FEED POOR ELDERLY SENIORS & FAMILIES IN VIETNAM
Donation protected
Dear Friends,
Every year around Tet or Vietnamese/Chinese New Year, my mother Hong and aunt Hang gather up donations from our family members and closest friends to buy rice to feed some of the poorest families in Vietnam. Our family's small charity has fed 100s of families along the Mekong River Delta annually.
I am returning to Vietnam for the first time in over a decade to visit my maternal grandmother. As many of you may know, I have a very soft spot for the elderly whom I adore. Sadly, Vietnam is a "ticking time bomb of elderly poverty," and many seniors in Vietnam face a life of extreme poverty until the last breaths of their life. Poor households in rural areas in Vietnam make roughly under $19 (USD) per month according to statistics in 2015. The children and grandchildren of poor seniors are too poor to support them. Thus, in Vietnam, you can easily find seniors as old as 90-year-old working in the streets. I hope you will watch the video that is in the header of the page and read this article to be more informed.
Regardless of whether this GoFundMe is a success or not, I am planning to visit Vietnam at the end of December 2018 during my vacation time over Christmas break to donate my time and own money to help those who are less fortunate, especially elderly and disabled people from poor families.
My buddy Jacinto and I will be doing a quick tour of Southeast Asia, and we plan to organize and give back during our first week there. While we are staying in Chau Doc, Vietnam, we intend to donate bags of rice purchased from our own money to some of the city's poorest families and elders. We can't imagine spending our Christmas break in any other way. Originally, we thought about helping 20 families and then maybe 50, and then we thought of the possibility of giving rice to 100 or more poor families. Therefore, we are opening up the opportunity to give to our friends. Let's help feed 100 or more families together. It's never a bad thing when we can give even MORE.
If you would like to participate, giving even $1 is giving. There is no pressure to give a lot, but give what you want to give or can. Giving comes from the heart. 100% of the money you donate (after GoFundMe processing fees) will go into buying the rice that will be donated directly to the poor seniors and families. You can also donate via Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, etc. which will help us avoid the GFM processing fees. Just message me via email or text for more info.
I will update you guys with our final fundraising budget as well as the numbers of families and people we end up helping along with pictures and possibly a video too when I return from Asia.
This is just a small quick effort to feed some of Vietnam's poor families over the holiday season while I am physically in Asia as I'm interested in donating my own money, time, and labor over the holiday break and hoping my friends will join me in the spirit of giving. If you have been super touched by the stories and images regarding the poor, elderly people in Vietnam and are interested in doing more and/or want to participate at a grander scale, please feel free to reach out to me directly via email also.
Please feel free to share this campaign with your friends. The more, the merrier. I believe that we are a world of givers.
I hope you all will have a lovely holiday season. And thank you for participating in the giving!
Wishing you and yours a warm and cheerful holiday season!!! See you in 2019!
Cheers,
Damian (& Jacinto)
THE MISSION
We are planning to raise $1,000 to give 10kg of rice (which will last for a week or more per household) to over 100 poor families in the city of Chau Doc, Vietnam during the last week of December 2018 so that they can start the first week of their new year without the worry of going hungry.
POVERTY & THE ELDERLY IN VIETNAM
Poor households in rural areas in Vietnam make roughly under $19 (USD) per month according to statistics in 2015. In urban areas, people on average make $5 per day.
But what's heartbreaking is the story of the aging poor in Vietnam.
"Roughly 7 in 10 of the working seniors in Vietnam’s urban areas work in the informal sector – as market vendors, taxi drivers, waste collectors, scrap pickers, street vendors, lottery ticket sellers... The low and unstable income of such jobs means, very often, a life stuck in poverty, with almost no chance to save up for old age..."
“Our children live a hard life themselves farming, fishing. They don’t earn enough to raise their own kids; they can’t afford to support us,” says Ngo Van Tieng,
More and more Vietnamese elders are working into old age to survive in the world’s most rapidly aging country.
(Read more here )
82-year-old Tran Thi Huong does what she must to survive, like walk the city streets to sell lottery tickets. (Photo Credit: CNA/Mediacorp)
THE RECIPIENTS OF YOUR DONATION
100% of your donated money will go to the cost of the rice that will be given to the poor, elderly people and poor families in Chau Doc, Vietnam, where Damian will be based during the last week of December 2018.
Damian, Jacinto and Damian's extended family in Vietnam will cover all of the labor, logistical, and organizational costs. We want to help you get all of your money to those in need.
Pictures of past recipients of Damian's family annual Rice Giving around Tet or Chinese New Year. Images courtesy of Damian's mom and aunt.
Every year around Tet or Vietnamese/Chinese New Year, my mother Hong and aunt Hang gather up donations from our family members and closest friends to buy rice to feed some of the poorest families in Vietnam. Our family's small charity has fed 100s of families along the Mekong River Delta annually.
I am returning to Vietnam for the first time in over a decade to visit my maternal grandmother. As many of you may know, I have a very soft spot for the elderly whom I adore. Sadly, Vietnam is a "ticking time bomb of elderly poverty," and many seniors in Vietnam face a life of extreme poverty until the last breaths of their life. Poor households in rural areas in Vietnam make roughly under $19 (USD) per month according to statistics in 2015. The children and grandchildren of poor seniors are too poor to support them. Thus, in Vietnam, you can easily find seniors as old as 90-year-old working in the streets. I hope you will watch the video that is in the header of the page and read this article to be more informed.
Regardless of whether this GoFundMe is a success or not, I am planning to visit Vietnam at the end of December 2018 during my vacation time over Christmas break to donate my time and own money to help those who are less fortunate, especially elderly and disabled people from poor families.
My buddy Jacinto and I will be doing a quick tour of Southeast Asia, and we plan to organize and give back during our first week there. While we are staying in Chau Doc, Vietnam, we intend to donate bags of rice purchased from our own money to some of the city's poorest families and elders. We can't imagine spending our Christmas break in any other way. Originally, we thought about helping 20 families and then maybe 50, and then we thought of the possibility of giving rice to 100 or more poor families. Therefore, we are opening up the opportunity to give to our friends. Let's help feed 100 or more families together. It's never a bad thing when we can give even MORE.
If you would like to participate, giving even $1 is giving. There is no pressure to give a lot, but give what you want to give or can. Giving comes from the heart. 100% of the money you donate (after GoFundMe processing fees) will go into buying the rice that will be donated directly to the poor seniors and families. You can also donate via Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, etc. which will help us avoid the GFM processing fees. Just message me via email or text for more info.
I will update you guys with our final fundraising budget as well as the numbers of families and people we end up helping along with pictures and possibly a video too when I return from Asia.
This is just a small quick effort to feed some of Vietnam's poor families over the holiday season while I am physically in Asia as I'm interested in donating my own money, time, and labor over the holiday break and hoping my friends will join me in the spirit of giving. If you have been super touched by the stories and images regarding the poor, elderly people in Vietnam and are interested in doing more and/or want to participate at a grander scale, please feel free to reach out to me directly via email also.
Please feel free to share this campaign with your friends. The more, the merrier. I believe that we are a world of givers.
I hope you all will have a lovely holiday season. And thank you for participating in the giving!
Wishing you and yours a warm and cheerful holiday season!!! See you in 2019!
Cheers,
Damian (& Jacinto)
THE MISSION
We are planning to raise $1,000 to give 10kg of rice (which will last for a week or more per household) to over 100 poor families in the city of Chau Doc, Vietnam during the last week of December 2018 so that they can start the first week of their new year without the worry of going hungry.
POVERTY & THE ELDERLY IN VIETNAM
Poor households in rural areas in Vietnam make roughly under $19 (USD) per month according to statistics in 2015. In urban areas, people on average make $5 per day.
But what's heartbreaking is the story of the aging poor in Vietnam.
"Roughly 7 in 10 of the working seniors in Vietnam’s urban areas work in the informal sector – as market vendors, taxi drivers, waste collectors, scrap pickers, street vendors, lottery ticket sellers... The low and unstable income of such jobs means, very often, a life stuck in poverty, with almost no chance to save up for old age..."
“Our children live a hard life themselves farming, fishing. They don’t earn enough to raise their own kids; they can’t afford to support us,” says Ngo Van Tieng,
More and more Vietnamese elders are working into old age to survive in the world’s most rapidly aging country.
(Read more here )
82-year-old Tran Thi Huong does what she must to survive, like walk the city streets to sell lottery tickets. (Photo Credit: CNA/Mediacorp) THE RECIPIENTS OF YOUR DONATION
100% of your donated money will go to the cost of the rice that will be given to the poor, elderly people and poor families in Chau Doc, Vietnam, where Damian will be based during the last week of December 2018.
Damian, Jacinto and Damian's extended family in Vietnam will cover all of the labor, logistical, and organizational costs. We want to help you get all of your money to those in need.
Pictures of past recipients of Damian's family annual Rice Giving around Tet or Chinese New Year. Images courtesy of Damian's mom and aunt.
Fundraising team (2)
Damian Bao
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY
Jacinto Medina
Team member