Hi there!
I am Eddie Haworth, Founder and Director at the Gift of Happiness Foundation. Some visitors to this site may already know me...
I write this in order to inform supporters old, existing and hopefully new, that due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, I am currently working remotely from a temporary small apartment in Scotland where I came to visit family in the UK.
Unfortunately, I arrived on th
e first day of ‘Lockdown’ in the UK, making it difficult to return to Thailand, but I am hoping to return there early in 2021. Fortunately, I have still been able to control the charity from the UK as the staff in Thailand are able to keep things running smoothly, delivering essential supplies to thousands of needy people there.
In fact, I am delighted to say, that we have never stopped serving many thousands of needy people in Thailand with the essential supplies that we are committed to giving every month of every year, despite all the COVID restrictions in place and despite my temporary absence from Thailand. My reasons for coming to Thailand and founding this charity...
To make a long story shorter, let me tell you how I came to develop the charity and my original reasons for resettling from the UK to Thailand in the year 2000. I came to live in Thailand in the year 2000 because I had some offers of work and also because I wanted to have a change from Europe. I had been invited to give some performances, as a professional Circus entertainer at an event held in the Gardens at the British Embassy, and I also had some work on a TV commercial in Bangkok as well as an entertainer for Canon and Mercedes Benz at product launch events in Thailand.
Within just a few weeks of my arrival in Thailand, I also started to work at some major 5-star hotels and international schools. Then over the next few years, I performed at quite a few more British, French, Danish and Swiss Embassy events and very many children's birthday parties in Bangkok. I stopped doing birthday parties a few years ago but continued to earn a good living as a performer at International schools and Hotels mainly in Bangkok. Gift of Happiness Foundation provides clothing, educational supplies, toys and comical live entertainment for poor children in Thailand
Why did I start the charity? I first had the idea of registering a charity in Thailand back in 2005 while I was giving regular free comedy shows to kids in the slums and orphanages of Bangkok. That was when a few friends suggested I should develop a properly registered charity so I might be able to give a lot more free shows for needy children, their teachers, parents and even old folks all over Thailand. With the help of a good lawyer and a small group of Thai citizens who formed the necessary legal board of trustees, we started the registration process in 2005. It cost me around half a million Baht in legal and administration fees to set up the registration, but at the time, I was earning a good salary working as an entertainer in Bangkok, so I was able to cover the costs. More free performances and distributing goods to the needy followed and I subsidised the running costs from my own pocket and was grateful for offers of help from like-minded people. "I have continued to pay most of the aid giving project costs ever since". The office and warehouse are known as the "Go-Happiness Centre", and it is where we run all our operations from and where we sort and store all the donated goods. Visitors are always welcome anytime we are in Bangkok, but we are still travelling upcountry at least once a month, so some weeks there are no staff at the office. Therefore, it is important to make appointments before visiting the Go-Happiness Centre address. Progress made since registration of the charity...
In the years leading up to registration, I also bought a large 4x4 truck that was needed to travel into the "off-road" remote hill tribe communities in northern Thailand. A Scottish friend who worked for a large NGO in Mae Sot kindly showed me around some of the hill tribe communities, refugee camps and migrant schools in the Northern Thai areas of Mae Sot, Chiang Mai, Sanghalaburi and Mae Hong Son. I soon started to find my own way around these places where there were many thousands of very needy people, children, their parents, and old folk who had no one to care for them. I decided to start taking my truck, loaded with educational supplies, toys and clothing to give the needy in those areas. Before I came to Scotland, we celebrated the 10th-anniversary of the charity’s registration at a big gala evening kindly hosted by the 5-star Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok and attended by several Country Ambassadors plus a few well-known TV/Film personalities. 350,000-THB was raised at that event and it went towards financing the next 6 weeks of costs delivering important supplies to many grateful individuals both upcountry and in Bangkok. During the evening I received a great deal of thanks and recognition for our achievements and this moved me to commit to running the charity for just as long as I am able.
Funding for the charity...
Around 5 years ago, we were lucky to win the regular support of a large recruitment company in Bangkok, Monroe Consulting Group. It became, and remains to this day, our only corporate sponsor. In 2015, Monroe generously purchased a new truck for us and in 2018, committed to giving us a monthly donation of cash to cover the cost of our office/warehouse rental, utility bills and two staff salaries. Without Monroe’s help, we would be totally unable to continue doing the vital work we do in supporting over 2,000 people each month. Go Happiness Volunteers regularly hand essentials directly to people in great need
Financial effects of the Pandemic...
Since COVID started, many companies and individuals have suffered financially, as has The Foundation. We have received few cash donations apart from money for a couple for specific aid giving projects, including new underwear for 1,000 children and some food aid for Bangkok slum dwellers during the early weeks of the Pandemic.
We have lost most of the people who used to send small monthly donations of cash via the donate page on our website. We used to receive around USD 150 per month, which was enough to cover the fuel costs for our regular trips upcountry. I am continuing to subsidise those costs and all other out of pocket expenses such as insurances, vehicle maintenance and so on, from the money I received from the recent sale of my 2-year-old 4x4 truck. I am no longer able to earn money from the International schools and Hotels in Bangkok, so I am living from the sale of my truck and my basic UK state pension.
The future of The Gift of Happiness Foundation...
The future development of our small but vitally effective and transparent charity is very much dependant on any support you can give. The Gift of Happiness Foundation -- A Genuine Charity that Does Exactly What it Says on the Tin!
I realise that times are tough for many people worldwide, but it is generally tougher for those deserving people we continue to serve, many of whom are stateless individuals, with children who have no home comforts, perhaps working on a rubbish dump trying to eke out a living by selling plastic for recycling and having no foreseeable future in life. We will issue proper receipts for donations of money or goods. Any donation you can give will be gratefully received and put to good use. The way ahead for The Gift of Happiness...
I am committed as ever to continue the work to help others and we will shortly have 2 experienced volunteers to help further promote the charity with the business community here in Thailand and elsewhere. We would extend a warm welcome to others who would like to help the needy in Thailand and I would like to sincerely thank all supporters of the Gift of Happiness who have helped achieve its goals in the past and hope that we can count on you in the future too. Thank you for reading this important update. Charity Bank account:
Account Name: Gift of Happiness Foundation
Address: Kasikorn Bank PCL.
Branch, BIG-C Rama 4, Bangkok. 10110. Account No: 7702101594
Account Type: Savings. Sort Code: 0004
Outside Thailand. Swift Code: KASITHBK
