Bangkok Community Help is a community initiative founded by Greg Lange (Owner of Sunrise Tacos & Margarita Storm) and Friso Poldervaart (Serial Entrepreneur and owner of Dinner in the Sky Thailand) during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic that struck at the start of 2020. They were approached by a few members of the Klong Toei community asking to use the kitchen of his restaurant to prepare hot meals for the hunger-stricken people living in the slum areas.
Both long time Thailand residents and Entrepreneurs soon got heavily involved in the Klong Toey lower-income Communities (called Slum communities as well).
As they and their team started to visit the slums they became aware of many other issues that the community were facing which included dirty garbage sites infested by rats, dilapidated houses, lack of food, basic sanitation facilities among many others. The deeply committed volunteers began to work on various re-painting, cleaning, renovation, and construction projects for the betterment of the community. Upon seeing and getting inspired by this group’s work, many local and expat volunteers started to join hands with them and that’s when Bangkok Community Help was formed. Since then the Foundation grew to a 500 volunteer strong team of like-minded individuals from all over the world, sharing the love for Thailand, and sharing the feeling of wanting to help one another when they can.
The Bangkok Community Help Foundation has reached far beyond only Klong Toey. Wherever help is needed, the Foundation offers help regardless of their location, social status or heritage.
Since April 2020 the Bangkok Community Help Foundation has distributed the following necessary items:
Distributed 1,000,000 KG of rice.
Distributed 1,300,000 packets of instant noodles
Distributed 600,000 hot meals
Distributed 840,000 cans of fish
Distributed 650,000 face masks
Distributed 210,000 liters of cooking oil
Distributed 210,000 bottles of shampoo and bars of soap
Distributed 210,000 bottles of alcohol gel.
Performed over 20,000 free ATK tests to different communities around Bangkok
Administered over 5,000 liters of oxygen to Covid patients.
Distributed over 10,000 strips of paracetamol and other necessary medicine.
100,000 KG’s of 2nd hand clothes.
Besides distribution of items, the Foundation has build houses for individual families. Helped individual kids with tutoring fees, school uniforms, computers and learning materials. Hosting weekly classes for underprivileged kids run by our all-star team of international teachers. Host basketball sessions with NBA accredited instructors and much more.
The Foundation has worked together with companies ranging from Unilever, P&G, Mazars, MedConsult to smaller enterprises either donating funds or products. Embassies such as the Embassy of the United States and the Embassy of Australia. International schools such as St. Andrews International School and D-Prep International School.
Bangkok Community Help Foundation has been covered by every major news outlet across the globe, including: CNN, BBC, CNBC, Thai Channel 3, ZDF, TVFrance, The Thaiger, Foreign Correspondence Club Thailand and more.
Bangkok Community Help are always on the lookout for new volunteers to join them! Everyone is welcome. Send us a message via any of our Social Media platforms or contact us via our Contact page.