The Camillian social center in Rayong is a charitable institution in Thailand, established in 1995 by Saint Camillus Foundation and an Italian priest, Father Giovanni Contarin.
The Center provides shelter and care to homeless, indigent, and rejected people living with HIV/AIDS. Special emphasis is placed on women and children, as the most vulnerable members of the society.
In 2001, there were 50 adults and 19 children living with HIV in the social center.
By the beginning of 2009 the Camillian Social Center Rayong the number of children most of whom are living with HIV has expanded to 76.
This is over 4 sites the CSC Rayong, Independent Living Center Map Ta Phut, The Garden Of Eden Ban Kray, and the center for Handicapped Children in Latkrabang not far from the new Bangkok airport.
It manages seven projects in the Southeast of Thailand, including Palliative Care, Child Care, prevention education, supporting a network of PLWHA, supervising a self-sustaining rehabilitation community, providing scholarships for affected orphaned children and a center for HIV positive orphaned teenagers.
Since 1996, the Center is supported by Caritas Switzerland.
There are many volunteer groups and people all over the world who visit the Camillian Social Center Rayong.
In August 2013, there are approximately 50 adults in the Palliative Care Unit and 55 orphans.
Bridge of Hope Thailand Charity Involvement
In August, 2011, the Bridge of Hope Thailand Charity Founder and President, Tiffany Prachachalerm, went to the Camillian Social Center Rayong to volunteer at the Camillian Social Center Rayong's orphanage and Palliative Care Unit. Inspired by the orphans and patients who fought to survive from the HIV/AIDS disease and the social stigma that comes with it, she decided to start the charity in America. Tiffany returned with a group of medical and premedical students, an HIV specialist, and a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner to aid patients in the Palliative Care Unit. It was the first Integrated Western and Eastern Medicine Program to study the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Thailand. She led a successful team of students, doctors, and professors to the Camillian Social Center for two consecutive years after 2011.