Her Majesty has many public functions to perform. She became President of the Thai Red Cross Society on August 12, 1956, and her keenness in the work has built up her popularity and aroused enthusiasm in the public for the cause of the Red Cross. Later on, in 1979, upon learning of the influx of about 40,000 Cambodian refugees into Trat province, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit flew to the site to see the situation herself. Then, in her capacity as President of the Thai Red Cross Society, Her Majesty set up the Khao Larn Thai Red Cross Center to give shelter, food and medical care to those Cambodian refugees who were mostly peasant families with small children and unaccompanied orphans. The Center was a refuge for these displaced people for some years.