Written By Bryan Flowers – Night Wish Group / The Pattaya News
I started writing about this a subject a week ago but I didn’t want to write a negative post, I hate negativity but I find peoples reactions and thoughts interesting. However, there is always a handful of people that are interested in seeing things from different angles.
We have currently raised enough money until the 12th of June (today is the 4th of June) We need around 300k more (20k a day approx) to last until the end of June. (as its looking likely we cannot open) The donations have dried up and many other organisations/businesses around town have stopped handing out food.
Right now we are handing out 1200 meals a day and 100-130 packs for children. If you want to help us keep this going, make a difference and help our favourite town back, you can contact us to see what we need or donate through. https://gogetfunding.com/night-wish-group-pattaya-feeding-people-that-have-no-income-around-pattaya/
Thanks to all our friends, customers, associates and other business owners together we have handed out 36,000 meals to date, even if we cannot continue until the end of the month, it was a great effort by all.
Problems with handing out free food
Very aggressive landlords asking for me to pay full rents during this closure, accusing us of having plenty of money because they have seen us on our news handing out food daily. Many landlords have thrown the free food giveaway at me as an argument of why we should pay our rents. I have told them countless times that customers and friends are paying for this great treat to our town, but they don’t believe it or don’t they don’t care. (No good deed goes unpunished)
Criticisms of handing out free food
I wanted to share my thoughts on the criticisms I have heard so far about giving out free food.
Don’t feed them, make everyone fight – As much as I want the world to be angry and to stand up and fight this madness, the people we are feeding are the people that cannot fight, we have many elderly, poor mothers and children.
Westerners shouldn’t be getting free meals – There are lots of people without work and stranded on holiday. There were many Russians stuck here for a while also.
People with cars shouldn’t be fed – I have seen car taxi drivers coming for free food but at least they are trying to work, there are very few customers around. Whilst having a car does mean that they likely have more money but for example, a police guy I know came for food yesterday and he was driving his bosses car. But given a choice, I guess a person with no car should get preference.
Don’t take videos/pictures of people in the queue – I spoke to our news team about this and they just said that many Thais like to be on video or having their picture taken. They are wearing masks anyway and also this is unusual times, many of us are in trouble, just at different levels. I consider this a cheap shot at food giveaways, but without these pictures, fewer people would donate.
A Thai business owner said to me “these people” throw them away if they don’t like them, but I have never witnessed anything like that, they have to wait and queue for food. I think that was just her looking down on them. Many people sit on Soi 6 and eat them.
People taking extra to take home – some of them have an old person at home or someone else that cannot come along. We have one lady that takes 12 a day to some vulnerable people in Jomtien, we have others that collect to hand to others, part of the reason we want to continue. Some send us photos as proof.
Motorbike taxi drivers shouldn’t get free food – many of them that we know say they aren’t getting customers but at least they are trying. I am happy that people are out trying to get things running again, when we open the bars we will be losing money, but we all have to step forward together.
Speaking to guys that have experience over the last few months at several food handouts, it’s said that around 90% are genuine and around 10% are people taking the piss, but there is always that problem in life. But with the daily food handouts we are not getting the masses of people lining up for dry food packs, I am sure if you did that in non-covid times you would still get a queue of people because poverty is always around, but with our handout, just turn up if you’re hungry between 1-2 pm
Our weekday visit to Pong with 200 meals after 1000 meals handed out on soi 6.
Food preparation for 1200 meals per day
This virus has exposed many people, how kind, how ruthless, how weak and how mental they are. The curtains have come back on a lot of people, at least I can look back and said that I did my best to help others while my own situation becomes worse and worse weekly.
If you want to be part of what we did and say that you helped our town, these last few weeks is your last chance for this disaster. https://gogetfunding.com/night-wish-group-pattaya-feeding-people-that-have-no-income-around-pattaya/
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