6 months of food for 76 children on the Thai-Myanmar border.
🚚 Samson House on 1 August, then Bilay House on 15 August
74% of goal reached
Raised
€1,723
$1,968 · ฿66,258
of €2,314
Gifts
10
from supporters
Provisions
134
days
of 180
Children
76
fed
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 — no salaries, no admin cut.
Photograph: Rice Run 3, June 2025
Pick an amount
Every one of these is the same price per child — six months of food is ~€30, so the only question is how many children and how much of their year.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Two trucks, two houses, four days on the border and 66 photographs of it. That was February. August will be the fifth run, to the same two houses, for the same reason.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026Every donation directly transforms into food and essentials for children who have no other support
76
Children to Feed
6
Months of Staples
€30
$35 · ฿1,171
Per Child
100%
To Supplies by Thai QR or Cash
Card & iDEAL: less the payment provider’s processing fee
Along the Thai-Myanmar border, children in orphanages face daily uncertainty about their next meal. These are kids who've lost families to conflict, poverty, or the ongoing crisis in Myanmar.
Without consistent support, caregivers struggle to provide even basic nutrition. A single Rice Run provides 6 months of food security for 76 children.
💰 Where the overhead goes
Travel, fuel, logistics and admin are paid privately, by us. No salaries, no administrative cut, nothing deducted from your gift for running this. The one exception is the payment fee — card & iDEAL gifts lose a small processing fee to the provider; Thai QR and cash lose nothing at all.
Four items, and the share of the bill each one takes.
Total Cost per Child (6 months)
€30
$35 · ฿1,171
Campaign Goal
€2,314
$2,643 · ฿89,003
🧮
€30 × 76 children
Provides
180 days
of food & supplies
Nothing on this list is here because it seemed like a good idea. Every child at both houses was counted by name, age and sex; a Thai doctor checked the ration against the national dietary standard; and then it was costed to the gram. Four items came out of that, and each one is doing a specific job.
Together they are 222.5 g of dry food per child per day — 952 kcal and 16.5 g of protein — which is 40.0 kg each across the whole six months. A child of this roster’s average age needs 1,676 kcal a day; the rest comes from the school lunch, the garden, a daily egg or piece of fish, and other donors.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026The base of every meal here, and the cheapest calorie on the shelf. We buy the standard 100% grain rather than the premium bag beside it — same grain, same 15 kg sack, and the difference bought roughly 500 kg more food.
New this run, and the one item that is not here for calories. Rice protein is incomplete on its own: a day's rice carries about 415 mg of lysine against a 1,440 mg target. A handful of mung bean adds another 385 mg — nearly doubling it. That is the whole reason beans are in the truck.
The most calories you can physically fit in a pickup: oil carries about two and a half times the energy per kilo that rice does. Earlier runs carried a fraction of this. It also puts fat at 31% of the energy this ration provides, inside the 25–35% band the WHO recommends.
A rounding error on the bill and the best value in the basket. Iodised salt covers about 63% of a child’s daily iodine on its own, and the school lunch adds more. Iodine deficiency is among the cheapest harms there is to prevent.
What these four cannot do: rice, beans, oil and salt carry energy, protein, fat and iodine, and no vitamin A, C or B12 at all. Those come from the gardens, the eggs and the fish, every day. A truck cannot deliver them, which is why we plan around what the houses already grow and cook rather than pretending we are the whole answer. Fat sits at 31% of this ration’s energy — inside the 25–35% band the WHO recommends.
Quantities are per child per day for all 76 children, read from the published plan for this run. Every receipt is photographed and published after the shopping day.
What four runs taught us
Earlier runs carried fans, cooking sets, pens, notebooks, soap and a first-aid box. Every one of them was welcome, and every one of them was guessed at. What kept running short was the food.
So this run is four items — rice, mung beans, palm oil, iodised salt — costed to the gram against a roster we counted by name. The target below is the minimum that secures every one of those meals. Nothing else is in it.
~€2,314
~$2,643 · ~฿89,001
The minimum, not the ambition
Rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt for all 76 children, 180 days without a gap. Not a target we chose — it is what the shopping list costs.
We ask the houses
Bilay and the Samson directors decide, we cost it
No second list waiting
We do not arrive with our own idea of what they need next. Once the food is secured, whatever is left is theirs to name — and it gets costed, bought and receipted exactly like the rice.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026That is the whole sum
~€30 × 76 children
No overhead line, no admin cut, no rounding in our favour. Fund one child and the arithmetic above moves by exactly one.
Card, iDEAL, Thai QR or cash
Rice Run 5 has not been delivered yet, so these are from Rice Run 4, January 2026. Every photo on this page is of a delivery that already happened.
Starting with the essentials — salt, oil, and enough soap to keep 15 kids clean for 6 months.
Paying at Mr. DIY — fans, first aid kit, and school supplies for Samson House.
Premium Chatpatum at ฿342/bag.
Pre-dawn loading: rice in the bed, Lazada boxes in the back seat.
Three carts deep — woks, oil, cleaning supplies, and enough sauce to last months.
Mr. DIY haul: 4 fans, first aid box, school supplies — ฿3,935.
Basic Savepak at ฿249. We went premium.
Loading truck #2 under Dr. Mo's carport.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
A kitchen of two steel tables and one sink. A classroom with a timetable in chalk. A dormitory where the striped tarpaulin is the ceiling. This is where 3,058 kg is going in August — the rooms have not changed since February; the roster has.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026What a gift buys
~€30 feeds one child for six months
~$35 · ~฿1,171 — about ~€0.17 a day. Rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt, 180 days without a gap.
Card, iDEAL, Thai QR or cash
🙏 Thank you to our Rice Run 4 heroes
Move the amount and watch it turn into kilos. Every figure comes from the same shopping list we buy from.
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
Getting there · Rice Run 4 footage
It starts in a supermarket car park in Hua Hin and finishes on a track through the coconut palms, leaning out of the truck window on the way into Bilay House in February. It is the reason nobody else delivers here.
August runs the same road, in the rain.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026Whatever you picked
3,058 kg is the whole delivery
All of it costs ~€2,314 · ~$2,643 · ~฿89,001, split across Samson House on 1 August, then Bilay House on 15 August. That figure is the minimum that secures every meal, and any amount buys a real share of the truck.
Card, iDEAL, Thai QR or cash
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. It changed what we buy, how much of it, and how we get it there.
59 Bilay · 17 Samson
years
across three truckloads
~$0.19 · ~฿6.51
no gap, no waste
952kcal a day
Rice, palm oil, mung beans and iodised salt — 223 g of dry food per child, every day for 180 days. That is what 3,058 kg looks like once it is divided by 76 children and 180 mornings.
Rice
Palm oil
34 ml
Mung beans
New this run
Iodised salt
~$35 · ~฿1,171
Mung beans are new. Four previous runs carried rice and a little oil and nothing else. Rice protein is short of lysine, the amino acid children need to grow; beans supply exactly that, and at Makro’s prices cost the same per gram of protein as rice.
102%
of what a child needs is on the plate, every day for 180 days — protein 100%, fat 100%, carbohydrate 101%. Not one macronutrient short. Our rice, beans, oil and salt are 57% of that energy; the other 43% — the school lunch, the gardens, one egg or piece of fish — was already there, and we bought around it rather than paying twice. That is why ~€30 covers six months.
| Source | Energy | Protein | Fat | Carb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our rice run | 951.5 (57%) | 16.5 g | 32.4 g | 146.5 g |
| School lunch, 109 school days | 335 (20%) | 5.6 g | 5.6 g | 61 g |
| Garden greens, 100 g | 30 (2%) | 3 g | 0.5 g | 5 g |
| One egg or piece of fish | 60 (4%) | 7 g | 3 g | 0 g |
| Other donors & own growing | 335 (20%) | 8 g | 10.4 g | 52 g |
| Total vs requirement | 1711.5 / 1676 · 102% | 40.1 / 40.1 g | 51.9 / 52 g | 264.5 / 262 g |
Our rice run
School lunch, 109 school days
Garden greens, 100 g
One egg or piece of fish
Other donors & own growing
Total vs requirement
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt — the green and purple sacks are both rice, two mills; the oil is the jerrycans at the foot of the pile. That is February’s delivery. August will be the same four items for 76 children, bought at the same wholesaler, receipted the same way.
Planned this way a child’s day lands at 102% of what it should be — a full plate, every macronutrient met. These four items are 57% of that energy; the school lunch and the gardens were already there, and we bought the part that was missing.
Rice Run 4 raised ~€2,457 · ~$2,902 · ~฿92,133 and published where every baht of it went.
Rice Run 4 · February 2026Rice Run 4 · February 2026Why it goes this far
A full plate — 102% of a child's day, planned, not guessed
We counted 76 children by name, age and sex, subtracted everything the houses already provide, and bought exactly the rest — 57% of the energy, and the 43% we did not have to pay for twice. That is how ~€30 covers six months.
Card, iDEAL, Thai QR or cash
Everything below is the working. The roster we counted from, the four decisions that changed the basket, the arithmetic behind ~€0.17 a day, and the places where a figure is an assumption rather than a measurement. Nothing is rounded in our favour.
76children
counted off photographed roster sheets, by name, age and sex. A thirteen-year-old needs almost twice what a five-year-old needs, and this house skews teenage — so planning by age raised the daily requirement to 1,676 kcal per child, about 5% above what a headcount would have told us.
| Age band | Children | Boys / girls | Needs each | Share of the house's energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 — no school lunch | 6 | 2 / 4 | 1,150 kcal | 5% |
| 5-9 | 18 | 11 / 7 | 1,443 kcal | 20% |
| 10-14 | 35 | 18 / 17 | 1,771 kcal | 48% |
| 15-17 | 11 | 2 / 9 | 1,877 kcal | 16% |
| 18-19 | 6 | 3 / 3 | 2,075 kcal | 10% |
| All children · mean age 11.1 | 76 |
0-4 — no school lunch
5-9
10-14
15-17
18-19
All children · mean age 11.1
4decisions
changed what goes on the truck this time. Each one is written down with what it cost and what it bought, so anyone can disagree with a specific choice rather than with a vibe.
| Decision | Detail | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Standard rice instead of premium. | Same grain, same 15 kg bag. | +500 kg of food |
| Six times more cooking oil. | Oil carries 2.5x the calories per kilo — last run we hauled the light thing. | +272 kcal per child/day |
| Mung beans, for the first time. | Rice protein is incomplete alone; beans supply the lysine it lacks. | protein 100% |
| Buy at Ratchaburi, not Hua Hin. | Puts Makro 1.5 hours from Bilay, so the trucks shuttle a second load the same day. | 2 loads not 1 |
Standard rice instead of premium.
Six times more cooking oil.
Mung beans, for the first time.
Buy at Ratchaburi, not Hua Hin.
~€0.17a day
per child — ~$0.19 · ~฿6.51. It gets there by subtracting everything the houses already provide from the Thai requirement, then solving what is left for least cost. Every step is below, and where a figure is an assumption rather than a measurement, it says so.
Source: Thai DRI 2563, Bureau of Nutrition, Ministry of Public Health
Our delivery’s own share of a 10–12 year old’s daily need. The four zeroes come first, because they are the most important tiles here.
Vitamin A
0%none
none in dry goods
dark leafy greens, daily
Vitamin C
0%none
none in dry goods
greens, not overboiled
Vitamin B12
0%none
none in dry goods
egg and fish; no plant source
Vitamin D
0%none
none in dry goods
sunlight, egg yolk, oily fish
Iodine
63%
75 of 120 µg
iodised salt; lunch adds more
Folate
51%
157 of 310 µg
mostly from the mung bean
Magnesium
35%
85 of 240 mg
rice and bean
Zinc
26%
2.4 of 9.3 mg
absorption reduced by phytate
Thiamine B1
25%
0.26 of 1.05 mg
polished rice poor; bean carries it
Phosphorus
25%
275 of 1,100 mg
rice and bean
Niacin B3
24%
3.1 of 13 mg
rice
Iron
23%
2.9 of 12.5 mg
non-haem; absorption reduced
Riboflavin B2
13%
0.14 of 1.05 mg
weakest vitamin in the ration
Calcium
8%
77 of 980 mg
small whole fish is the real source
Lysine, holiday
134%
1,935 of 1,440 mg
the reason beans are in the truck
Fat, % of run energy
31%
WHO band 25–35%
inside range
measured
Bilay ages, recorded on the sheets by the house. Product prices, Makro, 25 July 2026. School calendar — 109 school days inside the 180-day window.
inferred
Samson ages, from school grade rather than recorded. Stateless pupils often enrol one to three years late, so these may run young — and the real requirement slightly higher.
assumed
A rice-based school lunch at 600 kcal. Leafy greens 100 g a day from the gardens. One egg or fish per child per day. 20% of the remaining food from other donors and their own growing.
| House | Children | Cargo | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bilay House | 59 | 2,371 kg | ~€1,793 · ~$2,048 · ~฿68,969 |
| Samson House | 17 | 686 kg | ~€521 · ~$595 · ~฿20,032 |
Bilay House
Samson House
Food, both houses: ~€2,314 · ~$2,643 · ~฿89,001 — and ~€30 · ~$35 · ~฿1,171 feeds one child for six months. Anything unspent goes to the next run, as always.
You read the whole thing
Then you know exactly what your money buys
Rice, mung beans, palm oil and iodised salt for 76 children, costed to the gram and receipted on the day. ~€30 covers one of them for six months.
Card, iDEAL, Thai QR or cash
Every figure on this page comes from one costed plan. Here it is as we wrote it — the roster, the ration, the cargo and the cost, on two pages.
10 generous people have contributed to this campaign
Johan rikhof
Netherlands
€750
Jul 27, 2026
Heather Florio
United States
$500
Jul 26, 2026
Roger Perrin
Scotland
฿10,000
Jul 26, 2026
Willemijn ten Hoor en Boas Kroon
Netherlands
€60
Jul 27, 2026
Eefke
Netherlands
€50
Jul 28, 2026
Tamara Potter
Netherlands
€50
Jul 27, 2026
Jan van Mook
Netherlands
€30
Jul 28, 2026
Henny van Diermen
Netherlands
€30
Jul 28, 2026
Christiaan
Netherlands
€30
Jul 28, 2026
Monique Kuiper
Netherlands
€25
Jul 28, 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026
Rice Run 4 · February 2026We pay the transport and the admin ourselves, so your donation buys supplies. Give by Thai QR or cash and 100% reaches the kids; by card or iDEAL it loses only the payment provider’s processing fee.
Last time it looked like this. In August it will be 76 children and 3,058 kg.
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.
Founder & Organizer
Dutch expat living in Thailand who founded CharityRiceRuns in 2024. Personally manages every donation and delivers supplies directly to orphanages.
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.
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.
We deliver supplies directly to orphanages along the Thai-Myanmar border, ensuring every donation reaches the children who need it most.
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17 children • Delivery: August 1, 2026
59 children • Delivery: August 15, 2026
Both houses, both dates
Samson House on 1 August, then Bilay House on 15 August
76 children, 3,058 kg, ~€2,314 · ~$2,643 · ~฿89,001. Every donor gets the photographs and the receipts within a week of the truck arriving.
Card, iDEAL, Thai QR or cash
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