People continue to queue for food handed out at the New Beginnings Calvary Chapel Patong on Phra Barami Rd each day, explained Aland Tan, Pastor at the chapel.
“We are giving away the food packs from Monday to Friday,” Aland explained.
“About 60% of Patong remains closed. The people who come to collect food are those without work or those who work part-time. The motorbike taxis who don’t have enough customers come to collect food for their family. We started in April 2020. We are aware of the need of jobless people,” he added.
“We are still giving out 150-200 packs of meals daily. A pack of food cost us around B30. Thank God for the support of friends and people we don’t know around the world,” Pastor Aland noted.
“We are hoping to be able to collect more funds to continue the works we are doing in Patong,” he added.
“More funds mean better food quality, and this will enable us to go back to the normal rhythm, which was from 200 to 300 ‘Grace packs’ daily,” he said.
Pastor Aland and his wife Sunee Koyoma often also travel to poor neighbourhoods in Patong to hand out Grace packs.
Sunee is originally from Saraburi province but has lived in Phuket for the past 17 years. Aland is from Malaysia and has lived in Phuket now for eight years. In pre-COVID days, the couple ran a small restaurant in the beach resort town. Then the pandemic struck, and the couple turned to help people in need.
The couple began their efforts to provide food to those in need through their project ‘Hot Meals for All’ in March 2020.
Much of their efforts have been financed out of their personal savings, friends and family who have donated money to help keep their work going. However, to scale up the programme and serve more meals, more funding is needed.
To see the evolution of the program, follow them on Facebook.
TO DONATE:
There are several ways you can donate for financing this project:
1. Through the website: simplygiving.com
2. Through the bank account:
Siam Commercial Bank
Account name: Sunee Koyama
Account number: 9662053778
Swift Code: SICOTHBK
Id. 319010049239
3. Or simply go and visit them here:
New Beginnings Calvary Chapel Patong
Address: 2/145 Phrarabamm Rd., Patong, Kathu. 83150 Phuket. Thailand.
(Click here for map.)
Contact in Thai: +66 (0)80 067 2597 (Sunee)
Contact in English: +66 (0)94 886 3908 (Aland)