Street racers show they can do good deeds, too

Street racers show they can do good deeds, too

Street racers in four provinces have come together - not for daredevil speed and rivalry, but to help a family in need.

Street racers have their pictures taken with Pong Prasom, her daughter and niece in front of their burned down home in Khiri Mat district, Kamphaeng Phet, on Sunday.

More than 700 dek waen on 400 motorcycles - hailing from Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet and Uttaradit - moved in procession, along with 10 pickup trucks carrying materials and a load of sand, to a meeting with Pong Prasom in Khiri Mat district in Sukhothai on Sunday.

They and other volunteers from the four provinces handed it all over to Ms Pong, 62, together with 53,000 baht in cash donations, so that she can build a new house.

Street racers campaign to help Pong Prasom build her new house in Khiri Mat district in Sukhothai.

Her home in Moo 9 village in the district was burned down by her son-in-law, Lamai Phuekchan, on the night of Aug 16 when he returned home and did not find his wife waiting for him there.

Mr Lamai appeared drunk at the time, according Ms Pong.

"I have nothing left except the clothes I was wearing and my ID card," she said sadly, after seeing her house reduced to ashes.

The village chief took the son-in-law to Khiri Mat police station, while Ms Pong, her 30-year-old daughter Waraporn and her 13-year-old niece found themselves homeless.

But the street racers knew what had happened to the family, and acted.

They quickly launched an appeal to their members and followers on their Facebook page, soliciting help for the family, and then called a gathering on Sunday to see Ms Pong.

"Although we are only dek waen upcountry, we have shown that we can do good things, too," gang leader Rungruang Bankloey, 25, said on his Facebook account.

"Somebody called what we are doing 'fake'. But we will not be discouraged and continue to help society," he added.

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