TLC Service Trip

Across northern Thailand, there are many orphans in need. Poverty, disease, drug crimes and alcohol abuse result in many children whose parents, if alive, are unable to care for them.

An NGO based in Chiang Mai is dedicated to caring for these children and giving them a hope and a future. They are currently caring for 320 children, including refugee children along the border with Myanmar.

The team kids at Crossroads are preparing to visit this NGO in August 2019 and they need financial support to get there.

Why do the trip?

There are several reasons why we love to give our team kids the opportunity to do a service trip.

·       It helps them understand they have a role to play in caring for the poor, no matter what their age.

·       They have a chance to meet and play with kids their same age but who have very different life circumstances.

·       The trip helps the children understand the concept of fundraising, knowing they are doing this trip with the support and love from family and friends around the world. We trust it encourages them to see their needs met too!

·       The children will be preparing goods from Crossroads to donate to the children. This gives them a very practical understanding of how Crossroads cares for the poor, and why their parents do what they do.

·       This is the second time we’ve visited this group in Thailand. We are excited about building a strategic relationship with this group, and building friendships with the children, in an ongoing way over the years.

Who is going?

There are 5 families, with children aged 3 to 15 years, and 2 teachers going on this service trip: 20 people in total. We will be spending time with the children, visiting a rural children’s home in the hill tribe area, and visiting the refugee children in the border region. We will be keeping our personal luggage to a minimum so we can carry over 200kg of goods from Crossroads’ warehouse: much needing clothing, sports equipment, stationery supplies, educational toys. Our kids will help prepare these before we go and will be part of the joy of distributing them to the kids in Thailand.

Each family is fundraising to cover the costs of the trip and, hopefully, a little extra to be able to support the NGO with some current financial needs for the school they run for the refugee children.