Help the poor

There are many, many, many charity groups in every large and medium city. Contact your ward, ask for the Youth Union or Women’s Club, they will direct you to the legit ones.

Ciambella wrote:

There are many, many, many charity groups in every large and medium city. Contact your ward, ask for the Youth Union or Women’s Club, they will direct you to the legit ones.

Usually you can donate at your local police station who organize food collections for poorer families

Hi Nick

HCWA does fantastic work and has been operational for many years.

They are responsive to their Facebook messages - pop them a line and they will respond

https://www.facebook.com/hcwa.org.vn

I don't know much about HCWA reputation so I cannot say anything about it, but there is one thing I don't like about big charity organisations *all over the world* is that they use their fund to pay their operational expenses.   

It costs money to buy a web domain.  It costs money to hire a webmaster to design a website and maintain it.  It costs money to pay the salary of the directors and the staff.  It costs money to pay a person to respond to online inquiries at all hours.  It costs money to lease an office, pay the utilities, the Internet, the cleaning people, the security people, the parking attendant, etc.  All of those expenses are paid first; the recipients are paid second.  The welfare of the organisation and its staff is placed above the welfare of the recipients.

The best thing about charity groups in Vietnam is that they're grassroots and all people involved in them work for free.  If there's an office, it's more than likely a donated space.  There's no website (a FB page is free).  When they take the donated items and money to the recipients, the vehicles belong to the staff or their friends and family members, the fuel are paid out of their pocket, the food and drink are bought or brought by them. 

In short, when you donate 100k to a legit charity group in Vietnam, you can sleep well knowing that *at least* 9,990 đồng would be received by the recipients -- and if you have any doubt, you're always welcome to tag along to see your donation at work.

The difference between giving to a big charity organisation and giving to a grassroots charity group:  with the former, part of your money is used to pay salary to a group of able people (some of the salaries may be higher than yours); with the latter, all of your money is used to help needy and destitute people.

You can look up Sisters of Charity in Hoc Mon,Saigon. I did work with them years ago. They help single mothers whose families abandon them and the poor families in and around Hoc Mon. Sorry I dont have a contact number.

Thank you for all that info.

I will do, thank you.

Thank you for the info.

Hello,
For those who would be interested
You can see this association on this site. Translation with Google translate.

http://thiennguyenlabode.com

The uses of all donations, names of donors are transcribed and can be viewed on the site. Everything is transparent.

There are certainly English speaking members. All volunteers, without any compensation, students, young workers ....

You could participate to get to know them better.

Thank you for that, I will make contact.

IDFVN wrote:

http://thiennguyenlabode.com

The uses of all donations, names of donors are transcribed and can be viewed on the site. Everything is transparent.

Thank you for the link.  From what I read on the site, it's the exact type of preferable charity group/organisation which I described in my previous post, albeit a (seems to be) larger size and with far reaching funding sources.

Taken from the About Us section (my translation):

"All donations are used entirely for charity. Persons involved are informed of the distributions by correspondence; the report is also available on the website.  During each event, all expenses (car rental, fuel, etc.) are paid by the participants, not taken from the fund.

High valued contributions such as cash or jewelries are distributed to the specific program or recipients indicated by the donors, with details given in separate reports."

Another good thing:  the organisation focuses on needy people in remote areas where public assistance is hard to find. 

Thumbs up from me. 

Thanks Ciambelle for the details.
Hope this will convince and motivate other people.

This is the exact association that I give "with my eyes closed" (oops, very modest contributions).

I had the pleasure of being able to participate, in 2018, in an operation to help lepers in the Dat Lat region.
The team was super friendly.
Everything was well organized by the "responsible chef and his wife", of course, always on a voluntary basis ...
I have kept a warm experience and beautiful memories.

IDFVN wrote:

Thanks Ciambella for the details.
Hope this will convince and motivate other people.

This is the exact association that I give "with my eyes closed" (oops, very modest contributions).

I had the pleasure of being able to participate, in 2018, in an operation to help lepers in the Dat Lat region.
The team was super friendly.
Everything was well organized by the "responsible chef and his wife", of course, always on a voluntary basis ...
I have kept a warm experience and beautiful memories.

Sorry : Ciambella.

IDFVN wrote:

Sorry : Ciambella.

That's OK.  Ciambelle (the way you wrote it the first time) is doughnuts, the plural of ciambella, one doughnut -- in Italian.  I've been using that handle for more than 20 years, a tribute to my husband who has a crazy sweet tooth.

nick4946 wrote:

I would like to make a contribution to help feed the poor in HCMC due to Covid. Does anyone know of a genuine organisation that I could donate to?

Taking this in a much different direction than other respondents:

My music production company used to host a regular songwriter showcase night in Nashville, Tennessee.

There was a little bit of regular name recognition for me and my company that came from the events being listed in local newspapers.

One year on my birthday, I decided that I would produce a special showcase to benefit a small local charity with which I'd previously done volunteer work.

I contacted a friend at church who was on the board of directors of the charity.

After I explained what I wanted to do, they gave me an official approval to hold the event in their name.

The event turned out to be a much greater success than I had imagined, largely due to the last minute edition of some big name singer-songwriters to the bill.

We raised a fair amount of money which I then presented to the organization through my friend on the board of directors.

I suppose I could have just quietly done a benefit show, which "might" have brought in as much money, and then quietly gone to the organization and anonymously slipped the money into their donation box.

Some might say that would be the good and spiritual thing to do, and I won't argue with that.

But as it turned out, the board of directors of the charity invited me to join the board.

Also, I made at least a dozen major connections with members of the Nashville music business community through hosting that event.

I remember one music business executive telling me that it was nice to have me as a contributing member of the local community.

So many transplants like me are usually seen as being transients in that town, no matter how long they live there.

I'm telling the story because there are a lot of different kinds of expats in Vietnam.

Some are very transient.

Others are trying their best to simply retire in peace and quiet.

But there are other foreigners living in Vietnam who have great hopes of being
fully accepted as contributing members of the community.

I have personally given significant donations to two different charitable efforts while living in Danang by approaching someone whom I knew was very involved in a donation drive.

That person was then able to approach the head of the charitable effort and present my donation to them.

In both cases, I experienced a definite boost in my local community profile there.

You can say that this isn't the way charitable donations should be given, but in the business world, it's how business people earn a special kind of "good will" capital that supports their own endeavors in the community.

To Ciambella's comments about giving to organizations and other suggestions about contacting the police:

In one of the cases I gave to a volunteer (non-paid) member of the board of directors of an orphanage.

In the other case, I gave to a community activist who was working directly with the Danang Police Department to provide food directly to those affected by last summer's lockdown.

So if I were there right now, I probably wouldn't go to the police department to offer my donation.

Instead, I would go to someone I trust who is working with the police to collect donations.

Because that way my friend would be able to show the police that he is able to obtain a substantial donation from a foreigner, and I would hopefully be seen as someone who honestly cares about the local community and wants to be a responsible resident.

(Yes I said I was deleting my account, but admin talked me out of it)

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

nick4946 wrote:

I would like to make a contribution to help feed the poor in HCMC due to Covid. Does anyone know of a genuine organisation that I could donate to?

Taking this in a much different direction than other respondents:



Also, I made at least a dozen major connections with members of the Nashville music business community through hosting that event.

I nearly chocked to death on a piece of tough steak in the Crazy Horse in Nashville. Had to get the heimlich maneuver done on me. Place was full & all round me when this mini emergency was acted out the show went on & not one of the other tables batted an eyelid, except when the bit of steak came shooting out It landed in this guys beer & that caused a bit of a stir right enough.

Ciambella wrote:

IDFVN wrote:

Sorry : Ciambella.

That's OK.  Ciambelle (the way you wrote it the first time) is doughnuts, the plural of ciambella, one doughnut -- in Italian.  I've been using that handle for more than 20 years, a tribute to my husband who has a crazy sweet tooth.

Thanks Ciambella for the nice explanation. 🤗

nick4946 wrote:

I would like to make a contribution to help feed the poor in HCMC due to Covid. Does anyone know of a genuine organisation that I could donate to?

Nick4946, I believe the following organizations are genuinely working to help the poor during this tough time

1. The nuns of Da Minh Tam Hiep Order - They are helping the poor, regardless of religion
2. Happy Veggie Ride - Supplying vegetables to the poor
3. Song Foundation - They have multiple campaigns, eg. medical, food, etc.
4. Joy Foundation - #ComSaigon campaign to feed the poor
5. Viet Nam Oi Co Len Project
6. One Egg a Day

avhexpat wrote:

Nick4946, I believe the following organizations are genuinely working to help the poor during this tough time

1. The nuns of Da Minh Tam Hiep Order - They are helping the poor, regardless of religion
2. Happy Veggie Ride - Supplying vegetables to the poor
3. Song Foundation - They have multiple campaigns, eg. medical, food, etc.
4. Joy Foundation - #ComSaigon campaign to feed the poor
5. Viet Nam Oi Co Len Project
6. One Egg a Day

I don't know anything about #3 (Song Foundation) and #4 (Joy Foundation).  Number 2 is one of the hundreds of youth groups that sprang up during Covid which I think is trustworthy. 

The other two are very good organisations, especially #6 (One Egg a Day), a highly trustworthy institution that has not strayed from its pure charitable goal year after year, and where my yearly contribution was sent when I still lived in the States.

Thank you for the list, avhexpat.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

nick4946 wrote:

I would like to make a contribution to help feed the poor in HCMC due to Covid. Does anyone know of a genuine organisation that I could donate to?

Taking this in a much different direction than other respondents:

My music production company used to host a regular songwriter showcase night in Nashville, Tennessee.

There was a little bit of regular name recognition for me and my company that came from the events being listed in local newspapers.

One year on my birthday, I decided that I would produce a special showcase to benefit a small local charity with which I'd previously done volunteer work.

I contacted a friend at church who was on the board of directors of the charity.

After I explained what I wanted to do, they gave me an official approval to hold the event in their name.

The event turned out to be a much greater success than I had imagined, largely due to the last minute edition of some big name singer-songwriters to the bill.

We raised a fair amount of money which I then presented to the organization through my friend on the board of directors.

I suppose I could have just quietly done a benefit show, which "might" have brought in as much money, and then quietly gone to the organization and anonymously slipped the money into their donation box.

Some might say that would be the good and spiritual thing to do, and I won't argue with that.

But as it turned out, the board of directors of the charity invited me to join the board.

Also, I made at least a dozen major connections with members of the Nashville music business community through hosting that event.

I remember one music business executive telling me that it was nice to have me as a contributing member of the local community.

So many transplants like me are usually seen as being transients in that town, no matter how long they live there.

I'm telling the story because there are a lot of different kinds of expats in Vietnam.

Some are very transient.

Others are trying their best to simply retire in peace and quiet.

But there are other foreigners living in Vietnam who have great hopes of being
fully accepted as contributing members of the community.

I have personally given significant donations to two different charitable efforts while living in Danang by approaching someone whom I knew was very involved in a donation drive.

That person was then able to approach the head of the charitable effort and present my donation to them.

In both cases, I experienced a definite boost in my local community profile there.

You can say that this isn't the way charitable donations should be given, but in the business world, it's how business people earn a special kind of "good will" capital that supports their own endeavors in the community.

To Ciambella's comments about giving to organizations and other suggestions about contacting the police:

In one of the cases I gave to a volunteer (non-paid) member of the board of directors of an orphanage.

In the other case, I gave to a community activist who was working directly with the Danang Police Department to provide food directly to those affected by last summer's lockdown.

So if I were there right now, I probably wouldn't go to the police department to offer my donation.

Instead, I would go to someone I trust who is working with the police to collect donations.

Because that way my friend would be able to show the police that he is able to obtain a substantial donation from a foreigner, and I would hopefully be seen as someone who honestly cares about the local community and wants to be a responsible resident.

(Yes I said I was deleting my account, but admin talked me out of it)

Hello OceanBeach92107, glad to read you

Yes. Thank OceanBeach92107
  for your achievements.
The inhabitants of remote areas and very far from big cities (unfortunately often forgotten) still need so many active and generous people, (like you 😉 ....).

I am apprehensive about future hurricanes in the coastal area of ​​central VN. People will no longer receive aid as was the case in previous years, because of the Covid. The population will suffer terribly, and still a lot of misery and loss of human life.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that there are no hurricanes, no tropical storms, at least for this year.

At VN, there are wonderful little humanitarian associations.
I take this post to point out one of them, which is no longer at all small, but has become an NGO, (non-governmental organization), particularly extraordinary, maybe many of you know it . By the extraordinary will of a pretty young girl, because at the time, she was only 19 years old. The residents found their paradise there compared to their previous life.
Her story, Aline Rebeaud, "mother" "Tim" "", her achievements. Site.

Nhà May Mắn : House of luck

If I dare, Ciambella number 1 👍🤗 to better inform readers, if she has time.

IDFVN wrote:

Her story, Aline Rebeaud, "mother" "Tim" "", her achievements. Site.

Nhà May Mắn : House of luck

If I dare, Ciambella number 1 👍🤗 to better inform readers, if she has time.

I do know of Aline Rebeaud's Maison Chance, but I must decline your invite to "inform readers" as I do not have enough time at all to get to everything I need to do each day.  I'm so far behind on my own projects and my obligation with this site, the only way I can take in one more thing is if I skip sleeping altogether.

Ciambella wrote:

IDFVN wrote:

Her story, Aline Rebeaud, "mother" "Tim" "", her achievements. Site.

Nhà May Mắn : House of luck

If I dare, Ciambella number 1 👍🤗 to better inform readers, if she has time.

I do know of Aline Rebeaud's Maison Chance, but I must decline your invite to "inform readers" as I do not have enough time at all to get to everything I need to do each day.  I'm so far behind on my own projects and my obligation with this site, the only way I can take in one more thing is if I skip sleeping altogether.

Ciambella. Thanks anyway. I totally understand. You must have extensible hours😉.
The interested reader will find out for himself.

goodolboy wrote:

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

nick4946 wrote:

I would like to make a contribution to help feed the poor in HCMC due to Covid. Does anyone know of a genuine organisation that I could donate to?

Taking this in a much different direction than other respondents:



Also, I made at least a dozen major connections with members of the Nashville music business community through hosting that event.

I nearly chocked to death on a piece of tough steak in the Crazy Horse in Nashville. Had to get the heimlich maneuver done on me. Place was full & all round me when this mini emergency was acted out the show went on & not one of the other tables batted an eyelid, except when the bit of steak came shooting out It landed in this guys beer & that caused a bit of a stir right enough.

Glad you're at VN😄. No risk of big steck as in the USA😄.

Ciambella wrote:

I don't know anything about #3 (Song Foundation) and #4 (Joy Foundation).  Number 2 is one of the hundreds of youth groups that sprang up during Covid which I think is trustworthy. 

The other two are very good organisations, especially #6 (One Egg a Day), a highly trustworthy institution that has not strayed from its pure charitable goal year after year, and where my yearly contribution was sent when I still lived in the States.

Thank you for the list, avhexpat.

It's my pleasure Ciambella. I am more than happy to share the list with nick4946, hoping it'd help him with some options for further research to find those that resonate with him.

As for Joy Foundation, I was drawn to them for their #ComSaigon campaign to feed the poor during Covid. Their root was in scholarship for poor students and clean water for minorities on the Highland.

Song Foundation seems to have a pretty big operation. From what I was able to gather, they have deeper pocket than most others, allowing them to span multiple fronts all at once (meal for the poor & front-liners, medical equipment, etc.).

https://www.saigonchildren.com/

My wife and I donate monthly to a Children's charity here in Saigon,   "Saigon Children"  They do a great job especially for children in lockdown areas and from impoverished families,

I remember back in 2009 I used to go to a very small orphanage in Tan Phu. My gf and I used to help out with the kids and donate items to them. The nun running the place asked us not to bring too many people to the orphanage to donate money as the neighbours would contact the police, who would then arrive and ask for a percentage of the donations. I was totally disgusted when I heard this, unfortunately its not uncommon here.

colinoscapee wrote:

I remember back in 2009 I used to go to a very small orphanage in Tan Phu. My gf and I used to help out with the kids and donate items to them. The nun running the place asked us not to bring too many people to the orphanage to donate money as the neighbours would contact the police, who would then arrive and ask for a percentage of the donations. I was totally disgusted when I heard this, unfortunately its not uncommon here.

But the police (well some of them) give to charity too, I have seen videos of it.

goodolboy wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

I remember back in 2009 I used to go to a very small orphanage in Tan Phu. My gf and I used to help out with the kids and donate items to them. The nun running the place asked us not to bring too many people to the orphanage to donate money as the neighbours would contact the police, who would then arrive and ask for a percentage of the donations. I was totally disgusted when I heard this, unfortunately its not uncommon here.

But the police (well some of them) give to charity too, I have seen videos of it.

Yeah, propaganda is a great thing.
They just happen to have someone filming it,lol.

I just sent my finance $1000.00 to feed the people in here community, she will have rice delivered and she will purchase 500 eggs, because they have been out of work for so long that I’m afraid the people are very  hungry.

Thanh6161 wrote:

I just sent my finance $1000.00 to feed the people in here community, she will have rice delivered and she will purchase 500 eggs, because they have been out of work for so long that I’m afraid the people are very  hungry.

That's a very generous donation.  500 eggs cost about $45.  Charity rice (good rice sold at cost for charity groups) is 12k or $0.50/kg.  So, aside from the 500 eggs, she'll be able to buy 2 tons of rice for the other $950.  I hope she'll help many other communities beside hers.

Ciambella wrote:

Thanh6161 wrote:

I just sent my finance $1000.00 to feed the people in here community, she will have rice delivered and she will purchase 500 eggs, because they have been out of work for so long that I’m afraid the people are very  hungry.

500 eggs cost about $45.  Charity rice (good rice sold at cost for charity groups) is 12k or $0.50/kg.  So, aside from the 500 eggs, she'll be able to buy 2 tons of rice for the other $950.  That's a lot of rice.  I hope she'll help many other communities beside hers.

Well, the USD is falling against the VND... 😉😉😉

She should be able to help other communities hers is not all that big, the community her son lives in has been locked down for over a month and I think they will need rice delivered there also, she will give the rice out until it is gone.

Hello.

For those who haven't read this article.

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/life/trend … 41226.html

IDFVN wrote:

Hello.

For those who haven't read this article.

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/life/trend … 41226.html

Yes, and the bank info to donate is ACB Bank, account number 114543209, name Le thi lan anh.  It took a while before someone provided their web page address, https://www.facebook.com/nhomtamlongchung, and then I had to ask my friend to ferret out the info for donating.

Ciambella wrote:

That's a very generous donation.  500 eggs cost about $45.  Charity rice (good rice sold at cost for charity groups) is 12k or $0.50/kg.  So, aside from the 500 eggs, she'll be able to buy 2 tons of rice for the other $950.  I hope she'll help many other communities beside hers.

Monday my VN wife contacted the Red Cross in Ben Cat to donate money to buy food stuff for the three blocks surrounding us.  We were told they would do a count of who needed help.

On Tuesday, we got the report there were more than 300 families who would need help, so we asked how much each food gift would cost so we could bank transfer the money (we don't keep much cash in the house).  The answer was "15k/kg for the rice but didn't know and would have to check the prices of the other items." Each gift would include rice, sugar, cooking oil, soy sauce, nước mắm  and a case of instant noodles.

On Wednesday we heard the sound of silence.  A neighbor came to us and asked for help to feed his family with two children.  He had no work for two months and was out of money.  We gave him a million to buy what he could and share with his neighbors. Another neighbor had come last week as well.

It is now Thursday.  We gave two million to help the "rooms for rent" families across the street.  Still waiting for the Red Cross.  If we don't get some action by noon, we are going to the "Captain of the Ward" to ask for volunteers to help us buy and distribute food.  We are still under Directive 16 rules.

I am now with Ciambella's advice:  give to local charity groups if you can and only give to an International Organization for an international disaster.

I love how everyone is helping out I am so proud of everyone, my wife has just handed out a thousand dollars in rice eggs and I no this sounds bad but some Pepsi but we thought everyone needed a treat at this time the human race is still very caring and I am proud to be part of it.

I suppose this is related to this post, I was surprised to read yesterday in the VN Express about the number of expats that are broke, homeless and living on the streets in Saigon and are living on food handouts from local Vietnamese volunteers..most are saying they have lost there teaching jobs due to COVID and some are saying they can't get home to their country of origin.. ?