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Update 9/14/2021

• On September 12 and 13, we worked with the Lotus Foundation to send 2,500 food packages to assist expectant mothers, seniors and unemployed workers in Thuận An and Phú Giáo, Bình Dương.

Update 9/13/2021

• In the last days of August 2021, our campaign crossed the $500K milestone! This is already beyond our wildest dreams, but it doesn’t end there. Netflix employees and anonymous VietBay members have given us another 3x matching sponsorship: for every $1 you contribute, they will donate an additional $2 for up to $70,000! This is the great news that we alluded to in our last newsletter. The new matching funds, however, are being depleted very quickly! At the time I am writing this line, we’ve successfully matched about $50K out of $70K. You still have a chance to triple up your donation if you act fast :-).

Update 9/12/2021

• To help Vietnamese struggling due to COVID, Naomi and Aiden ran a lemonade stand at Evergreen Square in San Jose from 10:00am to 2:00pm on Saturday, Sep 11. They made $593 from selling lemonade, homemade treats, and beautiful postcards handmade by talented people with disabilities in Vietnam (the Thuat Liem production). Their parents doubled it to $1,200, and matched with Apple to donate a total $2,400 to our fundraiser.

Update 9/11/2021

• We contributed $5,000 to Team Bếp Quang Gánh (led by Nguyễn Hòa Bình). They delivered 570 food packages, 800 meals and 7 treatment doses to Covid patients, blind and handicap people, unemployed workers, and college students, etc.

Update 9/10/2021

• After having to stay put for two weeks due to the military-imposed shelter-in-place, the Lotus Foundation has resumed distributing food! Together we gave 1,054 food packages to 36 low-income worker quarters in Saigon.

• Hanh Trinh Viet, a group of young professionals in Singapore, has organized a webinar “Career growth in Covid era” to raise funds besides contributing their own money. They raised $6,030 SGD plus 4.6mil VND and contributed that to our campaign. This contribution was immediately used to fund 2 patient monitors for the ICU of DC-14 Covid hospital on September 5th. 2x matching funds from Netflix and VietBay members for this contribution have been released, and we are going to order 4 more patient monitors!

Update 9/8/2021

• Team Bếp Ăn Từ Thiện Hạnh Ngộ Thăng Bình visited and gave food to seniors at Trung tâm Dưỡng lão Hiệp Đức.

Update 9/6/2021

• VietBay kids and friends did another amazing event last Sunday afternoon to support our fundraising campaign: they performed live music on Castro street in downtown Mountain View and raised $950 on the spot. With matchings from their parents and parent’s employers, we are told that the expected final contribution to the campaign would be $9,800.

Update 9/4/2021

• To help struggling Vietnamese beyond Saigon and its vicinity, VietBay granted $5,000 to Team Bếp Ăn Từ Thiện Hạnh Ngộ Thăng Bình to help people in need in Quảng Nam. 105 meals were provided to 2 quarantine areas, and 200 food packages have been distributed to Hiep Duc and Phu Ninh Districts.

Update 9/3/2021

• Responding to the calls for help from Doctor Lê Minh Ngọc, VietBay has worked with the Saigon Lovers group to send supplies to support medical workers and to assist treating COVID patients in Binh Duong, with a total value of $5,000 USD.

Update 9/2/2021

• We granted $5,000 to Đồng Hành Scholarship Association to assist 113 college students in Saigon, Danang and Hanoi through this difficult time.

Update 9/1/2021

• We sent 10 patient monitors and 40 syringe pumps to DC-14, Hospital of Tropical Diseases, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Gia Dinh, ENT, Trung Vuong, Thu Duc, District 11, DC-8 and DC-Phu Nhuan.

Update 8/26/2021

• We had to postpone the plan to distribute 718 food packages to people in need in Chieu Luu and Ta Ca villages, Ky Son district, Nghe An province on August 25th due to the strict lock-down in Vinh city. The Lotus Foundation has applied for a permit to transport the food packages from Vinh city to those villages and is waiting for approval.

• To continue supporting Covid hospitals and frontline medical workers, we are ordering 10 monitors and 40 syringe pumps which will be distributed in the next few days. We have also ordered 1,500 oxygen regulators directly from the manufacturer and are looking forward to having them delivered to Vietnam in September.

Update 8/22/2021

• Two little kids ran a lemonade stand in Cuesta park in Mountain View, California to raise fund for our campaign. They made $606, and their parents matched 1:1 to bring the total to $1,818! This will save lives!

Update 8/21/2021

• Racing with the military-imposed lockdown coming on 8/23, we worked with the Lotus Foundation to distribute 600 more food packages to unemployed workers and freelancers in Districts 9, 12, Binh Tan, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon. Below is a message from the Lotus Foundation's volunteer:

  • "Neither spending hours going through checkpoints just to pass a few kilometers nor carrying and transporting tens of tons of goods by a group of fewer than 10 volunteers is the most difficult thing we have to deal with; the hardest thing is seeing so many people in need of help and receiving so many messages asking for help but not being able to help everyone."

Update 8/19/2021

• The Lotus Foundation has completed distributing 1,259 food packages to people in need in Pham Van Hai village, Binh Chanh ward.

Update 8/17/2021

After 2 weeks of expanding the fundraising campaign, here is the summary of activities we have accomplished so far utilizing your contributions:

• Distributed 17,448 food packages to people in need in the following provinces and cities: Saigon, Can Tho, Long An, Tien Giang, Binh Duong, Dak Lak, Buon Me Thuot, Lam Dong, Nghe An and Hanoi. Among them, 16,138 food portions (worth $8-$10/piece) were distributed by the volunteers of the Lotus Foundation, and 1,310 food packages (worth $15/piece) were distributed by VNHelp via the network of Caritas Vietnam.

• Contributed $20,000 to support the Lotus Foundation's repatriation campaign, support people at Hai Lang (Quang Tri) and Hai Van pass (Da Nang) supply stations, and then continue to support people returned to Quang Tri for the expenses they had to pay for 21 days in quarantine facilities.

• Contributed $10,000 to the JOY Foundation to buy 20.1 tons of rice and distributing them to poor people in quarantined areas in Saigon that the Bong Sen Foundation has not yet reached.

• Contributed $25,000 to join hands with grass-root volunteer groups in Saigon to expand food support to more people:

  • Team “Ranh La Di” kitchen provides 3,000 free meals per day.

  • Team "Nhung Chuyen Rau Vui" provides free fresh vegetables for quarantined areas.

  • Team “$1 Meal” group provides 300-500 free meals daily to the homeless.

  • Team "From Saigon To Saigon" provides food support to needy families in the poor communes in Saigon and the vicinities.

  • Team "Saigon Lovers" supports essential food and meals to needy people in Saigon.

• Spent $37,329.53 to acquire 26,300 N95 3M 8210 masks to support Saigon doctors. The first shipment has arrived in Saigon and is waiting for customs clearance, the second batch of 14,300 masks of the same type is on the way back.

Update 8/16/2021

• Pastor Chuong sends a thank you note to VietBay and our supporters. In collaboration with VNHELP and Caritas Vietnam, we distributed 1,310 essential food packages, each worth $15 USD, to families in Saigon, Long An, Tien Giang, Binh Duong Daklak, Buon Me Thuot and Lam Dong provinces.

Update 8/15/2021

• Between August 12th and 15th, we worked with the Lotus Foundation to give 4,288 food packages in An Phu Tay and Tan Tuc villages, Binh Chanh, Saigon. These villages have mostly communes of unemployed workers and freelancers who have been heavily impacted due to the lockdown (photos).

• We've been working with Y Hoc Cong Dong to source and ship N95 masks to Vietnam. Today the first shipment of 24,000 3M 8210 N95 masks from the USA has arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport and is awaiting customs clearance (photos). These masks will be given to front-line medical workers in the next few days.

Update 8/13/2021

• We contributed 450 packages (out of 899 packages) that the Lotus Foundation gave to people in District 12, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Go Vap, Cu Chi, Binh Thanh (photos).

Update 8/11/2021

• From 8/6-8/9, we worked with JOY Foundation to distribute 5.7 tons of rice together with other food items to people in need in quarantined areas in Districts 3, 6, 8, 11, 12, Bình Tân, Tân Phú, Tân Bình, Gò Vấp, Bình Thạnh and Thủ Đức (photos).

• We worked with VNHELP and the Parish of My Tho to distribute 200 food packages in My Tho, Tien Giang province. All food packages were distributed to people in need regardless of their religious beliefs (photos).

Update 8/9/2021

• We distributed 100 food packages to Thủ Thừa, Long An province and another 100 to Ward 6 District 8, Ward Long Thanh My, Thu Duc in Saigon (photos). This is a part of the joint project between VietBay and VNHELP to distribute 1,300 food packages to people in need, distributed by Bo De Phuong Duy school in Long An and church organizations in Saigon. All packages were distributed to people in need regardless of their religious beliefs.

Update 8/8/2021

• We distributed 50 food packages to the families of students of Thien An charter school in Binh Tan, Saigon. The kids are from families of street vendors, and they are also street vendors themselves after school hours (photos). This is a part of the joint project between VietBay and VNHELP to distribute 1,300 food packages to people in need, distributed by Soeur Maria Ngo Thi Kim Thanh.

Update 8/6/2021

• We distributed 165 food packages to people in need in Binh Hung Hoa Ward, Binh Tan District in Saigon (photos). This is part of the joint project between VietBay and VNHELP to distribute 1,300 food packages to assist our people. These food packages have been distributed by several Church associations and Nhu Nghia Brotherhood Of The Blind.

• We distributed another 522 food packages to people in need in Thu Dau Mot city, Ben Cat town, and Bac Tan Uyen town in Binh Duong province (photos). This is a part of the joint project between VietBay and VNHELP to distribute 1,300 food packages to assist our people. These food packages have been distributed by several Church associations in the Diocese of Binh Duong .

Update 8/5/2021

• We awarded $10,000 to JOY Foundation. They bought 20 tons of rice and are going to distribute to people in District 8, 12, Binh Tan, Go Vap and Binh Thanh (photos).

Update 8/3/2021

• We would like to share some photos of the distribution of 50 gift packages in Dom B commune, Lac Xuan village, Don Duong district, Lam Dong province; and 73 gift packages for people in in D-ling 2 commune, Easien village, Buon Ho district, Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province. This is part of the cooperation program between VNHelp and VietBay to distribute 1,300 gifts with a total value of 20,000 USD to speed up the process of supporting people in need.

Update 8/2/2021

• We would like to update with some photos taken at the support stations at the peak of Hai Van pass, Quang Nam province and Hai Lang area, Quang Tri province. Thanks to The Lotus Foundation volunteers for helping people on the way to their homeland.

• Another good news: Volunteers of The Lotus Foundation have started being vaccinated. Hopefully they will be issued travel permits soon to continue distributing food packages to people in need in Sai Gon.

Update 8/1/2021

• Good news: Netflix has approved another round of matching for our fundraising campaign. If we could raise another $10K, Netflix will match another $20K. Including this matching, Netflix has contributed over $60K to our fundraising campaign.

• With the epidemic situation increasing across many provinces and cities in Vietnam, we have decided to continue the fundraising to August 31st, and also expand the purpose to support people in need in impacted provinces and cities, as well as to support frontline medical workers.

• As of 23:39 of 7/31/2021, we have raised $238,266.11 and VND 217,959,000. We have sent $110,000 to the Lotus Foundation, equivalent to 12,000 gift packages to assist people in need in Saigon. 9241 packages have been distributed, and the rest will be distributed once the foundation could get the transportation permit.

• A stream of migrants are fleeing Saigon to return to their homeland. The Lotus Foundation has set up several aid stations along the highway to supply gasoline, food, milk and water for them. We would like to contribute $20,000 to join hand with The Lotus Foundation in that effort.

• To expand our support to people in need, we have contributed $10,000 to the campaign #CƠMSAIGON of JOY foundation, providing free meal to help people in quarantined areas.

Update 7/29/2021

• The Lotus Foundation has distributed 2040 more gift packages to people in need in Ward Phu Thuan, Than Thuan Dong and Binh Thuan in District 7; Ward Cau Kho in District 1, Ward 15 in District 4 and Ward 13 in District Phu Nhuan (photos).

• The Foundation will continue surveying other areas at their best while following the shelter-in-place and curfew regulations and other guidelines for the volunteers’ safety. We will keep updating when receiving further information from them.

• In order to reach out to more people in need, VietBay will start supporting some selected groups which are providing free meals to people in need, besides the on-going gift distribution campaign. We will share photos and information about these activities.

Update 7/26/2021

• VietBay will advance another $40,000 to The Lotus Foundation to continue distributing gift packages to assist people in need in Saigon.

• The Lotus Foundation has finished surveying and will be distributing gift packages to the following areas during this week (photos):

  • Cau Kho Ward, District 1: 250 packages

  • Ward 15, District 4: 340 packages

  • Ward 13, Phu Nhuan District: 250 packages

  • Several areas in District 7: 1,200 packages

• With this round of distribution and advancement, we will be reaching the milestone of 12,000 gift packages to help needy people, surpassing the original goal of 3,000 packages.

• Due to the epidemic situation spreading all over the country, we would like to expand the scope of help to other provinces and cities besides Saigon, and hope to continue receiving your support to help more people in the country.

• We are also considering continuing the fundraising campaign after July 31st, as well as extending our support to frontline doctors, nurses and other medical workers until the situation improves. We will make an official announcement when we have the final decision.

Update 7/24/2021

• We would like to update with some video clips and photos about the preparation and distribution of 2,000 gift packages to people in need in An Lac, Binh Tan on July 23rd. Gift packages have been tailored according to the demand. For people who live in the same complex, rice was distributed to them together in the 50kg bag(s) instead of splitting out.

• Thanks to all of the Lotus Foundation’s volunteers for your time and kindness to help people in such a very difficult time.

Update 7/23/2021

• We would like to update with some photos about the distribution of 2,333 gift packages in Tan-Tao A, District Binh Tan on 7/22.

• The Lotus Foundation will continue distributing 2000 gift packages to people in need in An Lac wards of Binh Tan district on 7/24. We will update again when receiving the photos from The Lotus Foundation.

Update 7/22/2021

• We would like to update with some more photos about the gift distributions in District 4 on 7/20. The gift distributions were done strictly following safety and social distancing guidelines.

• The Lotus Foundation will distribute the gift packages to people in need in Tan Tao A and An Lac wards of Binh Tan district on 7/23 and 7/24. The gift packages have been tailored according to their need with the content (photos). We will distribute 2,333 packages in Tan Tao A ward on Friday 7/23, and 2,000 packages in the An Lac ward on Saturday 7/24.

• As of now, we’ve raised from all channels $187,467 USD and 166M VND. Of these amounts, $70,000 USD and 166M VND were already deposited to The Lotus Foundation’s accounts in Vietnam. You can also check these numbers by going to https://kiemtra.quybongsen.org/ and entering VietBay in the "Tên nhà hảo tâm" box.

• We’ve distributed 2,868 $8-packages and will be distributing another 4,333 $12-packages by this weekend.

Update 7/20/2021

• Our fundraiser has just been approved by Netflix for another matching round. Similar to the previous time, for every $1 being raised Netflix will contribute $2 for up to $20,000.

• In order to expand our support to people in need in other areas and to reduce the workload on the Lotus Foundation, we'd like to use $20K in the donation fund to join with VNHelp to distribute our gifts. We'll share photos details of the distribution plan shortly.

• The Lotus Foundation has just finished surveying areas in need of help in District 4, which is only a river from the center of Saigon but life is like in another world. The foundation will distribute 1,500 gift packages from donations received via our fundraiser, starting July 21 2021 (photos and videos).

Update 7/19/2021

• As of 7/19/2021, we've raised a total of $127,000 and 150M VND!

• The Lotus Foundation has received the additional $50,000 that VietBay advanced last week, also just finished surveying Tan Tao A and An Lac wards in Binh Tan district (see photos). These are the 2 wards that gather a lot of workers from industrial zones and street vendors (50,000 out of 70,000 residents of Tan Tao A), also where there are high numbers of Covid-19 infections: Tan Tao A has 975 cases and An Lac 800.

• The Lotus Foundation will prepare 2,000 gift packages for Tan Tao A and 1,500 for An Lac, trying to meet the needs of people as much as the consumer goods supply chain allows (the Lotus Foundation told us: “we can’t buy goods, the situation is messed up like in war times”). Gift packages will be distributed sometime this week, we'll share photos in upcoming days.

• We also plan to increase the value of the gift package to 300,000 VND ($12 USD) for people in Tan Tao A ward, as they have been in much tougher situations than others.

Update 7/15/2021

• As of today, we have raised on all channels over 106,000 USD and 67 million VND! A huge thank you to everyone who supported our motherland during this difficult time.

• 67 million VND was transferred directly to the account of the Lotus Foundation at Vietcombank. The advance of $20,000 from VietBay Inc was also deposited into the Lotus Foundation’s account at BIDV (see receipt). You can also check these numbers by going to https://kiemtra.quybongsen.org/ and entering VietBay in the "Tên nhà hảo tâm" box.

• In the past week the Lotus Foundation surveyed to find which areas need help the most, and has started giving gifts to people in Hoc Mon and Binh Tan on the morning of July 15, 2021 (see pictures of gift distribution)

• VietBay Inc Board of Directors is going to make another advance of $50,000 (see transfer receipt).

• We’ve decided to extend the campaign until the end of July, because the situation in Saigon and the whole country is getting direr and direr, and many people are still in need of help.

Update 7/7/2021

• As of 23:59 7/7/2021 we had raised on all channels $37,557 and 10 million VND, far beyond the original goal! A big thank you to everyone who supported our motherland during this difficult time.

• 10 million VND (equivalent to 50 gift packages) was directly transferred to the account of the Lotus Foundation at Vietcombank. Part of the amount of $37,557 has reached VietBay Inc's accounts, the rest will take 4-6 weeks to arrive. In order to promptly help people in the quarantined areas, VietBay Inc Board of Directors made an advance of $20,000 and is transferring it to the Lotus Foundation (transfer receipt). We will transfer the rest as soon as the money reaches our accounts.

• The fundraising campaign will continue until July 20 because the situation in Saigon is becoming more complicated, and many poor people in quarantined areas still need help. The good news is that every penny you put in will still be tripled! In the past two days, a portion of the donation has been matched by Google. Today, a member of the campaign team successfully convinced Netflix to support us. If we raise $10,000 more, Netflix will donate another $20,000!

• If the total amount of donations exceeds $50,000, we will consider extending our help to other affected areas beyond Saigon.

FAQ

How did this campaign get started?

Before Covid, VietBay has raised various small campaigns to help Vietnamese in Vietnam such as those affected by natural disasters, orphanages, or disadvantaged kids in remote areas. We worked with non-government partners in Vietnam and all our raised money is 100% used on our beneficiaries.

When COVID broke out last year in US and Vietnam, we donated to various causes in both countries: frontline workers via FrontLine Foods, food for poor people via Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. For Vietnam, we raised 34K USD to help people who relied on the street to earn their living, and thus heavily affected by the lockdown.

From April through out May 2021, Vietnam and Saigon specifically started to experience the worst COVID outbreak since the start of the pandemic. The city and its districts were in total lockdown, with many unfortunate people cannot work to earn a little income to support their daily living basis. Knowing the lockdown would make their lives very difficult, if not taking away all the sources of income, we decided to have a fundraiser for them.

How would your donations be used?

Since we don't have a representation in Vietnam, we channel your donations to local organizations. We only work with trusted, non-government charitable partners in Vietnam. Our activities are 100% apolitical, with our sole purpose is to help people in dire need of help.

Our largest partner is the Lotus Foundation. We trust them for several reasons: transparency (audited by Earns and Young), great coverage in Vietnam, and efficiency with 100% donations go to the beneficiaries. We have also collaborated with them for many successful projects in the past.

Currently we also work with many groups: VNHELP, Chung Tay vi Saigon, Stay Strong Saigon, whose members are also VietBay members, or strongly recommended by our members. We are all stronger together!

How does matching work?

A big source of our donations comes from corporate matching. In US, many companies have a matching policy for their employees. Many VietBay members were able to leverage their employers' policies and effectively double or triple their original donation.

If you are requesting a matching from your company, please direct it to VietBay Inc. (EIN: 83-2887496, Benevity: https://causes.benevity.org/causes/840-832887496?lang=en). Please email treasurer@vietbay.group if you need a receipt for the matching.

Who are the organizers?

• Binh Le (Juniper Networks, VietBay Inc)

• Trang Le (VietBay Inc)

• Thai Duong (Google, VietBay Inc)

• Duc Ha (Sumo Logic, VietBay Inc)

• Minh Do (NASA, VietBay Inc)

• Tuan Anh Ngo (Netflix)

• Andrew Hoang Nguyen (Netflix)

• Trung Nguyen (Netflix Research)

• Nguyen Le (Netflix)

Media

• VNExpress: Sài Gòn "bao" thương

• Zing News: Người Việt ở Thung lũng Silicon hỗ trợ bà con TP.HCM trong dịch

• Sài Gòn Nhỏ - Người Việt: Nhóm VietBay ở San Jose trả ân tình cho Sài Gòn giữa đại dịch

• VTC16: Cộng đồng Việt kiều hỗ trợ bà con TP.HCM trong đại dịch Covid-19

• VTV4: tiếng Việt - English