The Phuket Community Foundation is celebrating the success of its second annual Race Day, which raised more than B800,000 for the charity’s activities.

Phuket Bike Week – the big biker event – may be some months away (it takes place around the Thai New Year, in April), but in the meantime the island’s bikers are planning an event to raise money for charity.

Soi Dog, the Phuket animal welfare organisation, has issued an urgent appeal for funds to battle an outbreak of canine distemper on the island.

Thousands of Phuket-based competitors are now in training for the Dream Gallery Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race, which will take place on January 23 next year.

That calendar is out. At a big bash at Cape Sienna hotel in Kamala on November 5, attended by hundreds of Phuket’s local glitterati, dressed to the nines, the ladies of the Women’s Will Power group (WWP) launched their calendar for 2011, aimed at raising funds for the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families, a haven for abused women and children.

Raising Phuket’s tropical atmosphere a couple of notches, the annual fund-raising ball for the Phuket International Women’s Club (PIWC) this year has a Latin American theme.

The girls – er, sorry, the women – of the Women’s Willpower Group are at it again, creating a new sexy calendar for charity. Exclusive Phuket Observer pictures.

A raffle to win a unique signed painting valued at 60,000 baht by Australian artist Christopher Hogan is raising funds for a school in Phang Nga province supported by Laguna Phuket’s “Developing Sustainable Schools” program.

The Topper Sail Phuket sailing school and Phuket Sunshine Village (PSV) are looking for a sponsor or sponsors to make a dream come true for a group of orphans from the village.

You may recall the story we ran about Women’s Will Power, a group of five 30-somethings living in Phuket who removed 90% of their clothing for a glamour calendar, which was then sold to raise money for charity.

The exercise, we’re happy to report, was a success, with the ladies recently visiting Phuket Sunshine Village (PSV), a shelter primarily for abused children but also for kids suffering in the aftermath of the 2004 Asian Tsunami.