A brief history of GROW
God provided GROW with a bus only two months after theThai governments made it a requirement for transporting the children to school. In addition, it is used for GROW outings with the kids and for transporting large supplies to the campus.
The Multi Purpose Building houses our first permanent kitchen and cafeteria. Other uses include a library, computer room, study area, small store, activity area, and our church.
In order to develop sustainability in the ministry providing healthy rice and teaching agricultural skills, GROW purchased a rice paddy. It provides over half a year's worth of rice for the children on our campus.
Our GROW staff decided to pull together for over a year to build this small addition onto the Multi-Purpose Building. It provides an additional 2nd-floor fire escape, a place to bake, and a small cafe area used for Sunday school and other gatherings. For some of the GROW children, baking is therapy. For others, it's an entrepreneurial opportunity. Faa all, it's getting to eat pizza and brownies!
Faa prayed for a tractor for several years. With this tractor, our work in the gardens, rice paddy, and groundskeeping are much more efficient. With it, we can make repairs to the dirt road leading to our campus making it safe for the GROW bus during the rainy season. (Road crews do not maintain this road.)
Our training center consists of three areas: a little store, a barber/salon, and a woodworking shop. Kids are learning skills here they can use throughout their lives to support themselves and their families in the future. Kids gain confidence and experience while they learn.
Today, we celebrated the dedication of the newest girl's home. This cottage style group of three buildings will house some of our older girls. On day one, the home was filled. We are so grateful to our donors who have made this possible.
This month four boys and two staff moved into the new boy's home. We have room for more boys now in both of our two homes for boys. Additional boys will be added early 2024.
For the first time, GROW experienced a blended crew working on a building project. Shook Construction sent a mission team from the U.S. to work alongside our Thai crew. This experience ended up being a huge blessing to everyone. Shook came to assist in any way, and the two crews learned a lot from each other. The whole campus was positively impacted. Thank you Shook Construction for your hard work and big hearts. Blessings to our donors for helping us start this much needed home.