Short Summary
The GCT's Thailand partner, Urban Light, focuses on freeing and empowering boys from 6-18 years old from the bars and brothels that they were sold into when they were young. Unfortunately these boys were born in the mountain tribes of Thailand and are not considered Thai citizens so they don't have identification which makes it nearly impossible to receive education or a job that's not on the streets. Urban Light provides a safe place for the boys to eat, sleep, and psychologically and spiritually heal from their horrifying experience. Urban Light then provides empowerment training in the form of reading, writing and math skills as well as basic skills like sewing and cooking in order for them to try to find employment that is safe and stable. The GCT is partnering with Urban Light to raise prayers, funds and awareness to construct a coffee and pastry shop for the 300 boys Urban Light has taken under their wing. Coffee is huge in Thailand and the coffee shops are always packed. We already have a manager at a Starbucks in New York City who is coming with us to train these boys on our next mission, but we need to raise the funds to have the small coffee shop built/renovated as well as purchase the tables, chairs, lighting, and coffee grinders, etc. We're all very excited to partner with Urban Light to rescue these boys and give them a new life of healing and joy as they find new friends, family, education, employment, and hopefully a sense of spiritual freedom from the pain of being forced to work in the brothels in the past. Please pray for them and this effort and if you feel called to donate $5, $500, or $5,000, it would literally be changing the course of 300 young lives with so much potential! Please forward this to your friends, family, or church to keep the word spreading! And if you'd like to be even more involved, you can email me at phoenix.eyre@thegct.com and we can chat about ways to further partner with The GCT, Urban Light and the boys of Chiang Mai, Thailand and beyond. If you can pray, donate the price of a coffee, and share this with another person, that would be INCREDIBLE. Thanks for everything and may your week be blessed and bright!
Note** The challenges we face are the relative economic and political instability in northern Thailand currently, especially when it comes to helping these specific victims of trafficking since they are displaced refugees from Burma/Myanmar. We're working in conjunction with IJM (The International Justice Mission) to help get the trafficking victims their citizenship papers so they can have access to better jobs, education and medical care in the near future. The coffee shop is step one in order for the kids to make enough money to keep them from returning to the brothels every night. Economic, educational, medical and psychological development and care are what we have planned coming down the pipeline to give them a new chance at a normal and healthy life.
What We Need & What You Get
We need to raise $30,000 to help rent the shop, renovate it, buy the espresso machines, tables, chairs, lights, signs, etc. We also want to leave the coffee shop some cushion funding to pay the boys good wages for a few months in case the coffee shop has a hard time getting off the ground for any reason.
We have some really fun and frankly AWESOME perks if you can help out so check em out!
Other Ways You Can Help
Pray :-)
Tell some people about what we're doing so they can donate a few dollars and keep it in their prayers too! Send some emails, put it on your social media, tell some friends at work or church and tell your family about what they can do to help change the lives of these boys and give them hope in a bright future!
Come with us if you feel called to!
