Our May Newsletter celebrates the Easter Season in Kontum and Pleiku. Once again I am reminded about how hard the Sisters and Caregivers work to make this all happen.
In just a few short months, thanks to your help, there has been significant progress made towards resuming normal life in Kontum and Pleiku. The end of the school year is approaching and although there are new social distance guidelines for students of all ages the Sisters and the kids have found ways to incorporate them into their daily life. We have also started new capital improvement projects that will have a huge, long-term impact on their lives. The repair of the girl’s bathroom and the new boys dining hall at VS1 are well under way. The chicken coop and pigpens at VS2 are also well under way. Building plans for the new activity hall at VS3 have been submitted for a building permit. These ambitious projects have only been approved because of your generosity. In the future, we hope to be able to fund a new dormitory at VS4 and a pigpen at VS6. These improvements are in addition to FVSO’s continued focus on basic needs, our top priority every year.
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.
Some Fun Videos
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.
