COVID-crisis food charity Help Phuket Today has delivered much-needed food necessities to 400 families in Kata-Karon suffering without any income due to the lack of tourism brought on by COVID-19 protection measures. A special joint-effort drive led by Phuket COVID-crisis food charity Help Phuket Today.
Muang District Chief Somprat Prabsongkram, Karon Kamnan (Subdistrict Chief) Winai Chitcheaw, and his social worker wife Pandalda 'Khun Kan' Kongthong were present for the handover of the necessary food supplies last Sunday (Oct 25).
Julian Lowry, General Manager of Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort and his wife Nicola, as well as British International School members Magali Rolland, Boarding Parent with her student team, and Neil Crossland, Principal of Secondary School, have entered the Support Phuket Today team of volunteers.
The handover was facilitated and took place at Karon Temple by the Karon District Administrative Division.
It seems like a lot to feed 400 families, but it's actually just the tip of a really large ocean. In the Kata-Karon area alone, 10,000 people are staying, not to mention the rest of Phuket,' said Nicola Lowry.
Nicola explained to The Phuket News that a conversation with Help Phuket Today founder Kath Cumming and followed by the idea of focusing special efforts on stricken families in the Kata-Karon area.
It basically started with Kath and I talking about the situation in Kata-Karon a couple of weeks ago because Kath knows it's our area, and that Julian and I have already helped a lot, especially in the early days, but also because "Help Phuket Today" wanted to give this area their support.
As you know, Kath is one of the main people behind 'Support Phuket Today,' and has already helped so many people in Phuket, thanks to donations from Phuket and people abroad. I then contacted Khun Kan and decided that 'Support Phuket Today' would be their next location to help Kata-Karon,' she said.
This was a collaborative project, made possible on my part with the help of some of the amazing Australian guests at Le Meridien. These guests helped 200 people with funds to pay for food, and the other 200 came from Help Phuket Today donations.
We would really love to continue to support people by giving donations, "Nicola said, adding that donations can be easily given through the Weeboon donation page of Support Phuket Today.
"A donation of THB 250 (approx £6 / USD 8 / EUR 8 / AUD 11) can feed the basics [rice, oil, sardines, fish sauce, and noodles] to a family of four for a week," Nicola said.
With what we did on Sunday, our biggest expectation is that it will have a knock-on impact and people will continue to donate again because the current situation is not going away. In particular, Phuket relies heavily on tourism and, quite simply, no tourist means no income, and no food, she said.
I am so grateful to have been part of this, but without the continued financial support of some of our lovely Australian hotel guests, as well as the many individual donations to 'Help Phuket Today,' it would not have been feasible. We were able to give food to 400 families in the Kata-Karon area with this support, "Nicola said gratefully ..."
A very special thank you went to a range of individuals: "Roger & Regina, Alison & Sherrin, Bill & Chris, David & Pauline, Michelle & Bruce, your latest donations today fed 200 people, you're all awesome." Thanks to you.
"Special thanks also to Magali and her team of boarders at the Phuket British International School for not only helping to supply food but also for pre-bagging and making 400 meaningful cards for the 400 packs of food items."
And last but not least, a massive thank you to Kath for making it all possible and always doing such a wonderful job, and to Khun Kan, my day-to person in Karon who organized everything very well, "added Nicola."
“If anyone would like to support the people of Phuket, please visit their Facebook page to contact 'Help Phuket Today' or call Kath on +66 (0)650503464. Thank you.”
Source: The Phuket News
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