In the early 1970’s Pattaya was still a small fishing village when a young American catholic priest arrived to take over the local parish. His name was Father Ray Brennan and little did he know he would spend the following thirty years working to support needy children, students with disabilities and the underprivileged in society.
Father Ray opened homes for children who had been orphaned, neglected, abused or were from poor families. He also opened schools for young deaf toddlers, blind children and a vocational school for young adults with disabilities.
Since his death in 2003, the Father Ray Foundation has continued his work and has also opened several new projects, including a day care center, a children’s village and a drop-in center for street kids.
Another project the Father Ray Foundation opened was a facility for children with special needs. These are children who are living with special needs, children who have cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, autism and other intellectual disabilities. Father Ray wanted to help these children, but unfortunately he never had the time or the finances.
Today more than eighty children and teenagers with special needs arrive each week at the Father Ray Foundation for therapy, education and support. However, the facilities are limited to just a few rooms, there is not enough specialized equipment and this results in only being able to offer help to these children one of two days each week, when what they really need is daily support.
Therefore, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of Father Ray, the Father Ray Foundation is announcing a fundraising campaign to help these forgotten children of Pattaya and construct the Father Ray Center for Children with Special Needs.
This center of excellence will offer early intervention therapy to toddlers, an education to school age children and vocational training to teenagers. It will also offer support to the families of these children.
But the Father Ray Foundation can not do this without your help.
Please take a look at the website for information on how you can help these children www.fr-ray-10anniversary.org or email 10anniver [email protected]
