Making a Difference
Beyond visiting, Project Access works with neighbors, local governments and strategic partners to provide a wide range of services such as:
- Building ramps and renovating homes
- Distributing wheelchairs, walkers, and therapeutic devices to every Phrao person in need in partnership with the Wheelchair Project
- Providing reading glasses for all of the elderly in Phrao in partnership with local optometrists
- Giving access to public health
By coordinating and providing seed funding for community efforts, Warm Heart also helps renovate, rebuild, and provide wheelchair access to improve living conditions for the very poor.
Rebuilding Grandma’s Childhood Home
He asked to donate to an elderly woman (75 years old) of Santisuk Village, Mae Pung Sub-district.
She does not have many immediate relatives that she can rely on, nor does she have any surviving children.
Due to her age, it is now very difficult for her to walk.
Her living conditions make it even more difficult for her to do simple tasks like go to the bathroom or cook for herself.
In the past she has been given the opportunity to live elsewhere, but Grandma wanted to stay her home. She was born in the house and has lived there all her life.
For that reason, Warm Heart wanted to make it possible for her to live comfortably in that home.
The renovations included reconstructing the roof, cement walkways, and bathroom.
Warm Heart will continue to make regular visits to keep her company, and make sure she is in good health
Providing Mobility
In December 2015, a group of high school students from New Zealand came to build the first construction project.
The group had raised money back home to fund the project and to help support a husband and wife in their sixties from Pa’Siew Village, Phrao Sub-district.
The couple has very little income due to their physical disabilities. The husband weaves and sells baskets, which provided them with approximately 800 Baht per month ($25) — hardly enough to sustain them.
The project included constructing a concrete pathway to provide the man with a safe surface to use his wheelchair. Overall, the house was in very poor condition. The volunteers were determined to make it better in every way possible for the elderly couple.
After 4 days of hard labor, the concrete pathway was built and a concrete wall was raised to section off the bathroom from the house.
The couple was very grateful for all the hard work and the donation that was made to them.
Rebuilding a home
We were contacted by locals to help a loved member of the Chiang Am village (Village 9 of Mae Waen sub-district). The man is disabled and quite poor.
His original home provided very little shelter and greatly reduced his quality of life. He lived in a one-room straw hut without a proper kitchen and with no toilet.
Public Health Project Access Volunteer, Tuff Witarama, visited the man and his home to see what needed to be done.
He quickly realized the home needed to be entirely rebuilt and thus decided to begin raising money to support the project. He raised 15,000 baht on behalf of Warm Heart in a matter of only one week.
Another Warm Heart staff, P’Tai, also helped organize the construction. She reached out to an NGO who she felt would be interested in lending a hand.
The Foundation for the Disabled in Chiang Mai matched Warm Heart’s donation and provided materials for the man to begin his new life including a bed, clothes, and toiletries.
Local leader, Nai’yok Intorn of Mae Wan coordinated the help from villagers to rebuild the home. They spent a full four hard-working days to complete the home.
The man was incredibly grateful and happy to have a proper, clean space to live.
On February 18, Warm Heart helped welcome the man into his new home during the house blessing.
Our Public Health program covers many needs for the disabled and elderly who live in poverty in Phrao. Donations to support our program are always needed. Please Donate!
