Sarnelli House Orphanage Donation

Co-organized

Nicole Gregorich and Madilyn Margaret Sass are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hello and Happy New Year! This GoFundMe is being created by pediatric resident, Dr. Madi Sass, internal medicine resident, Dr. Rylee Doucette, and University of Wisconsin medical student, Nicole Gregorich, on behalf of the Sarnelli House, an orphanage in rural Thailand. We are raising money to help them obtain necessary hygiene supplies.

All photos used have been shared with permission from Sarnelli House.

HISTORY:

The Sarnelli House has been open for more than 20 years as a long-term care facility for children in need. The orphanage initially served as a refuge for children outcast during the HIV pandemic. It has since grown to accept children from all backgrounds and of all ages. The Sarnelli house provides a safe, stable place for children to live and grow, and is not a facility that participates in international adoption.

Since the early days of the HIV pandemic, the Sarnelli house has expanded to steadily care for over 150 children each year. They do so largely through donations and partnerships with charitable organizations. The impact of the orphanage has been profound. With the support of the Sarnelli community, many of these children have gone on to secure successful careers and/or graduated with degrees from higher education institutions. Many have chosen to work in the healthcare field, and some even return to be caregivers within the Sarnelli community.

PARTNERSHIP:

Madi and Rylee first developed a partnership with the Sarnelli House while they were medical students during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the orphanage consists primarily of communal living spaces, COVID-19 outbreaks have been particularly challenging to control. In fact, some members of the orphanage caught the virus 3 separate times! This is particularly concerning as ~1/3 of the children here are immunocompromised.

As part of an effort to help control these outbreaks, we created a tailored hygiene education curriculum for the orphanage members. We visited Sarnelli House in February 2023 to conduct hygiene curriculum lessons, donate hygeine supplies, and create a diaper changing station which is still in use today. We are excited to return to Sarnelli House in February and March 2025 to continue hygiene education and conduct a puberty education needs assessment survey.

GOAL:

This fundraiser is for anyone interested in donating a gift of money for the Sarnelli House. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the orphanage. Just 1 US dollar is equivalent to ~35 Thai Bhat, so any sized donation can go a long way towards helping the children of Sarnelli House get the supplies they need to be safe and healthy!

This money will be used specifically to buy materials for the orphanage, including cleaning supplies and hygiene products, as well as any other supplies they may need.