Extending a helping hand for flood victims

Here are just a few examples:
- In October, the monks in Lamphun provided 2,000 sets of food and 1,400 sets of flood relief kits – received from the Buddhists alms at the end of Buddhist lent – for the flood victims in Phichit and Nakhon Sawan provinces.
- In November, Thai Muslims in the three southernmost provinces gave donations through the military, which transported the supplies on 21 trucks to help flood victims in Bangkok and the central provinces.
The network of community councils in 14 southern provinces also received donations to help flood victims in western Bangkok and adjacent provinces. Over 4,000 kilogrammes of rice, dried food as well as “OTOP” (One Tambon One Product) products, money and motor boats were supplied.
- Inspired by a photographs of monks wading through flood water to gather alms, published in newspapers and shared on Facebook, Wason Wanichakorn and his group raised funds to buy boats for monks.
The 20-member group, whose main manpower were members of Bangkok University students’ club, provided help and supplies to temples in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani.
The total of Bt300,000 was quite unexpected and the group extended its activities to helping distribute supplies to flood victims. Supply sources included Channel 3 and the Flood Relief Operations Centre.
- Phanporn Naknium – under his own initiative – borrowed cooking pots from neighbours and asked them to help carry ingredients bought from the market so he could prepare meals for flood victims. He spent Bt6,000 to make almost 500 boxes of rice and fried pork. He brought the meals for Nation Multimedia Group’s flood relief caravan to distribute in Bangkok at that time.
- Appreciating help from the military and having seen a military ad-hoc base at the Army Stadium near her house, Pattamon Pinpetch raised funds from her friends and relatives, mainly through Facebook, to provide food and drinking water for the officers.
On Facebook, she posted a picture of a soldier standing in almost chest-high flood water and having a meal.
Pattamon said each set of meals cost under Bt50.
She finally raised over Bt10,000 then changed her plan to also provide small towels and energy drinks to the company (about 100 soldiers).
- Starting from a small group of Chulalongkorn University communication arts alumni who wanted to offer fun-and-useful projects, the group “FaceBank” turned to bigger projects. It raised almost Bt300,000 and provided help to flood victims in areas of Bangkok and planned to keep a motor boat for such work in the future.
The FaceBank group spread news to Facebook friends and used word-of-mouth while performing the activities. For flood relief, the group twice held second-hand markets at Palm Street and The Nine where friends could catch up and contribute at the same time.
The money raised was used for flood relief bags, cooking meals and for sponsoring other groups providing help to the victims.
- Funds have been raised to rescue hundreds of dogs at “Koh Sunak” or Dog Island, in Putthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom.
The island has been a shelter for stray dogs and faced food shortages for years before being double-jeopardised by the flood.