Community Service

Our Mission to Support Local Initiatives

Giving back to our adopted community is an important part of the CEC mission.  Our niche is to find small yet vital projects that can be completed in a short time-frame.  These initiatives can often “fall through the cracks” if not for groups like ours.  We obtain our funding from CEC sponsors and the individual grants are made from the CEC Board and its Donations Committee.

The Donations Committee is tasked with finding projects that align with the Club’s mission.  Our goal is to address a wide range of community needs and positively impact as many people as possible while focusing on the sustainability of each project.  Our donation allocations are
relatively small financially with most of the projects being between 10,000 – 30,000 baht

We work with local grassroots organizations that allow us to cut out administrative costs and ensure every baht goes towards helping local communities.  We look for projects that utilize local suppliers and enlist neighborhood villagers to form an integrated sustainable process.  Our team meets throughout the year to review project proposals, interview applicants, visit potential project sites and prioritize the ones that we feel will have the greatest impact.

CEC Donations Project Highlights (Post Covid)

Projects 2022

  • Garden kit, seeds, and other necessary items were purchased
  • Hydroponic garden was built and filled with vegetable seeds

  • worked with local teacher and school children on education program and sustainability
  • Cement Chicken Coop 16,500 baht for materials and supplies to build sturdy structure
  • Four Bookcases 1560 baht to purchase four new book cases for the girls home
  • Painting Project: 5000 baht for art supplies. Children’s pictures were made into cards and several were used in a Silent Auction.  All proceeds of the children’s artwork went to the Ayui Foundation for use at the Boys and Girls homes.

  • Provided funding to cover the costs of two school visits, eye exams and providing eyeglasses
  • Provided funding to refurbish and revitalize older wheelchairs

Projects 2023

  • Funded the costs of several large school visits, where eye exams and required eyeglasses were provided to the children with vision problems

Projects 2024

  • 28,000 baht for the materials and construction of three large water tanks for the boys home
  • 4190 baht for outdoor projects at the girls home including the materials and installation of metal clotheslines as well as materials and seeds for a vegetable and herb garde
  • Funded the purchase of materials and construction of a four tank water organic water filtration system for a village with no clean drinking water or electricity
  • Provided water testing kits and worked with the local teacher to ensure sustainability of the system

How Can You Help?

Some projects can benefit from having our members volunteer their time and effort  (Such as the Children’s Sight Project).  However, many of the projects we do involve traveling and staying in local villages (for which we each pay personally) and are not really conducive to having extra members come along.  Some of the villages are reluctant to have too many external people visit and we would need to get special permission from the Village Chief.  In addition most of our members are here on a Retirement Visa which limits their ability to physically help out during the projects.  Logistically this is a bit challenging.   If you wish to help (THANK YOU!) we suggest the following: 

Send an email to our Donations Committee Chair at _______@chiangmaiexpatsclub.com and Laura will get back to you as opportunities arise.  We would always appreciate your generosity should you wish to contribute funds to help finance our efforts.  Please contact our Treasurer at treasurer@chiangmaiexpatsclub.com.