By Angie King Sullivan | Cofounder
Sa-wat-dee ka. Greetings from Thailand.
GRACE serves families in East Pattaya and Korat city. We are honored to serve more than one-hundred families through the programs, projects and activities of the family resource centers. Amidst the afterschool programs our families are challenged with life issues compounded by poverty. One such challenged resulted in a child being removed from home and into a permanent orphanage. Orphanages are not ideal but when options are limited children are placed in the lesser risk establishments. The need to penetrate Thailand with family-based residential foster care is great and requires cooperation of government and caring families willing to open their homes to another child.
Our leadership team is searching housing and land properties to sustain two GRACE campuses. The campuses will provide centralized locations in the two provinces for four family housing units, educational wing, family resource center, dining hall, recreation fields and administration facilities. The challenge is the expense of land in Thailand with costs ranging from 3.2 to 18 million baht per rai in the suburban area of the cities. A rai of land is approximately one-third of an acre. A location ideally centralized to those whom we serve is two rai and undeveloped at a cost of 18 million baht per rai. The owner has frozen a price deal for us at 12.5 million baht per rai equaling 25 million baht which converts to approximately $783,582 USD. Wow. The real estate agent says its our lucky day as I gaze wide-mouthed with my jaw near dislocation. We also looked at three properties with three to five rai at 3.2-3.5 million baht per rai. The distance is about twenty minutes out of the way of those whom we serve. Although a bit more reasonable at 16 million baht ($501,493 USD), it doesn't meet our needs.
The search continues and we are not hopeless that the right location with reasonable costs will present itself in the near future. We are patient and continuing on the activities of Global Relief Association for Crises & Emergencies and GRACE International Foundation (Thailand) based out of our administrative shophouse regional office and the three-bedroom house converted to a family resource center in Pattaya, and an upstairs three room space of a local church in Korat.
The need for adequate space is essential and is a clear focus of our leadership during the first quarter of 2019.
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