Thai restaurant in Bangor raising funds for tsunami victims

BANGOR – Employees at the Thai Siam restaurant on Main Street downtown are hoping the community will chip in to send money to relief efforts in Thailand, one of many countries affected by the tsunamis in Southeast Asia.

Chinda Rustanavibul, one of the restaurant’s owners, said Tuesday evening that he would be setting up donation boxes in the restaurant for staff and patrons to put money in to send to the Red Cross in Thailand.

“This is such a big thing that I feel like I have to help,” Rustanavibul said. “It’s such a terrible tragedy – they don’t even have enough coffins to put the bodies in.”

Rustanavibul, a Thai native who co-owns Thai Siam and Thai Orchid in Orono with Wirawan Sundvian, has a more personal reason to help as well.

“I have family in Phuket,” he said, which is one of the coastal cities hit hardest by the disaster. “I haven’t heard from them yet, so I’m holding out [hope]. It’s really scary, and it really hits home.”

Rustanavibul said the restaurant will be collecting donations through next week.

“We’ve already gotten one large donation,” he said, “and we really hope to get more. If you can’t donate at our restaurant, please donate on your own to the Red Cross or other organizations.”

He said he wants to send out money as soon as possible, as relief efforts are most crucial now in the early stages, when diseases and hunger are the biggest threats to the safety of those displaced by the disaster. Interested donors may contact the restaurant at 262-8787.