Our Crowdfunding Groups
Hello! We are Team Thailand 1 from Projects with Under-served Communities (PUC). PUC is a year long program that provides engineering and social work students the opportunity to plan and implement a design solution in an under-served community. UT engineering students are able to apply the technical skills learned in class and gain experience in cross-cultural communication and project management. Our group consists of 7 dedicated students from the Cockrell School of Engineering and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work.
The Community
The Ban Thap Ta Thaen school is located in the Suphan Buri Province of Thailand in the city of Thap Luang. The school offers a fun, safe learning environment for children ranging from Kindergarten to 6th grade. The classes students take range from English language to music. In particular, the children are excited to practice their English skills with the PUC students from the United States!
The children who attend the Ta Thaen school come from impoverished families. Many of the students live in separated families, leaving them in the care of elderly relatives while their parents live and work in the metroplex of Bangkok. Consequently, the lunch the children receive from the school is often their only meal of the day.
Our Project
The PUC team will be building a new kitchen with the intent of helping the school provide this very important meal to the children as safely and efficiently as possible. Currently, the only sink in the school community is located near the bathroom, and school staff obtain water for cooking from this bathroom sink. As a result, the school has failed the government’s food safety tests. Our new kitchen will resolve this issue by providing a sink dedicated to cooking and washing dishes. Furthermore, the team will build a new dedicated water line for the sink to ensure water quality. The increased counter size and serving window will allow the school’s cook to prepare and distribute meals for the children in a more efficient and sanitary manner.
Our Partners
In order to effectively meet the needs and expectations of the Ta Thaen community, the PUC team will partner with our in-country contact, the New Life Church in Suphan Buri. The Church consistently works with the school to develop lesson plans and activities for the children as well as to improve facilities. By closely communicating and collaborating with the Church, we will be able to understand what the community wants as we develop the kitchen design.
We need your help!
We have committed to raising $15,000 to make the kitchen a reality. This kitchen will make a profound impact on the school’s ability to provide an essential meal for the school children. All donations will go directly to the financing of the raw materials, contractor labor, and technical advising services that we need for the project. In addition, all donations are tax-deductible. Thank you!
Your contribution will cover the cost of 2 cabinet swing doors and allow for storage of lunch trays.
Your contribution will cover the costs of constructing one sink with faucets and provide a sanitary cooking and dish washing environment.
Your contribution is enough to feed a child at the Ta Thaen school for the whole year.
Your contribution will cover the costs of the materials for one wall of our kitchen!
Your contribution will cover the costs of pipes and the pump used in our new water system.
Your contribution will cover half the costs of the travel and room and board required for our technical adviser to accompany us.
Your extremely generous donation will cover the entire cost of the materials and construction of the kitchen!
