During the summer of 2020, we decided to take initiative and try to improve the wellbeing of people left most vulnerable by Covid-19 due to their social situation. So we chose to help the Nong Mai community, a suburb consisting of 300 homes in the district of Klong Toei, as we still have a close relation to them from previous projects working with the Lutheran Christian Foundation and Home of Praise. The hardships of minimal work during this time is potentially life-threatening for people living in rural areas of Bangkok and many of the residents there earn minimum wages on a daily basis. Most of the adults, if not all, also have small children or elderly to take care of.
So, we came to the idea of creating care boxes that we filled with necessities such as rice, diapers, soap, etc. Many of the items in the boxes were given to us by sponsors from a range of different companies. These group of sponsors were glad to help our cause and kindly donated most of the items included our care boxes. Once all the items for the Nong Mai community had been sent to us, we compiled them into individual boxes and added the sponsors’ and Teenworks’ logo stickers.
On August 9th, with the help of our whole team, we set up a pickup station just outside the main community, where we handed out our care boxes to the people waiting. As we watched people of all ages come and collect a box to support their family and neighbours, we felt extremely grateful to have the chance to make a difference in their lives. It was also very heartwarming to see the smiles on their faces as we went around the community to listen to the elderly share their stories and learn more about other’s lives.