What We Do / Completed Projects
We provide targeted support to disadvantaged communities in Vietnam, determining assistance needs through direct community visits. Support ranges from food provision to medical treatment coverage, school materials, farm animals, equipment, and infrastructure such as water filtration plants.
Supporting Orphanages
Key initiatives include: chicken-raising capacity expansion at Mai Am Thien Tam (Nha Trang); educational and nutritional projects for 66 children at Bưu Trì Pagoda (Cần Thơ); footwear for 30 children; nutrition programs; hot water units, infant formula, nappies, winter clothing, washing machines, and bicycles for Trang Nứa Orphanage; wash basins for Thanh Son Pagoda; rice distribution; livestock provision; soft toys and ice-cream events; furniture; blankets, oil, and milk; televisions with educational equipment; cooking supplies; freezers for food storage; infant care supplies; farm animals and gardens; street children's shoes and egg delivery; medicine supplies across multiple facilities; hygiene supplies for workshops; winter supplies; and playground equipment for Holy Cross disabled children's orphanage (funded by $6,365 raised in 2011, matched dollar-for-dollar).
Supporting Shelters
Each year we provided the 19.5 disabled children's orphanage in Xa Doai with a food and hygiene supply package including nappies, rice, soaps, powders, oils, and milk products. We installed padded interlocking foam mats in shelters with hard floors to reduce fall injuries. Support extended to 20 disabled children at Holy Cross Convent (Phát Diệm). At the Dominican convent Shelter for Homeless Women (Suoi Tien, Dong Nai) serving 100 women, projects included verandah sun-shading, water filters, medicines, massage chairs, cupping kits, and blood sugar testing equipment.
Supporting Education
Assistance encompassed: school materials and padded flooring for 20 disabled children; scanner/photocopier and materials for Vi Nhân School (Buôn Mê Thuột); supplies for An Bình Orphanage disabled girls; sewing machine training; musical instruments; electric vehicles; school fee scholarships for individual students; bicycles and materials for disadvantaged families; library books for multiple orphanages; returning-to-school supplies; tutoring employment; support for three poor families in Hue; educational materials for Ben Tre village; comprehensive support for Thien An orphanage (school fees for 10 children, rice, noodles, library books totalling approximately $1,000); and tertiary course support including computers, stethoscopes, and blood pressure kits for 25+ young women from Holy Cross convent (Huong Phuong village, Quang Binh) studying nursing and disability care at $250 per semester.
Supporting Women and Families
We provide care packages to single mothers containing a pillow, beanie, blanket, 3 tops/pants, 2 bibs, 10 cloth nappies, 2 pairs socks, 10 face cloths, plus mother hygiene and skincare items. Support locations included Mai Ấm Tình Mẹ (Bình Dương), St Paul De Chartres (Phát Diệm), and other shelters. Additional assistance included livestock provision, sewing machines, nappies, baby clothing, chicken-raising projects, and medical cost coverage.
Hiếu (acid attack victim): Cow purchase, sewing equipment, 300 nappies, chicken projects, medical assistance, and ongoing tutoring support.
Thuy (burns victim): Severe burns from a charcoal fire accident required multiple surgeries. We provided pig house materials, piglets, and chicken-raising support to help rebuild the family's income.
Hoa (widow): School fees for three boys and half-cost calf funding.
Huong & adopted Thuy Tien: Funded $2,800 heart surgery for an adopted infant with a congenital heart condition.
Supporting Indigenous Communities
Projects included: pig-raising for 11 households (E-đê, Dak Lak); 25 food parcels for E-đê village; support for Buôn K dũn village (10 poorest families, 6 elderly households) with goose and chicken raising (70 geese, 150 chickens, 8 feed bags for 15 families); M'Nong village assistance (8 households); medicine distribution in Kontum Gialai; Raklay village support (15 households, chicken-raising, medicines); Van Kieu village (23 households, food parcels, tree-planting — 1,000 trees across 15 families); Thái children school materials; Bản Khe Ngài tree-planting; Ede village flood relief (20 households); Paco village provisions; Hung Son village clothing, livestock, blankets, and rice.
Supporting Villages
Initiatives included: chicken-raising for 15 households (Phát Diệm); 16 food parcels (Ha Tinh); acupuncture kits and cupping equipment (Cây Gáo, Đồng Nai); factory workers' soup kitchen free-range chicken farm (50 egg-layers); pig-raising for 5 families (mountain villages, Phong Nha); HIV-affected household provisions (Kim Định village); medicines for 4 villages (Phong Nha); medical clinic equipment (Xa Doai); emergency surgery funding (ectopic pregnancy, Ha Tinh); burnt family assistance (Quang Binh); medical clinic furniture (Nga Nam, Mekong Delta); kindergarten and clinic equipment (Chuyen My village); community water filtration plant ($5,000 gap-funding toward a $15,000 project, Quỳnh Ngọc fishing village, Nghe An); leper village support (8 lepers, 20 households chicken-raising, 55 leper households with 20 chickens each, hospice heaters); and Holy Cross Huong Phuong (45 disabled children) — rice machines, washing machine, kitchenware, bed frames, and voltage stabilizers.
Supporting Health
Medicine packages for 12 orphanages and schools in the Nha Trang region, containing worm treatment, allergy medication, diarrhea remedies, cough syrup, paracetamol, anti-inflammatory drugs, multivitamins, temperature-reduction bandages, and mosquito repellent. Indigenous recyclers at Buon Me Thuot tip received 50 sets of protective clothing (plastic boots, face masks, long gloves, work gloves) in 2018.
Supporting Volunteers
Funding for: Buddhist volunteer canteen at Saigon Cancer Hospital; 100 cancer patient food packets; youth volunteer hospital canteen (Thach Ha); medical equipment for clinic doctors (stethoscopes, nebulizers, blood pressure gauges, examination torches, heat lamps); Quỳnh Lập Leper Colony winter blankets for sisters; Cao Dai volunteer visits to poorest households; Lasan youth group missions (20 families); Sisters of Charity mountain village visits (mosquito nets, blankets, food); Tuyen Hoa student social work (Tet festival food parcels); Hau Giang village education projects (librarian employment, literacy competitions, school materials and fees); and overseas volunteer visits and cultural exchanges at orphanages.