2008 Thailand Helmet Campaign

[thartley]

Well, that's good to know that at least some shops do provide them as part of the purchase.  That is at least a start.  Honestly, what are the biggest reasons people give for not wearing a helmet, regardless of their validity?

[PK]

The biggest reason they give for not wearing a helmet is, "There's no police."

Yesterday we went to a college and spoke to all the students, handed out the brochures, and donated 3 helmets.




We have another speech scheduled for tomorrow morning with 1,800 students!!!

[Sean]

Too Easy....

"Insert your own caption here"

[KitKat]

Too Easy....

"Insert your own caption here"

This summers coolest helmet in Ferrari Red worn by our own "PK", aka Helmetman, and setting a perfect example of Thai ATM safety. 

Another one.....
PERSPECTIVE...Everything looks better from the inside of a motorcycle helmet. 

[Ming]

You drive to the ATM safety sure,wearing your orange helmet!



Can I have your phone number too.

[KitKat]

Can I have your phone number too.

    I like your sense of humor. 

[PK]

More pics from a recent event at a middle school. It went really well.

[Ming]

More students learned  about sefety life for good future.
Good project, good job! (Thanks for the pics)

[Betty]

Keep up the good work on the helmet campaign!  I think it is so great!
I wish everyone in the USA that rode any kind of motor bike had to wear them!

[KitKat]

Love seeing the photos! A very necessary and important campaign.
 
After Thailand's young see and understand the importance of wearing helmets to protect their life, maybe, eventually, other countries will follow. Thailand, a country more advanced than their neighboring countries, is setting a good example. 

Patience, cultural changes take time. Things worthwhile always do. 

Betty, I agree, we do need stricter helmet laws in the U.S. 

[Mus.]

Over the 900 years Isara has realized

That's what I read at first. I was mildly confused.

On a less important note, you  guys and guyettes should print billions trillions of Isara stickers and put one on each helmet you give away. Ta-da, free advertising (if you forget about the price of the stickers and the work with slapping them on).

[Ming]

That's a fun thing to do.
Songkran festival is coming up this year and we'll have a great helmet project again, Right?

[PK]

Mus. - We love free advertising. We've put Isara stickers on every helmet ever since we started donating helmets. We see people wearing the Isara helmets every day and yell, "Isara helmet!" each time we see someone wearing one. It's like a game we play. lol



Ming - This will be the third year for our Song Kran donation ceremony. It will once again be in front of the ILC and viewable LIVE via the Isara webcam (the webcam link will be back before the event).

[PK]

On Saturday and Sunday, Sean and some friends of Isara (Dear, Moe, Guay, and Awn) went to a local mall and market to hand out brochures encouraging people to wear helmets. The response was really good and almost 3,000 brochures were handed out. Also, we noticed MANY more people were wearing helmets to the Sunday Market this time than 3 months ago when we last went.




Our students at the ILC are also helping with the helmet campaign. They recently made posters for the campaign which will be displayed on the sidewalk in front of our school. One student even drew a helmet picture on our Ping Pong scoreboard.



Thank you to everyone who helped with the Helmet Campaign this weekend. Stay tuned! On April 10th we'll be doing our annual Song Kran Helmet Donation.
pk

[Ginafish]

Awesome! The school students look sooo happy to help! They were probably excited to have a day off from learning English.

[thartley]

Can someone confirm for us here in the states what date WE will be able to log on to watch the activities?  Dont want to miss anything.

Well, I wont miss anything unless I am asleep, cuz I will be there.  But for everyone else...   

(I still can't believe I am going to be there this year!)

[PK]

Here are some pics of the students hanging the signs in front of the ILC.

[KitKat]

  The students look very proud of their signs and happy to be helping Isara. Great job!!   

[thartley]

We went to the Nong Khai hospital today for a big helmet donation event where Isara was asked to provide some of the helmets and also to be a guest speaker.  At first, PK was just all by himself in the back area.  We think its because he didnt get the memo that today was yellow shirt day.




But soon, he was moved up to the VIP section where they served, erm, delicious food like this:   




It wasn't long before PK made a new BFF 

 


Then it was time to go outside and get ready for the parade!  Its never a good sign when there are hospital gurneys in the parade procession.   




PK was informed he was welcome to be in the parade himself and they even provided him with a REAL motorbike!

 


But I heard PK say "But I want to ride my OWN bike!"  (I think the noise from the big boy bikes was a little too much for him)   



Once everyone was ready, the balloons were loosed on the city to signify the fun was about to hit the road.




The big bikes were leading the pack.




PK's new BFF quickly hopped on the back of the bike for a ride around Nong Khai.  I think everyone had a great time!

 

[Ginafish]

This is so AWESOME!! To help with another helmet campaign means that someone else is trying to show that helmets are important!!

And Pk with his new BFF look so handsome on the 'training wheel' bike, I think they should be a new helmet poster boys for the front page of Isara.

[KitKat]

WOW!  This was a great surprise!  thartley, great photos!   This is very encouraging for Isara's Helmet Campaign.      
I know exactly PK wanted to ride his "Blue Isara" bike.   He's already know around town riding his blue bike and orange helmet, why change and not have anyone know Isara's  in the parade.  Smart move PK!   Smart move for ISARA!!!       He's the master of advertising.   

[thartley]

A week or two ago, a rep from the hospital contacted Isara about possibly donating some helmets for their event and as we had the funds available, we were glad to help.  We donated 50 helmets with the Isara stickers on the back.  Other people around Nong Khai also donated helmets.  A police officer gave a speech that was about an hour long (or so it seemed)    and PK and Ming also talked about safety, quizzing the audience and giving a few helmets to the first one with the correct answer.  I think the audience really liked that part of the fun.

[PK]

Thanks for updating everyone on the activity, thartley. Sorry for the delay getting some more pics uploaded.

Here are Nok, Sam, Bell, and Party helping place Isara stickers on the 60 helmets we were donating (50 to the hospital and 10 for back-up).



At about 9am the Director of the Nong Khai Hospital spoke and said a nice "Thank you" to Isara. Then a Traffic Police Officer (one of our students) spoke for about 45 minutes. Then it was our turn. I thought I'd be up on stage speaking alone but the MC helped me out and we had kind of a comedy team going on for about 5-6 minutes. It was a lot of fun. Next Ming got on stage and asked some questions and gave away some helmets. Everyone in the audience REALLY wanted a helmet. Some would even raise their hand in the air and start running to the stage shouting the answer. Now I know how Bob Barker feels.

 

Afterwards we all went outside to get ready for the parade. The hospital staff made sure everyone on a motorcycle got a free helmet (courtesy of Isara, a motorcycle shop, and the hospital). If you look close you might see the elusive thartley in the 2nd photo. lol

   

That last photo is what it's all about. Seeing our helmets being put to good use.

Speaking of. On the way to the mall tonight I was stopped at a red light with about 20 other motorcyclists. Unfortunately, because it was after 5pm, only three people were wearing helmets. BUT, the good news is, they were ALL Isara helmets.

That is proof positive we are making a difference. Thank you to everyone for their continued support.

Total cost: $255

[thartley]

Speaking of. On the way to the mall tonight I was stopped at a red light with about 20 other motorcyclists. Unfortunately, because it was after 5pm, only three people were wearing helmets. BUT, the good news is, they were ALL Isara helmets.

That's pretty amazing.  I can never remember to look for the stickers on the helmets when I am riding my bike.  I am too busy watching the cars, trucks and tuk tuks!    But that is good that you saw the Isara helmets out on the road.  I think you see them quite often, maybe, but just not all together like that.  Very good!

[Ming]

It was a great  activity. I can see that everyone really enjoyed and liked it a lot.  And I know for sure that people
got our message.

BTW, Pk did great on his speech. Everybody really enjoyed it especially the MC (his new BFF).

Fantastic job!