On behalf of all our children, house moms, house dads, teachers, cooks, social workers, and everyone here at Mercy Centre, we wish to thank you for your friendship and support in 2010.

And if we may, we would like to demonstrate with a few 2010 numbers and statistics how your friendship makes a difference for our children and neighbors in Klong Toey.

To start, one-hundred-and-eighty-two orphaned and abandoned children have lived with us as family in 2010. We send our children to school; encourage, tutor and nurture them; open their world to music, dance, sports, fine art, and martial arts; and celebrate everyday life together.

A few more 2010 statistics:

2,324 Slum children enrolled in our 21 Bangkok preschools

651 Education sponsorships for Bangkok’s poorest children

505 Education sponsorships for the poorest Moken (Sea Gypsy) children in Phang Nga, Phuket, and Ranong Provinces

54 Adults receiving palliative HIV/AIDS care in Mercy Centre

846 Mercy HIV/AIDS patients receiving homecare

3,648 HIV/AIDS patients counseled by Mercy teams in government hospitals

88 Street children and adults enrolled in our Janusz Korczak School

359 Destitute families, especially the elderly, who depend on Mercy for food and basic living expenses

380 Poor children we represented in police stations and courts

1,013 Poor children and families receiving legal aid counsel

97 Micro-loans made to members of our Women’s Credit Union

27 Mercy children attending vocational college and universities, at home and abroad

Although there are many more weights and measures in 2010, we wish to leave you with just two.

First, 36 children –27 boys and nine girls - joined our Mercy family in 2010. We have never turned away a child in need and never will.

Finally, our favorite statistic of the year: in the past twelve months 23 Mercy children – 16 boys and seven girls - were able to return home to live with their real families. The transition home for these children rarely is easy. It requires coordinated efforts from diverse Mercy teams – and equal or greater efforts from the families themselves - but nothing we do gives greater joy.

Family is everything.

Thank you for being a part of our Mercy family and for every way you have supported us this year. Every kind word, every warm gesture…. everything you do on our behalf is a wonderful gift.

Wishing you the most joyous New Year with family and friends,

Usanee and the The Mercy Teams

Photo by Yoonki Kim