Dynamics Team Delivers Training and Funding to Orphanage Directors in Southern Thailand

Jackson, Wyoming, May 25, 2007

Jackson, Wyoming (May 23, 2007) – On May 14-16 Jackson resident Tim Walther and a team of Grand Dynamics- www.granddynamics.com – facilitators delivered a training program for the directors of orphanages in Southern Thailand. This program was part of a two and a half year-long effort to provide support for the children that lost their families in the tsunami.

Tim Walther was on Ton Sai beach when the tsunami occurred on December 26, 2004. Since returning, Walther set out on a mission to raise funds and delivered slide shows across the country, including one in February 2005, in Jackson Hole. Initial funds were sent over six months following the tsunami to Hi Phi Phi, an organization which distributed the funds to support the orphans on Ko Phi Phi Island.

Subsequently, an additional $5000 in funds was raised, and Walther had difficulty finding a reliable source to distribute the remaining funds. Thus, Walther planned a return trip to Asia to determine an adequate resource for the allocation of the remaining funds. This trip occurred in December 2006.

Enter Duang Prateep Foundation http://www.dpf.or.th/eng/index.html

Duang Prateep is an officially registered charity in Thailand, which functions to support many of the poor and those in need in Thailand. After initial meetings and a visit to the orphanage at Baan Phru Teaw in December of 2006, Walther knew he had found the solution.

The final distribution has taken the form of a project entitled “Building a healthy community through sport and education” by Tim Walther and Grand Dynamics. As the name implies, the project utilizes sport and experiential education as a medium to unify and build morale among the people, and to positively affect their health as well.

As an inaugural beginning to this two year, ongoing program, Tim Walther and a team of Grand Dynamics facilitators travelled to Thailand this May to deliver a training program for the directors of the orphanages.

Tim was joined by Jamie Riley of Jackson, Erick Erickson of NY, and Josh Morris of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The two day training was attended by over sixty participants, comprised of resident children of the orphanage and directors of multiple additional orphanages.

The focus of the training program was on providing experiential games and activities that the directors can use to reframe the tsunami experience, create positive belief systems, and reinforce the possibility of dreams and goals for the future of the orphan children.