We recently visited three families who received a new house from VNHelp in October 2016. The house construction was sponsored by Mr. Huong Le (Lee’s Laundromat) and Mrs. Mai Ngoc Ly, both live in San Jose. These “poorest of the poor” families in Kien Giang Province used to live in a dilapidated thatch house which could collapse anytime. Please find below some photos of the three houses before and after construction and a video of a beneficiary.

Unsafe housing condition is a common problem for the poor in the country side of Vietnam. Each new house as you see in the photos cost about $2,000. Whenever VNHelp can find a sponsor, we will build a house for a family. In order to qualify for our housing program, the applicants must be from poor families with children or elders. In 2015, we built five houses by the sponsorship of Mr. Mike Fulton, San Jose.

Vietnamese people are saying goodbye to the Monkey and welcome Year of the Rooster, which will begin on January 28. In Year of the Monkey VNHelp exceeded our goals and expanded our services to the needy thanks for your generosity and commitment. May Year of the Rooster bring you abundance of joy and prosperity.

Dear Friends,

As we say farewell to 2016, we are sending you one more message on the last working day of this wonderful year. Thank you for your support in the past year that made our programs possible. Together, we have made lives better for many thousands people in Vietnam. And once again, thank you for accompanying us on the 25-year journey to provide humanitarian and development assistance to Vietnam (1991-2016).

We invite you to view the highlights of our achievements and to meet some of our beneficiaries in a 9 minute video, please click on this link.

It’s not too late to make your 2016 donation today. Every dollar you give will go a long way to help those in need.

Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Thu Anh Do
President & Executive Director

The VNHelp’s Vision for the Poor Program provided free cataract surgeries to 190 patients in Thua Thien Hue Province (October 2016) and 235 patients in Nam Dinh Province (November 2016). In cataract surgery, the lens inside the eye that has become cloudy is removed and replaced with an artificial lens to restore clear vision. Though it is a simple and common surgery, many poor people in Vietnam can not afford to pay for it. Since 2008, this program has reached out to the poorest of the poor and helped 6,225 patients regain their vision. Thanks to our regular partner – Son Nam Charity Group – who funded 50% of the program cost and thanks to many individual donors who contributed to the VNHelp’s Vision for the Poor Program.