Rice Run 5
6 months of food for 76 children at Samson House and Bilay House, on the Thai-Myanmar border.
€30 feeds one child for 6 months
$35 · ฿1,171 — about €0.17 a day
67% of the food funded • 5 gifts — the target is every child fed for all six months
Card and iDEAL gifts lose a small processing fee to the payment provider before the money reaches us; Thai QR and cash lose nothing. Nothing else is deducted — transport, fuel and admin are paid privately and no one draws a salary.
Photo: Rice Run 3 · Bilay House · June 2025
See all 66 photographs from the last delivery →How Rice Run 5 was planned
This time we did not guess. We photographed the roster sheets at both houses, entered every child by name, age and sex, and built the food list from the Thai government’s own nutrition standard rather than from a headcount.
- 76
- children
- 11.1
- mean age
- 3,058
- kg of food
- ~€0.17
- per child, per day
- 180
- days covered
59 Bilay · 17 Samson
years
across three truckloads
~$0.19 · ~฿6.51
no gap, no waste
- Our rice run
- School lunch, 109 school days
- Garden greens, 100 g
- One egg or piece of fish
- Other donors & own growing
Planned this way a child’s day comes to 102% of the Thai requirement — a full day of food, not a top-up. Our rice, beans, oil and salt are the dark green 57% of it. The school lunch, the gardens and one egg or piece of fish were already there, so we bought the part that was missing instead of paying twice for the part that was not.
Planned to the gram, bought at the market, driven to the door. €30 covers one child.
This is what the money turned into
Photographs from Rice Run 4, Rice Run 3, Rice Run 2, Rice Run 1. Rice Run 5 has not been delivered yet — every photo below is labelled with the run and month it was taken.
Pre-dawn loading: rice in the bed, Lazada boxes in the back seat.
January 2026 · 80 children fed
Rice Run 3
June 2025 · 65 children fed
Rice Run 2
November 2024 · 50 children fed
Rice Run 1
March 2024 · 50 children fed
Premium Chatpatum at ฿342/bag.
January 2026 · 80 children fed
Rice Run 3
June 2025 · 65 children fed
Rice Run 2
November 2024 · 50 children fed
Rice Run 1
March 2024 · 50 children fed
Paying at Mr. DIY — fans, first aid kit, and school supplies for Samson House.
January 2026 · 80 children fed
Rice Run 3
June 2025 · 65 children fed
This is a delivery, start to finish
The rice arrives on a truck, gets carried in by the children who are going to eat it, and is counted out house by house. That is the entire operation.
Everyone at Bilay House on delivery day, and the rice that came with us. The whole of that day — the drive in, the unloading, the count — is written up hour by hour.
🙏 Thank you to our Rice Run 4 heroes
We are a food security charity
Earlier runs carried fans, cooking sets, pens, notebooks, soap and a first-aid box. All of it was welcome. None of it was counted, and the thing that kept running short was the food.
So Rice Run 5 buys four things and nothing else: rice, mung beans, palm oil, iodised salt. Calories and protein, for 76 children, for six months. The target is the minimum that secures all of it — not a hoped-for figure, the actual cost of the shopping list.
€2,314
$2,643 · ฿89,001
The minimum, not the ambition
Rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt for all 76 children, for the whole six months. Not a number we picked — it is what the shopping list costs at the wholesaler.
We ask the houses
Bilay and the Samson directors decide, we cost it
No second shopping list waiting
We do not turn up with our own idea of what they need next. If the food is secured and money is left, we sit down with the directors and they tell us — then it gets costed, bought and receipted exactly like the rice.
6 months of food for one child costs €30
That is $35 · ฿1,171 — about €0.17 a day. Rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt, bought at the wholesale market and driven to the house ourselves. Give part of a child, all of one, or several.
121 of 180 days of food funded · €756 still to raise. The target is the minimum that secures all of it.
Until the target is met, every baht buys one of four things:
Khao Saen Dee white rice 100%
Rai Thip whole mung bean
Bonus palm oil
Iodised salt
The last hour is not on a map
Tarmac, then a dirt track, then a clearing in the trees. This is the last stretch into Bilay House, and the reason no supermarket delivery van has ever done this run.
Nobody is paid to drive it. We load the Ranger ourselves at the wholesaler in Hua Hin and we are at the gate the same day.
Leaning out of the truck window on the last few kilometres into Bilay House. Dirt, dust and coconut palms — no bus comes down here.
Two hours earlier: west towards the border, the loaded Ranger holding the lead.
Nothing here downloads until you press play. The dust behind the truck is the one exception, and each player prints its own weight before you start it.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026“Every child deserves the security of knowing where their next meal comes from.”
Giovanni van Dam
Founder, Charity Rice Runs
Four deliveries, two houses on the Thai-Myanmar border, and the same two people driving the truck each time.
Four frames, four days you can read
Every one is from a delivery that has already happened. Tap a photograph to read that day.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026Rice Run 2 · November 2024That security costs €30 a child — about €0.17 a day.
Calculate what you can provide
See exactly what your donation buys, item by item — and what it looks like on a warehouse trolley when we go and buy it.
Supplies for All 76 Children - 1 Month
Swipe the table for $ and ฿ →
That is all 76 children for 1 month. You can change the amount on the next screen.
We pay transport and admin ourselves, so your gift buys supplies
No salaries, no office overhead, nothing deducted for running this — card and iDEAL gifts lose only the payment provider's processing fee, and Thai QR and cash lose nothing
Prices based on current campaign costs • Exchange rates may vary
Four steps, no middlemen
The only thing between your money and the rice sack is the card fee — and Thai QR and cash do not even have that.
You give
Any amount, in EUR, USD or THB. By Thai QR or cash it arrives whole; by card or iDEAL the payment provider takes a small processing fee. Nothing else comes out — we pay the travel and the admin ourselves.
We buy
We bulk-buy rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt at the local wholesale market, and photograph every receipt.
Watch a Makro runWe drive
We load the truck and drive to the house ourselves. No intermediary, no distribution partner.
Ride the last hour inThey eat
76 children get 6 months of staple food. You get the photos and the receipts within a week.
See last time’s photosCard and iDEAL gifts lose a small processing fee to the payment provider before the money reaches us. Nothing else is deducted: transport, fuel, logistics and admin are paid privately, and no one draws a salary.
Where the money physically becomes food
Bought at the wholesaler, loaded in the car park, driven out the same afternoon. Nothing is ordered in, nothing is shipped, and nobody handles it between the till and the house.
Every Baht, Receipted
We buy the supplies ourselves and photograph every receipt — then deliver in person and share the photos and video within a week. Here's what that looked like on our last run.
Gio, Samson & Dr. Mowae — rice stacked behind.
No poses, no filters. We hand it over ourselves.
฿33,297
฿15,569
฿8,969Rice Run 4 alone: ฿92,133 raised, every purchase photographed and every delivery documented — across 4 runs and 9 countries of supporters.
See every receipt from Rice Run 4 →Rice Run 4: delivered
€2,458 ($2,902 · ฿92,133) raised • 30 gifts
66 photographs, 15 clips, four days and every receipt — all of it written up.
80
Children fed
180
Days of food
€1,740
$2,055 · ฿65,239
Spent on supplies
€717
$847 · ฿26,894
Carried to the next run
A dormitory, a classroom, a kitchen and a dirt road
The tarpaulin is the ceiling. The blackboard is the curriculum. The kitchen is two steel tables and a sink, and everything we deliver goes through it.
Every run charted — what changed between the first and the fourth
The Orphanages We Support
We partner directly with orphanages on the Thai-Myanmar border, caring for children who are mostly conflict orphans - victims of the ongoing Karen conflict.
Learn about the Karen conflict →Bilay House Orphanage
📍 Thai-Myanmar Border
59
Children
Founded and run by Bilay, a Karen refugee living with polio who has dedicated his life to caring for children who have lost their parents or fled violence in Myanmar. Despite limited resources and physical challenges, Bilay provides a safe haven where 70 traumatized children find safety, education, and love. The orphanage houses children who are mostly conflict orphans - victims of the ongoing Karen conflict that has displaced millions.
What the house asks for
Rice, cooking oil, seasonings, hygiene supplies (soap, toothpaste), sanitary pads for girls, medical supplies, occasional kitchen equipment
We fund the food. The rest is what we talk to the directors about once it is secured.
Samson House Orphanage
📍 Mae Sot Area
17
Children
This small orphanage cares for 20 migrant refugee children from Myanmar. The caretaker focuses on providing basic necessities: rice and solid food are the primary needs. Kitchen supplies are also appreciated. These children are conflict orphans who have been displaced by the ongoing violence in Myanmar.
What the house asks for
Rice, basic solid food, kitchen supplies
We fund the food. The rest is what we talk to the directors about once it is secured.
76 children are counting on this delivery.
The People Behind CharityRiceRuns
Every donation is personally handled by our small team. We pay the travel and the admin ourselves and nobody draws a salary, so the only thing your gift loses is the card processing fee — and Thai QR and cash do not even lose that.
Giovanni van Dam
Founder & Organizer
Dutch expat living in Thailand who founded CharityRiceRuns in 2024. Personally manages every donation and delivers supplies directly to orphanages.
Dr. Mowae Apisuttipanya
Medical Partner• MD, BSBC
MD, BSBC. Karen refugee camp survivor who became a doctor and founded Be Well Child Care Foundation. Provides medical oversight and local coordination.
Bilay
Orphanage Director
Karen refugee living with polio who founded Bilay House Orphanage. Cares for 65 children who have lost their parents or fled violence in Myanmar.
76 children, 6 months, €2,314
The truck leaves on August 1. Every donor gets the photos and the receipts within one week of delivery.
Questions? [email protected] • WhatsApp
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