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Double donations for Thai Children with Special Needs through the Big Give


The Thai Children's Trust is gearing up for the Big Give at 10am tomorrow, 5 December, when they hope to raise £60,000 towards the Father Ray Centre for Children with Special Needs. The centre, in Pattaya, Thailand, will offer physical therapy, individual development, education and vocational training for children with a range of special needs, and information and support for more than 300 families. The centre will also provide outreach services to a larger number of children in the area, offering community based rehabilitation and support.

Speaking at a reception in Lambeth Palace last week, Archbishop Vincent Nicholas, praised the work of the trust and its founder, Redemptorist priest Fr Ray Brennan. His first project was an orphanage which has become home for more than 2,000 abandoned babies and children. Many were adopted but a significant number stayed on and went to university and now enjoy influential careers in teaching, in business, and in public administration, Archbishop Nichols said. Later Fr Brennan set a Vocational School for the Disabled - the first of its kind in Thailand. Several graduates from the school took part in the 2012 Paralympics.

The new Special Needs centre was one of Father Ray's dreams. There are some 1.2 million people living with a disability in Thailand out of a population of nearly 67 million, with more than one in four not diagnosed or recognised as having a disability and therefore not getting the support they need.

“Children with disabilities are very often isolated and lonely” says Andrew Scadding, CEO of Thai Children’s Trust. “The new centre will give them a precious opportunity to make friends and play, as well as allow parents to find support and share experiences.”

Thai Children’s Trust is the largest UK charity focusing solely on disadvantaged and disabled children in Thailand and surrounding countries, supporting projects in Pattaya, Rayong, Nong Khai in the north, the tsunami area in the south and Burmese migrant communities on both sides of the border.

Thai Children’s Trust helps children at risk, children with HIV/AIDS, children with disabilities and refugees- providing a home, an education and a future for some 2,000 children, and reaching out to thousands more through health and nutrition projects.

To help them build the new centre through the Big Give - where every pound you donate will be doubled - each morning from tomorrow, Thursday 5 December 2013 at 10am, go to: www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk/the-big-give

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