Just before Christmas last year Little Em arrived at the Fr. Ray Day Care Center as he did everyday, travelling with eight other youngsters in a motorbike side cart and making the journey from his home on the canals of north Pattaya to the Fr. Ray Day Care Center on Sukhumvit. At the end of the day he made the return journey, ran in to see his mother and then went out to play with his friends. 

When dinner was ready the mother called for her son, but Em did not appear. She walked around the local area asking all the neighbours if they had seen him, no one had. Once it got dark the whole community were out looking for this toddler, but unfortunately he was never found. 

The next morning the body of a little boy was pulled out of the water by a fisherman, and attempts to resuscitate him were in vain, two year old Em was dead. 

Following this tragic event it was decided to give swimming lessons to the children at the Fr. Day Care Center, but professional teachers are expensive and the Center’s budget could only afford classes for the older children. 

That was until the Freedrop Bar on Pratamnak Hill stepped in and donated enough money to provide more swimming classes for more children. 

On the 17th March, St. Patrick’s Day, the Freedrop Society Golf Tournament was held at the Rayong Country Club, which was followed in the evening by a charity auction where all proceeds were donated to the Father Ray Foundation. 

On their arrival at the Father Ray Foundation to present their donation of 101,000 baht the committee members of the golf tournament were met by Brother Denis Gervais, Vice-President of the Foundation, who thanked everyone for their support before inviting them to visit the Fr. Ray Day Care Center where they met the children who will benefit from their generosity and who will soon be starting their swimming lessons. 

Little Em’s life was cut short at a very early age, but what has come from such a tragic event is an awareness that all children must learn to swim at an early age in the hope that no more young lives end so early. 

The Fr. Ray Day Care Center is just one of the projects managed by the Father Ray Foundation.
For more information about the work of the Foundation see their website www.fr-ray.org or email info@fr-ray.org