Friends of Thai Daughters’ (FTD) Raise the Roof Sweet Sixteen Celebration raised $230,000 in just over an hour July 31. One hundred fifty people attended the event, in-person or via Zoom to help raise the roof on Sunflower Thrivable Farm north of Chiang Rei, Thailand.

Jane McBride and Patty Zinkowski  founded FTD some 16 years ago following a trip to Thailand in the early 2000s. The “accidental activists,” as Zinkowski referred to them, found 15 girls, some as young as 5, alone in an abandoned school in Doi Luang, an area known for human trafficking. The couple bought food, blankets and other items. With family and friends lending financial help, Friends became an incorporated nonprofit in 2005. “We couldn’t un-see what we had seen,” Zinkowski said at last weekend’s event.

A few years ago, the couple started seriously thinking about how FTD could continue when they were no longer able to do it. This would require an infrastructure, a forever home campus that was more than a campus; it would need to be a flagship center of excellence for the community. The land was bought in 2019 and, a few days before this fundraiser, the first adobe bricks of rice husks and mud were being laid. The girls at Sunflower have been making the bricks, with help. As of July 31, they had made 45,000 bricks. When completed, it will be the tallest adobe brick structure in the country.

Prior to this event, FTD had raised $500,000, including a $150,000 grant from the Walter Foundation, toward the $800,000 cost. On Saturday Zinkowski and McBride hoped to raise another $160,000. Having surpassed that goal, FTD now has $70,000 to raise; the campus is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The well and electricity are installed; the greenhouse and model house are built.

Project architect Peter Lombardi said came up with a concept about 10 years ago called thrivability. He had long been into environmentalism, but sustainability was key for everyone and the survival of the planet, he said. There are four thrivability tenets: people = strong resilient communities; planet – environmental stewardism; purpose = making sure everything we do is intentional; and prosperity = microeconomics, creating resiliency.

Sunflower will also be the site for a farm-to-table restaurant, sports pavilion – pickelball tourneys will be held there; there is a pickleball league in Thailand; and a glamping area, an organic swimming pool, cleaned by aquatic plants rather than chemicals.

Shared Lombardi, “Meeting the girls is when things really clicked for me; I didn’t show it, but I probably cried at least once a day after I heard their stories, about what happened to them … and about how enthusisastic, resilient and joyful the girls were.”

He said thrivability combines ancient and modern technologies: passive solar, rainwater collection, aquaculture, biodynamic farming and clean renewable energies. Lombardi has been working with Native American medicine man Tom Bluewolf in Atlanta on thriveable community campuses. Bluewolf taught Lombardi about the Seventh Generation Principle: Don’t do anything for the future that will not last, and give back to the seven generations to come.

“One of the things he likes to say is ‘thrivability is sustainability for the soul,” Lombardi said. “We are empowering these girls.”

Added McBride, “These initiatives will provide the girls with job training and skills. We can host summer camp programs for kids in other (locations). Other women and community members can be employed. The issue of preventing kids from being trafficked is still endemic in that part of the world. By teaching our daughters to teach the next generation we believe this will be a powerful legacy.”

Four Daughters attending were Kai, Lek, Pink and Dao. Each one spoke about their experience with FTD and of  McBride and Patty Zinkowski. Pink told the group, “I came from a family with nothing. Friends of Thai Daughters is something that has changed my life forever.”

Dao shared her desire to go to school; everyone had told her girls will marry and didn’t need to study more. “FTD gave me more opportunity to study, and to have a powerful girl!”

Kai, married with two young children, told the group she had no parents to give her love. She lived with her grandmother and cousins. “When I met Jane and Patty and FTD, I got the love I never got before. And I give love to my children.”

Charlotte Page, head of FTD’s youth advisory board and an “adopted” FTD daughter, said thanks to FTD, girls could write their own stories and rewrite their endings.

Some of the Thai Daughters in Thailand commented via Zoom:  “Children can rely on themselves.” “We are the girls. We can do it. Girls can believe in themselves.”  “Girls can learn. When they go back to their villages they can give what they learned.”  “I know women can be leaders.”

The new Center, or main sala, where the girls will live and study on the farm, is slated to open in December. Due to the pandemic and new variants, travel to Thailand for this momentous event may not be possible.

The July 31 event had a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by a song sung by the Daughters, Zinkowski and McBride.

“With your donations, and your hearts, you can empower these girls, their families, and villages to thrive and prosper,” said Lombardi.

To donate, visit www.friendsofthaidaughters.org/donate or mail a check to Friends of Thai Daughters, P. O. Box 370, Trevett ME 04571.