Bisnow's Partner Of The Month: Kids For Laos Orphans
Every month, Bisnow partners with, and donates to, a new charitable organization, including Your Grateful Nation and LUNG FORCE. This month, Bisnow is working with Kids for Laos Orphas (KiLO), a nonprofit organization started by Andrew, Matthew and William Liner, the sons of Liner LLP founder Stuart Liner.
In 2013, the three boys traveled to Southeast Asia on an educational tour and were shocked to see the differences in living conditions.
"By our standards, it's unbearable," William, 13, told Bisnow. "We couldn't even imagine what it would be like to live like that every day. But these children do it with smiles on their faces, and that really shows how good they can be."
The three started KiLO in order to improve the lives of the orphans they met, and since then, they have spent countless hours raising thousands of dollars for school supplies, improved bathrooms at the Deak Kum Pa Orphanage in Luang Prabang, Laos, and built a new dorm at the Numbuk Orphanage in Nong Khiaw, Laos. The boys also spent a summer helping the orphans paint the new dorm, which houses over 200.
At the end of the day, Matthew, 14, says the organization's goal is to help these orphans thrive and gain access to food, water and, most importantly, education.
"They have the same potential to succeed as us, but they don't have the same opportunities," he says.
"Who knows? One of them may be the next Albert Einstein," Andrew, 15, adds, "and giving that person a sanitary dormitory can help them thrive when they otherwise couldn't."
To learn more about KiLO, reach out at kids4laos@gmail.com.