A new way to make a big difference
27.12.2010
Now, anyone can make a big difference on the other side of the world in a child’s life through the 3L Foundation. We are proud and excited to introduce our new online shopping features that will allow you to donate as well as make purchases for items needed by the kids of the CPDC village. These items range from large capital and infrastructure items to the every day needs of living and starting a new life. This has been both 3L’s and our personal mission. We invite you to be a part of it.
Our personal journey has been a joyous endeavor with the kids of the CPDC village. The less glamorous but necessary paperwork, clerical work, Federal government interaction and administration are always well compensated for when our feet are blessed with the ground of our second home in Thailand. When we arrive, all the impersonal labors needed to get us there are dissolved and transformed into belonging and kindness in abundance with these great kids. I think Einstein must have known something like this when he discovered the strange properties of time. When we are with the kids and working for them in Pattaya, time seems to have an unreal and sometimes unkind accelerated rate of passage. When we are away and planning our next adventure, time seems to have an equally opposite slurred passage, yet equally as unkind. However, every moment we get to work for the kids either back at our homes in the U.S. or with them in Thailand is cherished and well worth enduring time’s strange fee it charges for it’s use.
When we arrive in Thailand, we always spend a fair amount of time assessing current needs of the kids and fulfilling them as fast as we can. Pam and Ashley are now considered to contribute to 1/8 of the Thai economy with their purchases of flip flops in bulk, food, soap, clothing, educational materials…anything the kids need, they find a way to provide.
Back home, all three of us plan and work to provide additional resources to let people know what is going on with the kids, how we fulfill our mission and what is needed for the next step. We have been very blessed and grateful for the help and support of family and friends. We could not have gotten this far without all that has been contributed to this great effort.
Now, we have a new way to get involved. While the Dining Sala is nearing completion, it still will need some resources for proper operation. Those items can be purchased on the new shopping cart system. We understand some items are not within everyone’s budget. But there are many, many other ways to for you to make a personal commitment, none ever being too small. Items of daily necessity can be purchased like bathroom supplies (soap, toothpaste, and other hygiene products) to clothing, bedding and other items for common necessity comfort. But it doesn’t stop there.
Those of us that started 3L Foundation believe deeply that beauty is not some elitist, extravagant luxury. It is a necessity of life and love. We had the design of the dining sala reflect this. We also wanted the simple and beautiful pleasures of life to be accessible to them as well. Available on the shopping card section are items for fun, enjoyment and fellowship. Who would want to be without such memories. Trips to the beach, sporting goods and other events and activities can be purchased with a minimum amount of investment. It really takes so little to create an opportunity for fun, joy, connection and fellowship. Now you can make that happen for these kids who have been surrounded by decay and ugliness for much of their lives.
Gifts of love and beauty can take on many incarnations. Materials and supplies, soap and soccer balls, beds and bread, prayers and support are all valued far in the beauty they create than money would dare attempt to quantify. We hope that you will enjoy the experience of shopping at 3L Foundation’s new shopping cart section and that you will know anything you are able to purchase and contribute will personally be attended to by Pam, Ashley or myself to the children directly and that they will know of you and your kindness.
We are counting on your help with the final touches necessary for the dining sala’s operation. What an amazing opportunity it is to be able to purchase something new for this special building… like dining chairs, or tables… true, not terribly romantic or dramatic things. But to know your contributed to a wonderful space for these kids that they will be using every single day for a VERY long time starting January 15th, the day of the sala’s dedication and first use.
Pam, Ashley and I will depart in early January for Thailand once more. We go with the anticipation of seeing the dining sala a realized vision, an embodiment of our mission, and a tangible shelter of your generosity. We will of course be providing great details of everything we are doing while there. So please visit us often on the blog, photo and video albums and on our Facebook page.
Thank you.