Ten-thousand Bikes, Twenty-thousand Smiles!

[Garnet]

This is from International Living magazine:

Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Thailand

Months have passed since the Asian tsunami, in which more than one-million children lost parents and other family members, their homes, and everything they owned, including their toys and keepsakes.

It can be hard to know how to help in the face of such massive damage and loss, but in an effort to spread some happiness, one child at a time, a group of people who do business in Asia have created Bikes4Kids Ltd., a non-profit with a goal of donating thousands of children's bicycles.

A bike is a simple gift: low-cost, easy to deliver, guaranteed to bring a smile.

Bikes4Kids will provide bikes for children traumatized by the December tsunami as well as for thousands of others living in the region through schools, orphanages, charities such as the Red Cross (who they are in talks with), and distressed families in the region. Their goal is to raise enough funds to buy 10,000 bikes for 20,000 kids, at a cost of $500,000.

Bikes4Kids is a privately managed non-profit company, registered in Hong Kong in March 2005, initially by Australian businessman Jeffrey Finney along with a number of successful local businessmen and -women in Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand.

The main four people working with Bikes4Kids are Jeff Finney as CEO, Khun Vanida as Operations Director, Grace Young in Hong Kong, and Khun Torsak Chotimongol in Bangkok.

Jeff Finney has been living in Asia for 18 years, working in commercial and residential real estate project marketing. He currently resides in Bangkok but travels often to Hong Kong whilst also maintaining offices in Tokyo, Bangkok, and Manila as the Chairman of PCPI. His holding company is Nihon Pacific Limited in Hong Kong, founded in 1990, and NihonPac Consultants Co., Ltd., in Bangkok, set up in 2003.

Grace Young, founder of Lynch Consultancy, is Hong Kong Chinese and has been instrumental in setting up Bikes4kids Ltd in Hong Kong. She is the joint signatory on the HK bank account of Bikes4Kids.

Torsak Chotimongol is Thai and is the CEO of PIDO International Co., Ltd in Thailand. Torsak is a strong supporter of efforts to help children and has offered to use his contacts in Thailand to help raise funds and assist Jeff in working with local Thais involved in the logistics of delivering the bikes in Thailand and the region.

Khun Vanida Limduangden is employed by Bikes4kids in Bangkok as the Operations Director, responsible for raising funds necessary to buy the bikes. She is also responsible for distribution of the bikes in Thailand.

For enquiries about the Bikes4Kids program or to make a donation, contact Bikes4kids Limited, Attn. Jeffrey Finney, by e-mail: bikes4kids@nihonpac.com or through their website:

http://www.bikes4kids.cc