An unresolved debt problem is forcing a child welfare activist, Nualnoi Timkul, to close a charity home for children.
Baan Khru Noi, in Bangkok's Rat Burana area, will close at the end of this month as she can no longer afford to run it, she said Tuesday.
The shelter's 65 children could be in trouble as their expenses are supported by Baan Khru Noi.
Ms Nualnoi, known as Khru Noi, said she could not shoulder the burden of looking after the underprivileged children. She pays for their daily needs and education expenses.
"I have been trying to save money in every possible way, but I can't do it any more," adding that daily expenses for the children come to 3,500 baht.
Baan Khru Noi, in Soi Rat Burana 26, provides housing and schooling for 65 needy children, 55 of them aged four to 15. "I have owed 8,000 baht for a power bill and another 3,000 for a water bill since last month," she said.
Khru Noi turned her private house into a charity home for poor kids in the area 30 years ago. "I am no angel. I am just happy to bring the poor kids to the shores of a better future," Khru Noi said.
Asked whether she hopes to reopen the home once her debts are repaid, she said it would take a miracle.
Khru Noi said many residents have offered financial assistance. But she turned their offers down, saying the money could not last longer than two or three months.
Rarinthip Sirorat, director of the Office of Promotion and Protection of Children, Youth, the Elderly and Vulnerable Groups, said the agency is ready to help the children but will not take them to a foster home.
The children are living with their families, but seek help from Khru Noi to alleviate their poverty.
A National Legislative Assembly (NLA) member, Wallop Tungkananurak, known as Khru Yui, said Khru Noi received financial assistance from deputy national police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen to pay her debts after she borrowed from loan sharks to keep the home open in 2010.
Mr Wallop, who is also a former child welfare activist, said his team and officials from the Social Development and Human Security Ministry and NGOs also provided help by restructuring the home's financial systems that year.
"We helped her by laying down some financial management rules. We finished the mission in 2011 with 2 million baht in her savings account," said Mr Wallop. "Since then, we have left her to manage everything on her own,'' he added.