Collective Philanthropy Project
Information
Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) is a U.S. based NGO that works to improve the quality of life for Vietnamese children with disabilities or disadvantaged circumstances. They work to provide vocational, occupational, and training services for children with disabilities.
VNAH’s overall vision is “to promote policies and programs that empower people with disabilities, facilitating their full participation in social and economic activities within their communities.”
Focusing more on their project, VNAH hopes to “achieve its vision of vocational skills and job creation for youth with disabilities, reduction of economic burdens for their families, and raising community awareness and responsibilities for children/youth with disabilities.”
Local Charity Beneficiary
Information
My name is Maddie Do, and I am a senior at the Academy of the Sacred Heart. Last summer, I wanted to work on a service project, something that would demonstrate my core values and goals. Giving back to the community has always been a goal of mine, and being raised by parents who emigrated from Vietnam, has taught me how lucky I am to have the resources I need to be supported. So I decided to start CẢM ƠN, (which translates to "thank you" in Vietnamese) a project that is focused on providing food and other necessities to Vietnamese communities in n communities in need I was inspired by my godmother who delivers food baskets to people in the Houston area, and I wanted to bring something like that to New Orleans.
However, I wanted to make CẢM ƠN different. Unlike traditional food donations, CẢM ƠN provides foods that are specified for Vietnamese meals. Not only does this create a specialized service for Vietnamese communities, but it limits food waste of items that are not commonly included in a typical Vietnamese diet. Instead of peanut butter and dry pasta, food baskets would include things like a bag of rice, ramen noodles, and various condiments and seasonings used in Vietnamese meals.
I want CẢM ƠN to be a way for me to give back to the Vietnamese community, but also be a way to connect people outside of the community through charity. I hope that this project can also help others build an understanding and solidarity towards those in need and encourage outreach.