ATG began the year of 2017 by selecting 32 orphans from various schools of Hai Chanh District, a very poor town of Quang Tri, a war-torn province in Central Vietnam. Since Tết (Luna New Year)’s approaching, we included in the gift packages Jasmine rice, milk, and some Tet’s special sweet treats (Mứt) to help these children celebrate Tết. Each gift package cost only 405,000VND, but sure brought to these children much happiness.

In March, Mang Phan, a retired teacher and ATG volunteer in Quang Tri, worked with various school districts to select 310 students from 18 different schools for a distribution of gift packages. These students had lost one or both parents and were from “extremely poor” or “poor” classified families. Our volunteer surveyed their needs and decided upon the gift packages, which this time were comprised of school backpacks, a set of clothes for the summer, school supplies, 10kg of Jasmine rice and milk. For the 92 Kindergarten students, we provided each of them with a school backpack and a larger supply of milk instead of rice. Each gift package cost approximately 340,000VND.

Students from Phong Hoa Middle and Elementary Schools received gifts from ATG

 

Students from Hai Tan Elementary and Middle schools happily received gift packages

 

Hai Hoa Middle and Elementary schools.

Students from Hai Truong and Hai Son Middle schools with their gifts from ATG.

Students from Trieu Thanh school district received their gift from ATG

Students with their gift packages of rice, new clothes, backpack and school supplies.

Our volunteers — Mãng Phan and her husband Hung Chi Nguyen — made the wishes of these disadvantaged children come true.

With a total of a little more than $5,000 USD, we were able to bring needed items to 342 children from disadvantaged families from Quang Tri Province. During one distribution, a mother of one student cried and told our volunteers that she and her child could not dream of receiving such a large gift of much needed items. She shed tears of happiness and hope. ATG’s mission is to inspire these children and their families to strive for an education and a better future.

We want to thank our volunteers, Mang Phan and her husband, Hung Chi Nguyen, who spent countless hours working with the school districts to select the appropriate children for aid in addition to negotiating with vendors for quality products to fit our budget to give our recipients