Blue Dragon Children's Foundation USA

NYU VSA has chosen to partner with Blue Dragon for our 2021 MÌNH Charity Gala! We welcome you to tune in via Zoom on April 23rd, 2021 at 8 P.M. EST for a night of performances and raffles as we raise money to support Blue Dragon. 

We believe that all children deserve to be nurtured and supported so that they may have the courage to pursue their dreams. NYU VSA hopes to become a small part of the efforts in changing these children's lives. Join us and Blue Dragon in creating change.

If you would like to participate in our raffle, you can find more information about the prizes on our social media:
Instagram: @nyuvsa
Facebook: NYU VSA
Raffle tickets are $5 each and all raffle ticket proceeds go to Blue Dragon Children's Foundation. Each ticket is one entry. You can enter as many times as you’d like, to whichever prize you desire! Make sure to include your name and the prize when you donate. Please make a comment after making your donation with your name, the prize you would like to enter for, and your email address. Please fill out the RSVP form as well regardless of whether you attend or not. Reminder: you can still donate/buy raffles if you can’t make the event! 

Prizes:
1. Airpods Pro
2. Art Prints from Bao Pham and Thanh Nhan Nguyen (visit our Instagram @nyuvsa to see what the pieces look like)
3. Vietnamese Coffee Phin and Coffee from Nguyen Coffee Supply

PLEASE  DO NOT FORGET TO COMMENT IF YOU ARE ENTERING THE RAFFLE: We can not contact you if you do not comment.

PLEASE ALSO FILL OUT THE RSVP FORM: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehH_gZpFC53OxGtTjx9MWAfBcSPAmFz3l-MmGjs_QMiQ1mnQ/viewform

More information about Blue Dragon Children's Foundation USA: Blue Dragon Children's Foundation is a grassroots charity that reaches out to kids in crisis throughout Vietnam. Blue Dragon kids are street kids, children with disabilities, children from very poor families and victims of human trafficking and slavery. We offer a comprehensive range of services led by our dedicated team of social workers, psychologists, teachers and lawyers. We aim to break the poverty cycle by offering education and long-term opportunities to those in most need in Vietnam.

My name is Will Lester and this summer my goal is to give back to the country that is hosting me, inspire some of my students to step up outside the classroom to make a change, and to cycle the roughly 2000 km from Hanoi in northern Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. Over the last 12 years I have enjoyed traveling and have met many people along the way (cycling, backpacking, and even one man walking) who have inspired this trip. 

After months of research and talking to friends who have either visited, or are from Vietnam, I have decided to raise money on this trip towards the cause of Human Trafficking. Vietnam is a source country where young boys and girls are trafficked to China, other neighboring countries, and within Vietnam. I am teaming up with Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Hanoi, Vietnam for this ride. Blue Dragon has provided me with information, encouragement, and inspiration for this trip. They have had helping the children of Vietnam on their mind since 2003 and have helped educate, shelter, and save thousands of children. You can find more information below


The goal of raising $4,000 is not a number chosen at random, but is instead broken down into two goals. $2,000 of this goal will go towards the transportation of Blue Dragon Foundation employees to China to help rescue and bring back young women who have been sold into human trafficking. The other half, will go towards a years worth of nutrition and shelter for 5 women who have been rescued from human trafficking. These women are currently awaiting education and resources to hopefully return back to a regular, enjoyable, day-to-day life full of happiness, comfort, and opportunity.


Part of this trip was also put together with my past, current, and future students in mind; hoping they will see that life is about learning from challenges and if those challenges aren’t coming at you then it is ok to go out and find them. Most of the concepts and content that we teach in school goes along with the UN Sustainable Goals, but rarely do we as teachers stop to investigate if we are practicing the kind of empathy that we are teaching. We hope for our students to be more caring than we are, but never motivate ourselves to do the same. Along the way assessing, without any risk of negative feedback from failure, if we are actually becoming more caring. While teaching abroad has given me the opportunity to give back, besides the occasional pun, smile, and summers spent participating in 'voluntourism', I don’t feel that I have done enough to give back to the places that I have taught or visited. With the inspiration of my students and fellow travelers I hope to raise $4,000 to help better the country of Vietnam.


Thank you for taking the time to visit this gofundme page, reading my motivation for bringing us all together for this cause, and if you choose to, donating. Thank you for showing that people can come together to help a cause of importance, even if we are not directly impacted by the results.

PLEASE READ: 
We are a young couple engaged to be married this coming July in Portugal. We have opted for a simple ceremony in the presence of our most immediate family (and Dumbo, our puppy). For our honeymoon, we have chosen to go to the Himalayas, India and Sri Lanka. We are super excited about all of this!

So, what do our wedding choices have to do with rescuing a child sold into sex trafficking?   We believe that everyone, especially a child, should have the right to also *choose* who she will marry with. Just like us. We feel fortunate for having been able to choose whom we decided to marry. We know that choosing is a privilege not open to all.

That is why we have a personal appeal to make: please help us rescue a child sold into sex trafficking. 


Currently in Vietnam, there is a horrendous epidemic involving school age children being raptly abducted within the rural communities and being sold off into the sex and human trafficking trade outside of the country, primarily in China.

If everyone reading this donates just five euros/dollars, we will be able to rescue one child sold into sex trafficking. A larger donation will, of course, help even more children!  

If you would like to extend your wedding wishes to us in the form of a gift, please consider donating in our honor to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Vietnam, run by our friend Michael Bros. We have seen with our own eyes Michael's dedication to the kids he is rescuing. Michael really is an angel to these kids and we trust him wholeheartedly.  


This is Michael:




This is 'Lan' a trafficking survivor reunited with her mother: 



The donations will rescue trafficking victims like 'Lan' - a young woman who was sold for forced marriage in China. The trafficker befriended Lan and offered her an opportunity to be his business partner. Lan only knew she was tricked until they reached the border between Vietnam and China after a long travel for "business purpose".

After being locked down and beaten, Lan got a chance to contact her family in Vietnam and call for help reached Blue Dragon Foundation. She was rescued in May and is now safe in her mother's loving arms. The foundation will continue to support Lan. Lan dreams of becoming a chef and the Foundation helps her to enroll in a vocational training school where she can learn to become a chef in the coming months. 


To date, Michael and Blue Dragon Children's Foundation has: 
Rescued 765 people from trafficking
Represented 63 people in court cases
Sent 4,827 kids back to school & training 
and provided shelter to 574 girls & boys 




We hope that the children we together are helping will also be able to *choose* - whom they marry, where they work, and how they live their lives in the pursuit of happiness. 

We will personally write you a thank you note for your good wishes. 

Please help us to make this happen and donate now!

Warm regards,

Inês Leite and Luis Plácido


Know more about Blue Dragon

$70 will send a child in a rural village to school for one year
$100 will provide emergency shelter for a child in crisis
$200 will reunite a child on the streets with their family
$500 will rescue a child trafficked into labour exploitation
$3000 will rescue a girl sold into sex trafficking

https://www.bluedragon.org/



There are two websites raising money for this cause. 

If you have PayPal and are concerned about getting a tax deduction, please consider this  link:   https://www.gofundme.com/ines-and-luis-team

If you do not have PayPal please consider this link:  https://www.gofundme.com/ines-and-luis-team2 

07-06-2018 : the campaign has raised a total of: $2397

Every now and then throughout life, we come across incredible people, teams and organisations who are totally aligned with a positive impact cause dedicated towards making the world a better place. 

Blue Dragon does this by saving Vietnamese kids in desperate need of help. 

We visited their main headquarters in Hanoi recently, and saw first-hand some of the absolutely amazing work that they've been doing for kids all over the country. 

We know exactly how hard they work to make a difference, we saw it for ourselves so we can 100% vouch for them. But they can't do it alone.

They need support, and some of the hardest decisions that they have to make is tip offs to follow up on based on the capital they have at their disposal. 

Do they go and pursue a lead to save an 8 year old girl who's been sold into the sex trade, or do they go and supply food and shelter to starving street kids who spend every night trying to hide from gangs, who round them up and sell them on as slaves? 

Imagine having to make that choice. Horrific. 

So please, if you can spare anything at all... Help them out. They're making a huge difference through the work they're doing, so we'd massively appreciate if you would be a part of that too. 

Thank you :) 

In late May, our community of forty digital nomads began the journey of a lifetime by joining the *Denali itinerary* with *Remote Year*.

During this twelve month, twelve city trek, we're hoping not only to expand our horizons as individuals but also leave a lasting, positive impact on the communities we meet and interact with—and that’s where you come in!

This month, we’re in Hanoi, Vietnam, and we’re partnering up with Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to rescuing at-risk children in Vietnam, from children who are homeless, runaways, victims of human trafficking or slavery, or otherwise in danger (addt'l info on Blue Dragon can be found *here*).

To help support this amazing organization, we are volunteering and organizing events here in Hanoi to raise funds, but could use additional help from those that can’t be here with us. Donating whatever you are able—no matter the amount—will greatly help this organization upgrade facilities, purchase clothing/food/materials, and help provide a brighter future for the children here. Thank you for your help!

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Want to get the full scoop on Blue Dragon? Here's a bigger download on the incredible services they provide.

*THE PROBLEM:*
For children in Vietnam who are born into poverty, there is little hope for the chance of a better life.

More than 66% of the population lives in rural areas, where rice farming is the major industry and whole families earn as little as $1 – $2 a day.

Children growing up in extreme poverty often have no choice but to quit school and move far from home, exposing them to dangers such as trafficking, homelessness, sexual exploitation, drug abuse, and illness.

*THE SOLUTION:*
Blue Dragon believes that every child deserves exceptional care so that he or she can grow and flourish.

Their services include rescue and crisis care for young people in immediate danger; shelter; legal advocacy; and long term support to return to school and training.

While taking care of each child’s immediate needs, they also invest in community development and long-term change on a systemic scale.

Any help that you can provide will go a long way! Thank you!