sponsorship costs

Many people have asked us how they can sponsor a child and we are delighted that we have now linked with a scheme that developed in conjunction with the Mercy Project a Charitable Foundation established by the Victory Church in Pattaya and administered by Pastors Fred and Dianne Doell specifically to assist the children of the poor in Pattaya. We are a Secular charity and do not support or promote any religious organisation. We are always prepared to consider working with any organisation in bringing help to children in need on the strict understanding that any such help is given unconditionally and does not involve the preaching, promoting or acceptance of any religion.

With the extreme poverty suffered by many Thai families the education of their children is beyond reach unless they receive sponsorship to pay for the school essentials. Whilst the education for the poor is free the ancillary costs of school such as school uniforms, shoes, books and fees for some school activities as well as the bus fare to and from school and one meal a day has to be found by the families. Many of these children live in slum areas where food and water are not available and are often located many miles from the nearest school.

The Thai school year is split into two terms. The cost of sponsoring a student for for the entire school year is from £70 -£120 depending on the age of the child. This sum not only pays for the items listed above but also gives additional support to the child for items such as food and water within the family unit. Sponsorship can be made either by Standing Order to our bank account or by cheque or credit card through Paypal.. Sponsorship can be given either in one amount or spread over twelve months; whichever is the most convenient for the sponsor. Also if the sponsor is a Standard Rate UK taxpayer we are able to reclaim 25 pence in the pound of your total sponsorship from the tax that has already been paid. We will on request supply the necessary form for sponsors to sign. By signing the form sponsors do not commit themselves to a set period of sponsorship and the sponsorship can cease at any time simply by canceling the Standing Order from the bank. For from just £6 a month a sponsor can ensure that a child receives an education, is fed, clothed and has access to help from the Mercy Project staff.

If you do decide to sponsor a child then you will be the sole sponsor of that child's until such times as you decide to stop. We do not double sponsor children, i.e. We do not allocate a child to different sponsors at the same time, we accept children onto our scholarship scheme and fund the costs from donations that have been given specifically for education. We then try to find a sponsor for the child and when we have successfully matched a sponsor and child the funds that we would have used but which are now being met by the sponsor are used for another child. A number of sponsors prefer to leave it us to us to use their sponsorship where it is most needed at the time and in these cases we are happy to allocate your sponsorship to a child needing a sponsor.

At the end of each term sponsors will receive a copy of the child's school report in Thai (we will arrange for it to be accompanied by and English translation) and a letter from the child. The letters are usually quite short as very few Thais are confident in letter writing.

What we do ask is that a sponsor commits to at least one year of sponsorship as this enables us to forward plan our education costs. If a sponsor does for whatever reason decide to withdraw from the scheme we will ensure that the child is able to continue their education and fund this from our educational fund.

For information as to how to sponsor a child or make a donation click here