Make a tax-deductible donation and we will ensure that your gift goes directly to support the hill tribe children of Northern Thailand.

About Us

Thai national Sasha Bilar (pictured above) was inspired by the childrens book “The Velveteen Rabbit” or How Toys Become Real. Since 1994 (the year her only child was born) Sasha has been filling her two suitcases with her daughter's used toys to share with children in slum areas and villages throughout Thailand.

In the wake of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, Elaine Armstrong, a friend from Palomar College, helped Sasha collect stuffed toys for the trip. With hundred pounds of toys and $700 from donations Sasha and her friend Judy Eberhart left for Thailand. Traveling in a borrowed truck with her local friends, Sasha and Judy and the with help from her high school classmate (Pilaiwan Piempongsarn) delivered the recycled love toys. throughout the tsunami zone to children who were orphaned or abandoned in the disaster.

Bringing “toys to Thailand” began as Sasha's quest to provide comfort to Thai children but her vision and project quickly expanded. Sasha’s colleagues raised $6000 in donations through the Palomar College Foundation in 2006 and that summer the group of three friends joined Sasha in bringing the funding and toys to children throughout Southern Thailand.

In 2007 group of traveling 12 volunteers and Sasha’s sister Dr. Ponpun started a self sustaining project in the remote village (Romklawpangtong or Kings School) outside Mae Hong Son on rugged northern border of Thailand and Myanmar (Burma ) Toys for Thailand purchased and delivered a truckload of vocational training equipment (sewing machines, barbering and gardening supplies) shoes, backpacks, jackets, a tofu machine, and a much needed water purification system to the school.

In November 2007, Sasha Bilar and Maria Miller became Co-Directors of Toys for Thailand (TfT), a project under the International Humanities Center, a 501 (c) 3 organization. TfT evolved from providing recycled toys and instructional supplies to tsunami orphans to funding larger scale school projects that would improve the living conditions of the hill tribe children in Northern Thailand: Aka, Hmong, Shan, Pa-O, Muser, and Karen. Sai Deihl, joined as the group’s event coordinator organizing several successful events such as the popular Taste of Thailand fundraiser.

In 2008 Toys for Thailand completed a new toilet and shower facility and provided new beds and bedding for the orphaned hill tribe children living at the Wat Don Chan (WDC) School in Chiangmai. Joe Evans, a ex-pat living in Chiangmai, joined forces with Sasha and Maria to provide fundraising support and project oversight at Wat Don Chan.

Projects at six remote hill tribe schools in Mae Hong Son were funded in 2009. Details about Toys for Thailand school projects are found in the Fund a Project section. Toys for Thailand aims to assist schools where the directors are responsible stewards of the resources they received and fierce advocates for the students they serve.

 
Our Mission

Toys for Thailand provides tangible goods and services for orphaned, abandoned, and refugee children living in remote villages of Thailand who are currently under-served by the local Thai government due to the limited resources and political bureaucracy. Toys for Thailand's main objective, is to alleviate the perpetual cycle of poverty and improve the living conditions of economically disadvantaged children.

Volunteers deliver the basic necessary tools and resources such as instructional supplies, vocational training equipment, food and toys to the schools and orphanages, which house the children. Our mission is also to provide alternative programs and services to help these neglected children heal from their past life traumas relating to issues of abandonment, grief from the loss of a parent, or parents, in the Tsunami of 2004, or war conflicts, and scarcity from living in dire poverty.

 

Our Volunteers

Since 2005, volunteers have been traveling from the U.S. with Sasha Bilar to visit schools and orphanages throughout Thailand. Volunteers take part in distributing donation goods, meeting the school directors and teachers, and sharing a special activity or meal with the children. Volunteers pay for all of their travel and administrative expenses.

2009 Sasha Bilar and family (John and Nerissa), Maria Miller, Denise Plante
Dec. 2008 Sasha Bilar, Maria Miller and Roselle Kovitz with Joe Evans, Chiangmai
July 2008 Sasha Bilar, Maria Miller, Mollie and Hanley Smith
2008 Lise Flocken and her husband Rory Bolt, and children: Tayah, Hunter and Adam.
2008 Maria Miller and Dan Carey
2007 Sasha Bilar, Judy Eberhart, Maria Miller, Genel McLaughlin, Ruby Vos, Anouk de Gauf, Lise Flocken and and her husband Rory Bolt, and children: Tayah, Hunter and Adam.
2006 Sasha Bilar, Judy Eberhart, Maria Miller and Elaine Armstrong
April 2005 Sasha Bilar and Judy Eberhart.

Toys for Thailand is a project of the International Humanities Center a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization.
All donations are tax-deductible and our tax identification number is 33-0767921.