2020 Annual Report

What an incredibly tough year it has been. The  COVID19 pandemic blindsided us all as it threw a wrench into all our plans. However, from the darkness, came much light as we bear witness to the humanity in our lives.

Leading the efforts were our directors Linh and Huynh Anh, who with their proficient sewing skills, were able to make hundreds of masks that were distributed in the communities to help stop the COVID spread. Because of the difficult economic times, our foundation was also able to donate funds to help the local food banks support struggling families in Edmonton, Leduc, Red Deer and Calgary.

Just prior to the lockdown, we were able to present our work and meet some of our long time supporters in the community at the Lunar New Year (Year of the Rat) Tet events at the Shaw conference in Edmonton and a conference centre in Calgary, hosted by the respective Vietnamese Associations. 

Our annual dinner fundraising event was, of course, cancelled due to the lockdown and restrictions. Despite that, many of the local businesses still supported our 8th annual fundraising efforts, which this year was a Virtual Silent Auction event. It was definitely a unique experience having an online event, but it was fun and we were able to raise $2585 from that effort alone. Our supporters, meanwhile, continue to be there for us in their generosity.  Ms Hoan Le, for example donated all the proceeds ($4000) from her COVID summer Hoya plant growing project to support our foundation’s efforts.  And Ms Justine from Mai Morgan Designs created a special Give Hope sign to fundraise for us in support of underprivileged children.

The pandemic lockdown was very strict in Vietnam, and so many of our projects were put on hold. And, of course, the travel restrictions meant none of our volunteers and directors were able to travel into Vietnam. With the necessary precautions here and there, we did manage to continue helping a few places.

For the 2020 fiscal year (Sept 1/19-August 31/20), we were still able to expend over $70,000 to fulfill our mission to help disadvantaged children and their communities through love, education and the provision of basic needs.

One of the highlights this year was seeing children’s faces light up when they were able to drink clean water from a well we dug in Hza Village, Gia Lai province. We also delivered clean drinking water to the Ben Tre community when they were affected by severe drought in late spring. Our foundation continue to fund projects providing children with new shoes, coats, beds, uniforms, school supplies, bicycles, and scholarships.  In fact, we awarded over $8,000 in scholarship funds to underprivileged students this year.

We remain dedicated to helping provide basic necessities to orphaned and abandoned children living in orphanages throughout Vietnam, with the majority of funding for the orphanages donated by Mr. Chalke of Sunrise Family Services. We started collaborating with Blue Dragon foundation to help with career preparations for disadvantaged youths. As well, we continue to support a few impoverished youths who are living as young monks in a temple in India. The Van Tran CVBF Memorial Bursary program also commenced and is accepting applications.

Despite the challenges of this past year, we have done so much together. We remain so grateful to you for walking alongside us through these dark and difficult times. We have faith that all will be well and we look forward to being able to give you real hugs again, one day soon.