73-Year-Old Thai Animal Shelter Owner to Be Featured in Hershey’s Choco Bar

Animal shelter owner Kawiporn Vinijthaopathom, or more known as Auntie Tim, will be the first Thai to be featured on Hershey’s “SHE Cares” campaign for International Women’s Day.

The campaign, which takes place every March, is the chocolate manufacturer giant’s way of celebrating women where they create limited-edition chocolate bar wrappers to honour and recognise their efforts. “After all, there is no Hershey’s without SHE,” their website says.

Seventy-three-year-old Auntie Tim is the owner of Saraburi-based CHSAThai Stray Animal Shelter, also known as “Angel’s Home of Strays,” which is home to 1,300 dogs and 600 cats. She has been rescuing stray animals since December 2003.

She told The Nation that she had to sell her house in Saraburi for THB25 million and her plot of land in Chonburi for THB16 million to fund her shelter. She added that while the shelter receives a monthly donation of THB100,000 and animal feed from His Majesty the King since September 2021, they’re not enough because the overall bill reaches up to THB1 million per month due to medical expenses, vaccinations, sterilisations, and staff salaries.

“We can’t abandon the animals in our care, while our daily costs continue rising,” she was quoted as saying regarding the campaign.

The Hershey’s chocolate bars with Auntie Tim on the wrapper will be available on March 8.

In Asia, six women from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam will be featured in the “SHE Cares” campaign.