, cans of fish, fortified milk and soap. We also gave the children activity books with puzzles for them to help keep them occupied.

 

Two of our teenagers doing their math puzzles

Providing emergency food during this time is an unexpected expense that we believe will continue from weeks to months. These kids are extremely vulnerable and their families are barely getting by. If you are able, please consider donating to our ministry during this time. We are so thankful that God placed us here to encourage and provide for the Blessing Home kids during this time.