Entrepreneurs kickstart food giveaways for Bangkok residents affected by Covid-19
Press Release by Bangkok Community Help
BANGKOK: “It's not about the tacos anymore,” says Greg Lange, founder and CEO of Bangkok-based Sunrise Tacos. Covid-19 restrictions saw eat-in dining curtailed nationwide in March, and Lange—a Bangkok resident for 20 years—boosted home delivery business for his US/Mexican eateries.
Youngsters on motor-scooters criss-cross the sprawling Thai capital delivering pizza, quesadillas, and raging-spicy Thai dishes. But for Lange and other Bangkok entrepreneurs, top-of-mind is the areas of town that are resource-poor yet crowded. In these times, many Bangkok residents need just a little bit extra.
Delivering the basics
“We're talking basic necessities here,” he says. “Rice and fish, milk powder for the kids.” Lange arranged large buys of 5kg rice bags and canned fish—the latter a staple protein with shelf-life suited to Bangkok summer heat. A crew of employees helped distribute the food directly to people—literally hand-to-mouth.
The Bangkok branch of Belgium-based Dinner in the Sky—co-founded by Friso Poldervaart, Johannes Bergstrom, Patrich Andersson and Bunyapat Phochailerd—pooled their resources and were looking for a kitchen. They joined with Lange and used one of his locations to prepare meals for people living in the Klong Toey Slum—the largest slum community in Bangkok.
The joint effort is known as Dinner from the Sky, and the founders are joined by a growing crew of volunteers to support different communities over the past eight weeks—helping thousands of Bangkok residents through another day.
Their methodology is simple: volunteers load folding tables, cooked meals, milk and milk powder, bags of rice, face-masks and more onto a pickup truck, then set up along railroad tracks, near park entrances, or at Bangkok charitable organizations. Community-members form orderly queues, then proceed down the line collecting bags of supplies. These small, efficient operations—organized and run by volunteers—ensures that resources go directly into the hands of those who need it most.
While successful thus far, the organizers need resources to maintain their ongoing community efforts. Their campaign is on Weeboon, which is the Thai equivalent of Kickstarter or GoFundMe (more info at https://www.weeboon.com/en).
"During this pandemic a lot of people want to help, and we're the ones out there on the front lines,” says Friso Poldervaart. “Covid-19 opened our eyes to the many hardships people face here in Thailand."
"Millions of people have lost their jobs, and unfortunately these jobs won’t come back immediately," he says. "It's more important than ever to keep helping as much as we can."
The local entrepreneurs and ensure that funds donated go directly and entirely to people in need, here in Bangkok. “We live here,” says Lange. “Helping Thai people is what Dinner from The Sky first envisioned. Now we need more help from others to continue this momentum."
Dinner from The Sky donation page
Thai celebrity support
Bangkok community relief effort Dinner from the Sky is supported by Thai actresses, actors, singers, and models. “It’s fantastic to see that we are able to get support from people that many Thais see as role models,” says co-founder Johannes Bergstrom. "Not only does this give us the opportunity to help more, we also hope it inspires people to go out in their own communities to help."
The help from the Thai glam scene was kicked off by actress, model and entrepreneur Wawwa Nicha Chokprajakcha (ณิชารีย์ โชคประจักษ์ชัด), who has appeared in TV dramas, music videos, and films like One-Way Ticket and Threesome (both 2012):
“When I was asked if I wanted to help support Dinner from The Sy, I was delighted to be involved," she says. "It's an initiative not run only by other Thai people, but also foreigners who care about our situation and want to help us."
"They're pouring their energy and time into organizing, lifting, transporting and doing their best to distribute donations to people in need every day without any material reward in it for themselves," says the Thai actress.
"We each asked ourselves what's easy for us to give. For some it was money, for others it's time. Maybe you have useful products you can spare, or maybe you can lend some of your energy in spreading the word about what others need help with."
"We can't stop here," says Wawwa. "We need to learn and grow from this experience, but we also need to support the growth of everyone around us. We can't just give and forget—looking after each other needs to be a mindset because we're all in this together, and if we can keep looking after each other we'll get through it together as well."
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