Lao traditional costumes and jewelry

Sabaidee and greetings everyone! It’s Thip and I am asking you to join my mission of preserving Lao culture and promoting community prosperity by supporting my efforts to make multiple Nang Sangkhan pageants happen across Southern California this year. It's no secret that one of the biggest projects I oversee every year is the Nang Sangkhan "Miss Lao New Year" procession, parade and ceremony. I have been working on Nang Sangkhan since I was 13, and I have developed so many skills that I want to keep investing into our community.  For the last few years, I've been focused on volunteering to do Nang Sangkhan work for the Lao community in Temecula. Now this year I've also been asked to lead the Temecula and several other local centers as well. The Temecula community is small and still growing – but the people are so caring and welcoming that their Lao New Year festivities have become one of the most attended festivals in CA. However, because the Temecula community is still growing, they need some additional support to have all the necessary items required to make an amazing Nang Sangkhan pageant happen. For the pageant to truly reflect our Lao traditions, we need items like Lao jewelry, Lao traditional dresses, flowers, a figure head of Brahma, parade signage, parade decorations, building material and the list goes on and on. Every year, a very small team and I use up every drop of our energy driving circles between Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego looking for anyone that will let us borrow the items we need for Nang Sangkhan.  Convincing people to allow us to borrow their very valuable, often sacred items is hard enough. Hovering over these borrowed items to make sure nothing happens to them adds even more stress to the process. This year I'm determined to find the funding for all the items we need.  The initial costs may seem high, but 90% of the items can be reused in future pageants, allowing us to keep our traditions thriving for years to come. In my vision I would like a complete set of items stored safely that would be available for our local communities to share. I regularly get requests from different festivals like Cambodia Town New Year, Tet New Year Parade, Pride, International Festival or Hollywood Christmas Parade for me to send Lao representation – but because of my limited supplies, I am unable to.  Having these supplies ready would allow me to not only do projects within the community, but also promote the beauty of Lao culture from outside. I am looking to fundraise $10,000 for this project. There are an estimated 260,000+ Lao people living in the US, so I know we have a community big enough to make this fundraiser successful. I also know many Lao people are longing to see our culture grow and flourish for generations to come. With your donations, we can make that happen. Please also know that I am working tirelessly beyond GoFundMe to raise funds for Nang Sangkhan and a permanent collections of Lao cultural items.  I'm also creating traditional Lao crafts to sell, with the proceeds going to fund this project as well as looking for business and organization sponsors.  As I design the parade float, I'll continue to update everyone with pictures on my facebook and Instagram.  Every contribution is truly appreciate and the impact of this project for years to come relies on everyone's generosity.  Through coming together, we can not only preserve our culture in the most beautifully way, but also promote prosperity and opportunity for everyone to share.