Our August Newsletter tells the summer story in Kontum and Pleiku. It is hot all over ! The kids and the nuns are benefitting from the donations we have made in the past to build their farm, animal and bakery assets. In this time of COVID it has been more than a blessing as Vietnam still has a strict social lock do.wn policy and access to traditional markets are limited
In July we raised $14,185 or 9.4% of our $150,000 goal. T In recent years the generosity of our donors has allowed us to do so much more than we ever expected when FVSO was started in 2005. In addition to basic needs, medicine and education we have been able to fund much need projects for self support and shelter security. Although the economy in Vietnam was hard hit by COVID restraints the nuns have been able to provide a safe and secure environment for the kids largely because of your help.
For 20 years, we have worked hard to build a bridge between your donations and the Vinh Son and Sao Mai families. As middlemen, we have seen firsthand the wonderful progress due to your ongoing support. You have improved so many lives and made hope a reality
FVSO
Friends
of
Vinh Son
Fund Raising
This has been a difficult year for many. Our donations are well below previous years at this time and well below our planned budget. But there is a way you can help through Amazon Smile
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support FVSO, at no cost to you. Shop at smile.amazon.com, and find the same convenient experience with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to FVSO. Just type in the Vinh Son Montagnard Orphanage to make your choice. The kids will be the beneficiaries !
All operating expenses paid by the Board of Directors so 100% of your donation goes
to the children.
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Born in Sacramento, CA I came home to the family farm in rural Auburn which remains in the family and begs for attention during my free time. I graduated from Oregon State University in forest management and served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam in 1971-72 where I was a Section Chief of the 505 Counter Mortar š Counter Battery Radar unit attached to the 3/82 Field Artillery, 196th Light Infantry Brigade.
Military service changed my life forever, so much so that in February 2007 I made a return trip to Vietnam in search of emotional peace which I have achieved to some degree. It was my good fortune to travel with VSO Officers and Board Members Chaix, Coyne, Keegan, McKee, Gonzales, Mary Waterfield, and Lewandowski and I was privileged to see first hand the work of the Friends of Vinh Son Orphanage. The accomplishments of the Friends of VSO and the childrens' caregivers resonated with me, in part, because I had contributed to the support of an orphanage during my tour of duty decades ago.
Recently retired, I worked nearly 33 years at Sierra College, first as a Professor with the Forestry Department and later as a Counselor in the Student Services Division. I‰ve never married but found my life work fulfilling because I understand how educators help change the world and make it a better place. I also understand how students return many lessons in kind and in reality help their own professors grow.
If I have found success in life, it may be due to my work ethic and zest for life. My days logging in the national forests of California, Oregon and Alaska to finance my education, my military service, a decade of seasonal employment as a contractual wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service, teaching and counseling, volunteerism in Mexico with fellow Rotarians, and travels to Russia, Argentina, western Europe, Vietnam and around the United States have given me an appreciation for mankind that has helped me grow spiritually and in character.
Special interests include helping combat veterans of the global war on terrorism reintegrate and normalize, volunteerism in my community, skiing, bicycling, community activism and the children housed in both Mexican and Vietnamese orphanages. Humanitarianism is at once an interest and a reward, and I am honored to have to privilege to assist with the work undertaken by the Friends of VSO.
