Green Bamboo Warm Shelter

 Can you help disadvantaged boys achieve their dreams?

Since the start of March 2013, I have been working as a volunteer English teacher at the Green Bamboo Warm Shelter, a charitable organisation in Saigon, Vietnam that helps boys and young men who are homeless by providing outreach, medical care, counselling, education, food and shelter.  Many of the boys have faced not only homelessness, but neglect, poor access to education, mental and physical health issues and emotional and physical abuse.

In spite of this adversity, they are the most resilient and energetic young people I have ever met.

GBWS receives no government funding or support and relies instead on charitable donations.  Until recently, the bulk of their funding has come from the Danish Embassy, but unfortunately that agreement ends this year, leaving the shelter without a stable and secure source of funding.

This uncertainty directly puts the lives of many extremely disadvantaged young people at risk.

The manager of the GBWS, Ms Phat, recently hatched a plan to open a lunch-time restaurant on the premises to raise money for the project.  The restaurant opened on the 6th April, 2013 and it is currently staffed by alumni of the shelter, a number of whom now work as successful chefs around Saigon after receiving life changing support in the darkest hours of their youth.  The young men are donating their time free of charge to repay the kindness shown to them. 

The restaurant has been a huge success demonstrating the power of innovation and ingenuity to transform lives. 

However, Ms Phat has recognised the need to create a sustainable endeavour to meet the long term needs of GBWS to enrich the lives of chronically disadvanged young people.

This is why I'm asking for your help.

I want to present GBWS with a donation before I finish my volunteer assignment at the end of June, to help support them to grow this pivotal business in a sustainable way so that the project can become a much needed source of funding for years to come.  This will enable GBWS to operate as a self-sustaining charitable organisation and provide them with the means to plan long term - not just working from donation to donation. It would provide a much needed sense of stability and longevity.

All donations, whether big or small, are greatly appreciated and will go directly to changing the lives of disadvantaged young people for the better.  You can help transform the world for the boys living at Green Bamboo Warm Shelter.