Ingrid and Kathleen – Thank You and Good Luck

When the suggestion was made to us that an article be written regarding Ingrid and Kathleen’s tireless dedication to all of the Pattaya International Ladies Club (PILC) welfare projects during their time in Pattaya 2004-2009, we thought O.M.G.!!!  Where do we start?????

So here we go ladies, this is it:  (drum roll) our humble offering.

Ingrid and Kathleen go together like the traditional ‘aussie barbi and ice bold beer’.  They compliment each other so well, when one forgets the other remembers!  When one can’t do, the other can!  That’s why they have made such a great team as Chair and Co-Chair of PILC’s welfare team respectively.  They’ve always been there with smiling faces, open hearts, and a huge eagerness to give, help and understand the neediness of so many others much less fortunate than ourselves.

Whether it’s teaching English, administering to the needs of children of many ages, feeding families in local schools and slum areas, taking children for eye testing and dental visits, dressing wounds, organising fund raisers such as quiz and trivia nights, monster garage sales, being a member of Jester’s Care for Kids committee and bringing lots of happiness and laughter to many disabled ladies each month.  Phew!!!  Not only can they get dressed up to the nines for our lovely ladies Gala Balls, they have also been known to arrive at the Fountain of Life children’s centre dressed as tooth fairies looking pretty in pink whilst handing out Easter treats.

Here follows only the tip of the iceberg of some of the projects handled by the Welfare Team with Ingrid and Kathleen’s guidance:

Garonyawet Disabled Ladies Home
AIDS Home (Mabprachan Lake area)
Fountain of Life Ladies and Children Centres
Kate’s Project
Street Kids Protection Centre
Baan Jing Jai Orphanage
Our Home (craftwork run by Khun Tiew)
Monthly distribution of food parcels, kindly assisted by Khun Noi from Kate’s Project.

This year alone, they have been responsible for allocating a total of around 1,450,000 baht for the projects listed above and many more.  We are sure you will agree ladies, so much money could not have been handled and distributed to as many projects on behalf of the PILC over the years without such an enormous effort, which always appeared effortless from Ingrid and Kathleen.

Ingrid and Kathleen, we all wish you a safe and uneventful journey home to Australia.  We hope you realise how much of a hole your departure will be leaving in all of our hearts and of the many people around Pattaya and even further afield that you have touched with your love and kindness.

Article submitted by Fiona Brown and Alana Clarke