The One Where I Ask For Donations

News flash! We're going to Thailand!

For several years we've had a friend who worked at Youthlinc, an international service organization focused on creating life-long humanitarians. It's a great foundation, and she's been encouraging us to take the plunge and go on a trip as mentors (a.k.a. "adult supervision"). This year we've finally made it a priority, and are on our way in just over a week!

Most people going to Thailand are there for vacation. And let's be real here-- if you tell the average person that you're going there on a service trip they'll be a little confused; Thailand isn't exactly an off-the-grid impoverished backwater. What isn't commonly known is that Thailand is home to tens of thousands of refugees from neighboring Myanmar (formerly Burma). Various ethnic groups have been targeted over the years of civil war, and many have found respite in Thai refugee camps during years of military-sponsored persecution.

We're going to be working with these Burmese refugees who are forbidden from working outside their camps. Our group is the Vocational Committee, and we're focusing on teaching sewing and soap-making. Other groups on our team include Community Health, Cultural Exchange, Education, and Business Development. Youthlinc has a page describing the various committees that you should check out. I'll wait. (This year, the team to Nepal has foregone almost all the committee work, and will be focused exclusively on construction to help in the earthquake recovery efforts)

Our students have done a superlative job with finishing their local service hours, fund-raising for their trip, and collecting donations for materials that we'll be bringing in-country. But we could still use more materials! We're especially lacking in school and childhood education supplies, and our committee can use all the fabric and sewing notions that we can round up. Specifically, we're looking for donations of:

• chalk
• colored pencils
• rulers
• markers
• scissors
• thread
• fabric
• interfacing
• lace
• nail polish
• frisbees
• kazoos
• crayons
• puzzles
• any other sewing notions people can come up with

If you're reading this and are able to contribute supplies or would like to make a (tax-deductible!) donation to Youthlinc that will help fund our in-country purchases (like more sewing machines), please send me a message or leave a comment. Final packing is June 13th, so the time is now!

Thank you.