Help The Orphans of Saigon 2018

Today we revitalize our 2017 campaign to help at-risk children in need in the developing country.

My friends, nearly a year later we are grateful for the support friends, familuy an colleagues provided to help us initiate a monthly program to deliver food, medicine, toys and love to support Saigon's orphans. These children;in particular,  risk their entirely of their childhood memories in institutionlized orphanages. In addition we have added support to children afflicted with medical conditions. 

In the Srping of 2016, I was fortunate to have visited an institutional orphanage in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I learned first hand, that many of the children live their entire childhood within its walls without ever achieving their dreams of having a mother and father. Their diets are primarily rice and milk. I did not observe any other sources of fruit, vegetables or protein based foods to support their nutritional needs.

Government aid offers only $1.50 per child (out of 245 children) per month. In real terms the less than $350 USD the institution can depend upon is still as much as $2,700 USD short each month to deliver the very basic staple foods of two bottles of milk per child and a bowl of rice. Due to their current diet; the lack of solid foods is causing severe dental issues with several children having nubs where teeth are lacking. 

The minimal staff available do their best in lieu of financial resources, but the number of children with special needs marginalizes much of heir endurance.

I visited the orphans personally with members of my staff within Ho Chi Minh City and I witnessed first-hand each of the following crises in care:

• Lack of Vaccinations
• Lack of Medicine
• Malnutrition
• Delayed growth
• Severe birth defects
• Mental disabilities
• Autism 
• Inability to speak
• Crossed eyes 
• Cleft palates 
• Deafness
• High grade fevers
• Permanent injuries originating from child abuse
• Lack of teeth to eat solids due to soft food diets
• Lack of beds or mattresses. (I witnessed several childen sharing a cot or sleeping face down on linoleum floors)
• As little as 3 toys shared by an est. 40 kids

I suspect a few of the children may have conditions originating from polio or the long term effects of Agent Orange, which has been documented to cause birth defects, generations after the Vietnam war.

It is our sincere hope, that this GoFundMe campaign can fund a food delivery drive, access to vaccinations and healthcare, toys, dentalcare, and beds/blankets. 

Should we meet our fundraising  goal, our broader and most impactful vision is to provide more than simply  nutritional needs; we seek to facilitate greatly improving the odds that their orphans are adopted.

In order to accomplish this fundamental goal, our hope is to far exceed the campaign drive goal to allow us to subsidize an onsite teacher to teach English and access to cosmetic dentistry and other disfigurements to greatly improve the likelihood that these orphans will have a more successful journey to being chosen through love and be welcomed into a family.

How Your Contribution can be impactful:
• $100 USD feeds 245 children a single 50 kilo bag of rice,  and two boxes of bottled milk for about 3 days.
• $3000 USD will achieve a full month of staple foods. Ideally it is our desire to add protein and vegetables to their dail meals.
• $2000 USD can help us ensure we can sustain the effort with funds raised to file for non-profit status as a 501-C. Meeting this requisite filing is a front-end goal tyat can can open doors to applying for foundation grants to provide real long term care that will avail universal vaccinations, medical services, medical devices, wheel chairs, and educational opportunities to children within the orphanage. Foundations that offer Toys for children in need can likewise be considered once we raise enough funds to file.

If we find children outside of the facility, be they delivering toys and foods to children suffering terminal illnesses, or in need of wheel chairs, or other concerns where our time and efforts can be extended to be impactful, we can ensure you we will do so. We are likewise committed to investing a small portion of proceeds to register as a 501-C to afford a grant writer and apply for the various organizations that can offer additional, impactful resources. The filing I learned is expensive, equal to 20 bags of 50 kg of rice.

The children have serious lack of access to being held or hugged and it was very abundantly clear.  Beyond meeting basic items for their physical needs, we  hope to distribute 250 teddy bears and any other toys we can get to these precious orphans. The kids were often observed playing a tough game of seeking attention, to either be picked up for hugs, or have their hands held - We always let them win this game, time and again. With your help, we can commit to additional visits to the facility, with regularly weekly deliveries of food and medicine - so long