Here are some comments from some of the many friends who have visited us over the years.
On October 5th:
An old friend, Renata and her new husband Ed, stopped by for a fun family evening.
An old friend, Renata and her new husband Ed, stopped by for a fun family evening.
On September 8th Herb and Laura Ratner stopped by for a flying visit and a great lunch!
On Jun 30, 2019, Bambi Wineland [email protected] wrote:
Hey girlfriend!
Long time no see! Hope you all are doing well!
I wanted to share the below newsletter with you. I’m sure you remember Chris Gold, one of our fav tour leaders from the old ATJ days. As I’m sure you remember, he began taking in homeless kiddos mostly from the hill tribe region but his first was a, now young man (in his mid to late twenties), named Christopher from Phuket. Many of the boys are grown now, some you can even find on FB - which is a hoot. Ahkom, for instance. I think I met him in like 1998 or so and now he’s thriving as a tour guide in his own right in Thailand! Attaching a snippet from his FB page below in case you too met him on one of your trips to Thailand back in the ATJ days!!
Anyway, Chris still has several young boys at his house in Chiang Mai and there have been some big changes in his ability to care for them - a lot of it related to the government. I went to visit him and the boys when I was in Thailand a couple of years ago and was fascinated to see how beautifully they manage - well educated, playing musical instruments, doing karate, in sports, the older ones working, etc. As well as a bunch of young boys/men living in a house together - and keeping it clean! All the boys helped cook a fabulous dinner and we all ate together. They are very polite and to watch them all interact was simply wonderful! It was truly a heart warming experience.
Chris is struggling financially to keep the house a afloat and is seeking donations. He’s always had a handful of big donors, many from the old ATJ clientele that were moved by his work, many from South Africa (where he was born) and many from his time at Oxford. But because of so many government regulations and expenses, he needs more. I’ve been one of Chris’ supporters in the past but right now, with my folks having moved in with me, the divorce, two kiddos in high school and working two jobs, I just cannot manage any extras.
By sending this to you I have hope that 1) with your connections to Top's home land, I thought helping Chris and the boys might be something you’d want to consider, 2) because of your connections to the local Thai community I thought it might be something you’d want to share with others in that community, and 3) with your connections at Heritage Camp I wondered if you might consider sharing it with some of the other camp families that have children from Thailand. If you can help, I know anything you give would be well spent and much appreciated!
Also, if you guys head back to Thailand in the near future, it would be a super cool experience for Top (and you and Jan) to visit them! The boys cook a mean dinner and Chris is a marvelous host!
Check out Chris’ newsletter and plea for help in the email below! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to either me or Chris. I know he would love to hear from you!
I hope we can get together one day soon. Missing you terribly!
Sending much love to you all,
Bambi
Bambi Wineland
[email protected]
Hey girlfriend!
Long time no see! Hope you all are doing well!
I wanted to share the below newsletter with you. I’m sure you remember Chris Gold, one of our fav tour leaders from the old ATJ days. As I’m sure you remember, he began taking in homeless kiddos mostly from the hill tribe region but his first was a, now young man (in his mid to late twenties), named Christopher from Phuket. Many of the boys are grown now, some you can even find on FB - which is a hoot. Ahkom, for instance. I think I met him in like 1998 or so and now he’s thriving as a tour guide in his own right in Thailand! Attaching a snippet from his FB page below in case you too met him on one of your trips to Thailand back in the ATJ days!!
Anyway, Chris still has several young boys at his house in Chiang Mai and there have been some big changes in his ability to care for them - a lot of it related to the government. I went to visit him and the boys when I was in Thailand a couple of years ago and was fascinated to see how beautifully they manage - well educated, playing musical instruments, doing karate, in sports, the older ones working, etc. As well as a bunch of young boys/men living in a house together - and keeping it clean! All the boys helped cook a fabulous dinner and we all ate together. They are very polite and to watch them all interact was simply wonderful! It was truly a heart warming experience.
Chris is struggling financially to keep the house a afloat and is seeking donations. He’s always had a handful of big donors, many from the old ATJ clientele that were moved by his work, many from South Africa (where he was born) and many from his time at Oxford. But because of so many government regulations and expenses, he needs more. I’ve been one of Chris’ supporters in the past but right now, with my folks having moved in with me, the divorce, two kiddos in high school and working two jobs, I just cannot manage any extras.
By sending this to you I have hope that 1) with your connections to Top's home land, I thought helping Chris and the boys might be something you’d want to consider, 2) because of your connections to the local Thai community I thought it might be something you’d want to share with others in that community, and 3) with your connections at Heritage Camp I wondered if you might consider sharing it with some of the other camp families that have children from Thailand. If you can help, I know anything you give would be well spent and much appreciated!
Also, if you guys head back to Thailand in the near future, it would be a super cool experience for Top (and you and Jan) to visit them! The boys cook a mean dinner and Chris is a marvelous host!
Check out Chris’ newsletter and plea for help in the email below! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to either me or Chris. I know he would love to hear from you!
I hope we can get together one day soon. Missing you terribly!
Sending much love to you all,
Bambi
Bambi Wineland
[email protected]
On March 15, 2018, Judy Friedman [email protected] wrote:
Chris
We are now back from our travels, have visited the grandchildren and put out all the brush-fires we found at when we returned home. (Heat system, cars and computers are all working fine now.)
So a belated thank you for hosting us - even if you didn’t know who we were. (For years I have been spreading chaos using both Judy Friedman and Judy Hutchison – and the first one to be confused is usually me.)
Identifying us even further, our daughter, Kristan, visited you many years ago on-her-way-home-from-work. That would have been between 2000 and 2005, when she was working down in Antarctica. She reported that she arrived in time for someone’s birthday party. Although that was a long time ago, you can’t have had many visitors coming from Antarctica. (I no longer remember whether or not her husband was with her or what last name she was using. In spite of my warnings she was known as both Hutchison and Sabbatini.)
We, of course, had expectations from your newsletters, where you have written about each child’s customized combination of schooling, interests and activities. It was still impressive to see how each boy is given the opportunity to develop their individual talents.
You have also written about your household as a “family.” The surprise there, is that you are not just parenting the boys, but making them into a real family - you have given them each other. The older ones were clearly enjoying hanging out together. The young ones reminded me of a litter of puppies. And the interaction between the older ones and the younger ones was delightfully on display at the dinner table.
All of this is especially impressive given the background of your family. Any child who is not being raised by their parents has a much harder path. (I was a social worker working with foster children before becoming an architect.) Added to that burden is the fact that some have physical problems as well. You did say that they “have their moments.” I would have predicted that at any given time one or more would be having such a “moment.”
Something you never even mentioned are your efforts to keep the children connected to their cultures, visiting and creating ties to the villages – another gift you are giving them.
You are doing something valuable and unique – and hopefully enjoying being in this family you have made.
Also, we love what you have done with the house. Clearly, it was built to be impressive and stereotypically British stodgy, so it tickles my funny bone to see it re-decorated in “lots of boys” style.
The big surprise of our visit was how much we both enjoyed meeting and talking to you. It is always a pleasure to make a new friend – even with the frustration of the miles that separate us.
Our best wishes to you and all the boys.
Judy
In April, 2018, Judy Pendleton judypendleton4@gmail wrote:
April, 2016
Dear Friends and Supporters of the Children of Chiang Mai,
Thank you all so much for what you have been doing for the children of Chiang Mai. My husband, Win, and I have been supporting Chris and his work for twenty years and visited them in March! We want to share with you what we experienced, and urge you to join with us in making a regular gift to help continue this effort.
Win, and I met Chris twenty years ago on a tour, meeting AhPi in his hill tribe village. We believed in Chris’s plan to give boys from the hill tribes an education and help them change the way Thais often view the hill tribe peoples. Finally, we were able to spend three days in the amazing and delightful company of Chris and the boys in Chiang Mai as Thai school began Spring Break for a month. Imagine sitting around the supper table with 11 hearty eaters (33 meals a day!) watching their smiling, happy faces bent over healthy helpings of rice and fish, chicken and veggie toppings and plates of fruit prepared by AhSong and helpers! Or imagine the clock striking 4 PM and the boys reminding each other that it’s chore time. Mops and cloths whizzed through the house cleaning the floors, the kitchen and bathrooms (every day!) There is a tin where fines (1 baht or more) are levied by the boys on each other if someone doesn’t do a good job! And, now imagine our favorite time, every evening, gathering in the main room while some of the boys play card games or chess, or sit at the table drawing, Mark practices his piano lessons, and Bobby stretches, does splits, and prepares for his ballet lessons. The younger boys look up to the older boys living at home: Manuelle, who studies for his college courses; Ah Song, who works at his new concierge job at a top hotel in Chiang Mai and does much of the cooking; and Potter, who studies hard for his Lanna School classes and exams. Each boy is so grateful to be a part of this supportive, respectful, and loving family. Chris is the cornerstone and never speaks above a very low and caring tone. It’s an amazingly quiet, peaceful, comfortable, “safe,” and happy home. They go to bed around 8:30/9:00, so calling or Skyping from Colorado at 6 AM is their 8 PM.
Having shared all this, we were struck by Chris’s situation---a single parent without monthly Social Security, stock dividends, pay check, or regular donor support, trying to pay the bills and care for 11 growing boys. Chris is so grateful for generous responses to his “Crisis” letters and for the kind notes, prayers and support they have received for so many years. However, with just 20 of us supporters, and Chris in his 60’s now, and needing about $43,000 per year for the family to live quite frugally, the stress of never knowing when new funds will come is untenable We know you would be writing this letter instead of us, if you had been the ones visiting. Chris needs our strong support now as never before.
We discussed ways to keep Chris and the boys going until most of the Level 7 students are finished with high school, and hopefully until all the boys are on their own.
First,Chris is getting his passport renewed and will seek treatment in Singapore for the leg injury he suffered on Day 3 of his China tour guide job six months ago and which is still not healing properly. The company has refused to pay his bills. Chris’s health is paramount to keeping the family in their safe home and together. Win and I are helping with this cost, but are unsure what the total will be.
Second,we are counting on most of us to make a monthly or quarterly commitment for 5-10 years so the family will have a dependable income. We don’t know of any charity or children’s home where there are no regular donors! Chris’s home phone: 011(66)81-884-0192 or Skype- cnxgold, and e-mail: [email protected]
Warm Heart Worldwide, Chris’s 501c3 nonprofit tax-deductible partner, has just set up a Recurring Donation section when you scroll to the bottom of the DONATE page on the http://childrenofchiangmaiwebsite! This will really simplify things!
Evelind Schecter, [email protected], the Co-Founder and Treasurer of Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc. is quick to answer your questions, so please don’t hesitate to contact her or Chris or us!
You may choose to transfer funds directly to Chris’s account, but this would not be tax deductible. Chris can provide you with the particulars of wire transfers. Our bank representative actually waived our wire fee when we told him about this worthwhile cause!
We can’t thank you enough for considering how you might help the children. We hope each one of you can visit the family someday. It was an enriching and unforgettable experience!
With Warmest Regards, Judy & Win Pendleton judypendleton4@gmail wpendleton8 @comcast.net 720-542-8187 (Colorado)
