“What an incredible journey the last 21 years have been, and I am deeply moved and amazed by the generosity of yourselves who have committed to For Life and supported CCD through us. Thank you so much for putting your trust in us for all this time. It has truly been one of the honours and privileges of my life to work with CCD and to found and run For Life. I ask now that you put that trust in Safe Child Thailand who have a proven record and shown their dedication to Thailand and to CCD.”
– Lydia George, Founder of For Life Thailand
“I wish to extend a special thanks to Mrs. Lydia George, the founder of For Life Thailand, for the successful and legal merger of her organization with Safe Child Thailand. This collaboration will strengthen both organizations, enabling us to raise funds and continue our work to help children with disabilities even more effectively in the future.”
– Wasan Saenwian, Founder and Executive Director of CCD
“This merger marks an exciting new chapter in our shared missions. By bringing our resources together, we can increase our reach, innovate our programmes, and ensure that more children in Thailand grow up safe, supported, and with opportunities to thrive. It is an organisational opportunity to assure the sustainability of our fundraising efforts and the growth of our network and partnerships across Thailand”
– Charlie Drury, CEO of Safe Child Thailand
Why has the merge happened?
For the last two years we have been operating For Life without a paid member of staff, which means the board of Trustees have been sharing the administration and communications in a voluntary capacity around our paid jobs and other commitments. We have sent £275,000 to CCD over the last five years, thanks to your generosity and the hard work and commitment of the For Life trustees. That is roughly 12 million Thai Baht, which is a transformational amount for CCD! This has not been easy and, long term, we know that it is not sustainable to keep For Life running entirely on volunteers. In time things will run down and so we have been seeking a good long-term solution.
Through a careful process, much thought and research, we started discussions with Safe Child Thailand (registered charity 1085407) about a merge – to pool resources, lower administration fees and find an effective way to continue supporting CCD from the UK.
For Life Thailand has now merged with Safe Child Thailand, an organisation with similar values which already supports many projects in Thailand. Safe Child Thailand will now take over the administration and donors of For Life and will continue to send your funds over to CCD to support their vital work with children who have additional needs.
Do Safe Child Thailand know CCD?
Yes – Safe Child Thailand is already a partner charity with CCD and been involved with them for nearly 10 years through Charlie Drury, the former Managing Director of For Life. Charlie first came to For Life in 2010 as a volunteer and worked with us and CCD for a number of years and is now the CEO of Safe Child Thailand. She, therefore, has a strong relationship with CCD and deep commitment to see CCD thrive. She has also been a trustee of For Life for the last two years. Safe Child Thailand have already awarded a number of grants (separately to For Life) to CCD; so they are an established and trusted partner of CCD. Safe Child Thailand staff and Trustees have also visited Rainbow House and gotten to know Wasan and Chariya during the last 5 years.
Founders of CCD, Wasan and Chariya Saenwien are in full support of this transition and are excited for this new chapter of partnership.
What will happen to my donations?
Going forward from 1st September, 80% of your regular donations will be going straight to CCD, and an additional 5% will be sent to Thailand to enable Safe Child Thailand to operate over there. Only 15% will be kept here in the UK for administration costs, to ensure donors are kept up-to-date with the impact of their gifts and to help raise new funds for CCD. This is a very low percentage and is cheaper than running our own For Life office and staff. It is the benefit of merging into a bigger charity, which has existing accountants and systems in place. Safe Child Thailand will be writing to you in the coming weeks about the practicalities of moving your standing orders over to a different bank account swiftly and smoothly, if you are happy to continue your regular gift.
If you currently give by Standing Order, do no worry. For Life’s current bank account will stay open for the next year, to ensure you have plenty of time to move your standing order across to Safe Child Thailand, your donation will be ring-fenced for CCD. To help us with this process please use your surname followed by CCD as the transaction reference.
When you are ready you can use the following details:
Account Name: Safe Child Thailand
Sort-Code: 08-11-00 (Bank of Scotland)
Account Number: 06038205
Alternatively, you can set up a Direct Debit online.
What other benefits are there to a merge?
Safe Child Thailand has been operating as a partner to Thailand-based charities for over 45 years. They are extremely well-connected and have a fantastic group of Trustees on their Board, with diverse skills and experience. To retain continuity, three of the existing For Life Thailand trustees (Patrick Daly, Rob Whitelaw and Julia Whitehorn) will all be joining the Safe Child Thailand board and will continue to look out for CCD’s interests. We are grateful to them for staying on and ensuring a smooth transition and a strong future of funding for CCD from the UK.
Safe Child Thailand has the fundraising and administration capacity to, not only channel your funds safely to CCD, but to raise even more funds from their extended networks. They can also provide you with more information, reports and feedback – to demonstrate the impact of your gifts.
Will anything change in Thailand?
The partnership between Safe Child Thailand’s local team and CCD is blossoming. CCD have supported Safe Child Thailand’s replication of their Community-Based-Rehabilitation model in Tak province, in eastern Thailand. Wasan’s team have delivered training to our staff and shared their extensive experience and knowledge of providing care in the community for disabled children. Our team were honoured to invited by Wasan to join CCD at Rainbow Camp, taking place in October 2025. They are bringing 6 disabled children and their families from northern Thailand who have never experienced a family holiday or seen the sea!
I have more questions or would like to contact you.
If you would like to speak with me or have any questions or comments, please do get in touch by emailing: charlie@safechildthailand.org. I can also be contacted during the week on 07866 048 295 by text or phone-call.
