An important update and "No punches pulled" announcement from the leader of the Gift of Happiness Foundation, Eddie Haworth.
For the first time since we published a news article in 2011, I have decided there will be no pictures except the Charity's registered logo in this post.
I need you the reader to actually read the whole thing without distraction...
I need you the reader to actually read the whole thing without distraction...
As some of you know, I have become stuck in Scotland for the duration of the virus...I have also been suffering an infection that has caused me to be bedridden for 7 days and I'm still not able to go outside to exercise. But the antibiotics have cleared up the infection and now my body needs a few more days in convalescence. So, it's been quite an interesting first trip in 20 years to visit my family. Despite all the world-changing COVID-19 developments, my sickness and becoming stuck in Scotland until I am allowed to fly back to Bangkok, I remain positive and very hopeful for the future of the Gift of Happiness Foundation.
My confidence is solid because I am honoured to have some totally amazing staff and one particular volunteer who is in daily contact with me and quite frankly, he's doing a better job of running the charity than I normally do?
Also...With the ongoing benefits of a monthly sponsorship from Monroe Consulting Group, we are also still able to cover the cost of rent and administration.
In fact, the staff continue to give food aid and other essential supplies to as many desperate people who would normally feed themselves by recycling scrap that they find on the streets of Bangkok.
A “No punches pulled” announcement and a “nothing to lose” appeal.
During the past few days, we have received desperate appeals for food aid from two small slum communities close to the Go Happiness Centre and we have only been able to respond with a promise to give a little food and enough clothing to help them feel a little more comfortable. And now, we really need to buy food for those people, totalling around 340 women, children, old folks, and the menfolk who normally provide the needs buy selling scrap.
Please remember that the people I am talking about did not choose to become so desperately poor and they spend every single day of their lives trying their best to survive and send the kids to school. They are not drug addicts and alcoholic drifters because they could not even dream about paying for substances to get their minds onto a state of oblivion every day. They are genuinely good decent human beings who may look well fed because they live on sugary drinks and fried food, none of which gives them any health benefits and they wear used clothing that makes some of them look a little scary.
Believe me, they are absolutely some of the most deserving people in Bangkok to receive aid, but they get NO support from any of the religious, governmental, larger NGO agencies, social groups or clubs, a lot of whom give generously and often to their favoured charity/orphanages, located in the well-known downtown slums (some of which are now on the tourist trails of Bangkok and most of which can offer tax incentives to companies who support them?)
Small independent charities like the Gift of Happiness Foundation receive small but important annual grants from some of the social groups in Bangkok, but beyond those occasional gifts, we get lots of people sending messages of praise for what we do and even cards from people to wish us good luck in our work to help the needy.
No punches pulled now…
In English, we have a phrase that goes, “Fine words butter no parsnips” …It means… “Talking about doing something does not get it done?”.
Why do people avoid actually digging deep to help small independent organisations?
I believe there are many reasons for well-meaning individuals and group/club committees to avoid supporting charities like the Gift of Happiness Foundation in any ongoing meaningful way. One of the reasons may be that they are often unaware of the thousands of smaller slum communities around the edges of Bangkok and beyond, like some of the ones the Gift of Happiness Foundation support. And there is also a lack of uncertainty when it comes to giving money to small charities run by an individual like me, just in case, their money ends up in my back pocket?
That is okay…I have lived with that knowledge for more than 10 years and I kind-of understand why some people may have some misgivings about supporting my small charity. So, I simply continue to do my best to keep the charity alive through subsidising the project costs and paying for the main transport vehicle through my savings and earning as an entertainer at International schools and five-star hotels. (My truck is for sale bye the way)
But now, I am not getting any work as an entertainer and my UK state pension is barely enough for my own survival and of course the family visit that I have saved for a long time has swallowed-up almost all my life savings, (hence I am selling the truck). In short, we have virtually run out of funds to buy food for some of those people who are actually starving in Bangkok.
We have nothing to lose.
We have made appeals for various project costs over the years and to be perfectly honest…we usually either get no actual money at all or maybe one or two small amounts as one-off donations, (plus loads of well-meaning words and likes on Facebook?)
Most of the monthly donations we used to receive through PayPal have been withdrawn since the start of the crisis and I personally send a small monthly donation via the credit card payment tabs on our website, just to make sure that it still works?
We are down to 4,600 THB per month in recurring donation payments…Plus the occasional single PayPal donation of usually 500 or 1,000-THB and we have two donors who are supporting a handicapped girl that I have been helping for the last couple of years.
You do not need to be a Wall Street Lawyer to work-out that less than 5,000-THB per month isn’t going to go far when It comes to feeding 300+ slum dwellers in Bangkok. But if this appeal bears the same results as history has shown, we are simply just gonna have to say NO to those starving people and hope they can find a way to get fed by someone else?
Now it is an emergency situation and I am no Doctor, but you do not have to be Einstein to work-out that some of the old people and probably some the malnourished children will soon be dead if they do not get some decent food from somewhere.
The Gift of Happiness Foundation has well established contacts within those slum communities and they have been asking us for rice, vegetables, high protein fish and meats and clean drinking water.
We have enough of all those things to give to around half the people on the list and plan to do so on Saturday the 25th of April. But we need to buy those foodstuffs for the rest of the starving people and more importantly, we need to make a promise to those people that we will continue to give them enough food for survival at least until they can get back collecting scrap.
Appeal.
We are not asking you to pay for anything except the most basic things to support human life.
If we can get just 20 people in Bangkok to contribute at least 500-THB (like a couple of Starbucks coffees) per month, starting right now...and until things return to normal. We could feed all of the desperately needy people in the slums near our Centre Bangkok.
"Sorry, I already give to other charities".
We can always find a way to say, "sorry, I already give to other charities"… But please try to think beyond the usual reasons for not supporting this appeal and just imagine how desperate the scrap collectors are right now? They have No other organizations to turn too.
It is amazingly easy to support this emergency appeal via PayPal, Credit card or direct transfer to the charity account. Link below
I urge you not to “talk the talk” on this one … please just “walk the walk” and I will keep you posted on where your donations are going.
None-perishable food can be sent to the Go Happiness Centre weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm. The Centre is closed, but we have a gate man to accept food and water donations only.
Just follow this link: https://www.gohappiness.org/donate-to-gift-of-happiness.html
Thank you!
“Fine words butter no parsnips” -
Any serious questions will be answered here: [email protected]
Any serious questions will be answered here: [email protected]
