Emergency food relief has reached Koh Samui

by Joanna Matlub

Living Waters Phuket has expanded its charitable food donations from Phuket to Koh Samui.

This week, Living Waters Phuket continued its efforts to support vulnerable communities in need, this time moving beyond the Phuket and Phang Nga areas and onto the communities in Koh Samui on the Gulf of Thailand.

The LWP Foundation was set up to build brighter futures for communities in need by providing financial grants for projects around essential relief areas including food security, education requirements, renewable energy and environmental issues. It was established in November 2021 to help registered charities, foundations, private companies and government organisations by funding essential initiatives.

Their latest food relief donation saw Living Waters Phuket purchase supplies, pack and deliver over 1,800 ‘super’ life bags (supporting around 7,200 people) across Koh Samui. This marks the first of numerous planned aid projects on this island from LWP.

Named the ‘super’ life bag, because each one contains enough staple food items and household products to feed a family of 4 people for an entire week. They include dried and tinned foods such as rice, noodles and fish, as well as oils, sauces and cleaning household products.

Shaun Stenning from Living Waters Phuket says that after meeting with community leaders on Koh Samui and talking with villages their opinion was that the island was roughly 9 months behind Phuket on its recovery timeline.

“Many shops are still closed, hotels are operating at very low occupancy rates and the community is in need. While we will still continue our operations in Phuket, we feel it’s time to reach out to other tourism destinations such as Koh Samui.”

The execution was a collaborative effort between Living Waters Phuket and the local community leaders in Koh Samui. Mr Muenslip Poolsawat, Advisor to the Koh Samui Mayor, proved essential in helping with logistics including identifying families most in need of assistance, due to the economic impact of Covid-19 on this island; another tourism dependant destination.

Over 300 local community members who also received the food relief, lent a helping hand by packing these supplies which will now help feed over 7,200 people in Koh Samui. Chris Parker from Retired Working For You helped make this initiative come about, having undertaken multiple community relief projects on this island previously, his input was greatly appreciated.

Right now, the LWP Foundation is focussing its efforts and funds to go directly to the most vulnerable in Phuket, the surrounding islands and now Koh Samui; those in village quarantine, without work, and those in need of basic food or education supplies.

Grants and Donations

If you would like to apply for a grant for funding or find out more about applying, please click HERE. Your donations are greatly appreciated and will help directly fund more sustainable, community projects in and around Phuket. Please click HERE to donate.