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QUAN AM FOUNDATION
Newsletter 2016


Quan Am Foundation is nearing the end of our busiest and most exciting year yet.  We've completed 24 projects, launched our Child Sponsorship program and hosted some great fundraisers.

I wanted to share with you some of the work that was completed between March and September so get scrolling, it's a long newsletter!

Don't forget to check out our beautiful selection of gifts leading up to Christmas and share the joy with your loved ones while helping children in need!
Launch of our Child Sponsorship Program

In June this year we launched our long awaited Child Sponsorship Program to directly benefit children living in poverty.  We believe that education is a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty and want to establish bonds between New Zealand and Vietnam to share our generosity with those less fortunate.  The program has had huge interest and we are thrilled to have 19 primary, 4 secondary/high school and 2 University students sponsored and on the way to receiving an education!  Sponsorship for primary age students is just $16/month, secondary is $23/month and University students receive a grant of $500/year plus up to $120 for textbooks and enrollment costs.

It was wonderful to meet our sponsored children in August while I was in Nha Trang, and I was able to visit each of their homes and get to know their families.  Our sponsors wrote letters and passed on gifts for their sponsor children and we commenced what I hope will be a long term relationship.  We also treated the sponsor children to a day at iResort Water Park (scroll down for photos) and gifted each family a care parcel with essential food and household items.  Some families were lacking some fundamental items such as sleeping mats, mosquito nets, fans etc - so we tailored each care parcel depending on their needs.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child then please request a copy of our policy document or keep an eye on our website and Facebook page for children awaiting sponsorship.

What was spent?
Scholarships - $1,527.46
Care parcels (Food) - $362.67
Care parcels (Household goods) - $334.65
T-shirts and caps - $312.97
Sports equipment - $225.58
Posters for Vinh Ngoc School - $8.17
Water park field trip - see below

Thua Sai Home for Disabled Children

Thua Sai is a Catholic home for 30 disabled children, some who live there permanently and some who stay on weekdays.  We supported Thua Sai on two occasions this year, after the loss of their monthly donor we've donated huge supplies of food such as rice, noodles, cooking oil, soy sauce, milk etc, as well as toys and gifts for the children.

What was spent?
Food donation (March) - $312
Food donation (September) - $243.63
Toys - $16.99

Hoa Hong Kindergarten

In March we visited and gave a variety of books, toys and skipping ropes to 135 children at Hoa Hong Kindergarten, Khanh Vinh District. We gifted 43 boxes of modelling clay, 50 boxes of crayons, 54 colouring books, 140 bouncy balls, 135 sunhats, 18 skipping ropes, cakes and milk for all the students.

Total spend - $488
One Year On...Remembering Nepal.  Metta and Sanu Orphanages
 
To mark the one year anniversary of the Nepal Earthquake on 25 April 2015, Quan Am partnered with our friends at Aakar Nepal to visit the Metta Centre orphanage in Banepar.  Aakar met the 17 girls at their home and brought along a friend to teach a dance lesson! After this the girls watched a video I had made and received their school stationery to last them for the next year including books, supplies and skipping ropes.

With funds left over from the trip to Metta, Aakar Nepal visited another small orphanage in Kathmandu to gift stationery to 10 orphans to assist with their studies.  Sanu Foundation were delighted to receive the textbooks for their students and we look forward to working with Aakar Nepal in the future.

Total spend - $500 (textbooks, pens/pencils, pencil cases, various school supplies, skipping ropes)
Raglai Ethnic Group
 
In June we partnered with LovingKindness Vietnam to visit a desperately poor community living in rugged terrain not accessible by car.  Comprised mainly of the Raglai ethnic group, we identified families in urgent need of help. Quan Am Foundation donated towards bedding, mattresses, bed sets, fans, mosquito nets, lights, baby formula and food supplies.

Total spend - $387.30
Children's Day at Vinh Ngoc
 
In June, to celebrate International Children's Day we were asked by the Vinh Ngoc youth union to donate text books to 30 high school students from poor families. They received between 14 to 20 books each...you need a lot of books at high school in Vietnam! Chúc mừng Ngày của trẻ em!

Total spend - $350
Stocking up a Charity Kitchen
 
In August, we travelled to Dalat to visit a hospital that cares for patients that are 75% minority Vietnamese. The building was built in 1979 but was only begun use as a hospital in 2012. In 2013, a husband and wife started a charity kitchen to make meals for the patients during their stay. Now with up to 150 patients daily, the volunteers make 3 hot meals a day, entirely for free, as well as feeding the family members that come to care for them.

The local population of 25,000 extremely poor farmers, normally have to walk to access medical treatment, including women in labour. 

Quan Am Foundation was delighted to donate a huge supply of dry food to keep the kitchen stocked up.  We donated 800 packets of noodles, 240 cans of condensed milk, 28 bottles of fish sauce, 28 x 2L bottles of cooking oil, 300 bags of sugar and 10 boxes of flavouring. 

Total spend:  $733.14
Day trip to Ninh Hoa District and 194 children
 
On 30 August we travelled around 1 hour north to Ninh An Village in Ninh Hoa District to visit 94 students at Hoa Thien Primary School. Quan Am Foundation gave all the students on this day - 10 text books, pencil case, pen and pencils, crayons, a bag of snacks and a cap! The children were very excited to see us and almost the whole village turned up to watch a hilarious magic show! We partnered with Thien Tam charity who kindly donated food to the poor in the village.

Our next stop was Suoi Sau Primary School in Ninh Tan Village. The 45 children at this school are mainly minority tribes and are extremely poor in this region. We gave out the gifts and got back into the bus just in time to miss a big thunderstorm.

Our last stop was to visit Nguyen Van Thinh Secondary School and the 55 children who attend (as well as some from the primary classes). As before, we gave our gifts to kick off the new school year in Vietnam including text books, pencil case, pen and pencils, crayons, bag of snacks and a cap. Our awesome magician also performed for the group which was very entertaining!

Total spend:  $610.95 (including 1,940 textbooks, 194 pencil cases, pens, pencils, boxes of crayons and caps).  The driver and bus were covered by a generous donor.
Visit to Kim Son Charity School and Orphanage
 
During my trip in September we travelled north to Ninh Hoa to visit two pagodas, the first being Kim Son which is home to 12 children and a charity school for around 60 poor children who live in the area. Quan Am Foundation has 4 of their children in our sponsorship programs which enables them to attend school. It was lovely to see them again, and we were able to pass on letters and gifts from their sponsors. We also donated a large supply of food including noodles, milk, cooking oil and soy sauce.

What was spent?
Food - $243.63
Toys - $21.21
Phu Quang Orphanage
 
Our second stop in Ninh Hoa was to Phu Quang pagoda and orphanage where we donated a large amount of food (such as noodles, milk, soy sauce, oil etc) to help feed the children in their care. We also gave the kids some fun toys to play with including chess, badmington, soccer ball and toys.

What was spent?
Food - $182.72
Toys - $25.93
Field trip for our Sponsorship Students
 
To celebrate the launch of our child sponsorship program, we took some of our new students to iResort water park for a fantastic afternoon of swimming, ice cream and games.

For most of these children this is the biggest treat and most fun they will have all year, so it was wonderful to see so much joy on their faces. We spent a few hours in the pools, had some games outside and finished off with an ice cream before their parents collected them.  The children had such a wonderful time and were absolutely exhausted by home time!  Photos by Corinne Tan Photography

What was spent?
Tickets - $121.81
Snacks - $13.03
Wheelchairs for disabled children
 
Quan Am Foundation partnered with Living is Giving to deliver wheelchairs to extremely poor families who live in the mountain villages of Ninh Hoa with severely disabled children.  I am so thrilled to have met Klaudea and Nando who run this fantastic charity to help the most poor and needy in Khanh Hoa province. The parents of these children had spent their lives carrying these children around, so a wheelchair has really changed their lives. One of the mothers cried with overwhelming joy to see her son in the chair, and another boy didn't want to stop being pushed around!

Total spend - 4 wheelchairs, $395.90
Helping a family in need - Cambodia

After visiting Vietnam in August, I flew into Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit New Hope school.  I was able to check in on Ly Hour, a 15 year old boy born with a disease that grows facial tumours and recently diagnosed with leukemia.  Our amazing supporters helped fundraise to pay off their family's loan and his parents were so grateful!

What was spent?
Donation towards home loan - $273.41
Food parcel - $56.05 (included noodles, soy/chilli/oyster and fish sauce, shower wash, shampoo, toothbrushes and paste, detergent, washing powder, dishwashing liquid and school supplies)
Sponsors Needed!

Duyen and Quynh are seeking sponsors NOW who will help them to complete high school.

Duyen - aged 15, lives with her grandmother, father, two brothers and sister.  Her mother left the family and has never returned.  Duyen studies in Grade 10 and her father struggles to afford education for 4 children.

Quynh - aged 14, lives at her Aunt's house with their family, her parents and sister.  Her father finds work as a plumber while her mother sells sticky rice on the street and works as a hairdresser in the afternoon.  The family are very poor but both Quynh and her sister are excellent students.

You can sponsor either Duyen or Quynh for just $23 per month.  Please help us to change a child's life!
We would like to give a huge THANK YOU to HealthPost who selected us as their Charity of the Month for October, as part of their Better World program. I am thrilled to announce we raised $6,634 for Quan Am Foundation! We will be putting these funds aside for a special project in early 2017.
Thanks to everyone that made a purchase!  Photo by Corinne Tan Photography
Christmas Decorations and Gifts
 
This year we have another beautiful selection of silk Christmas decorations - donkeys, elephants, monkeys, butterflies and other gorgeous animals in vibrant colours!  

We also have a variety of stocking fillers such as our 100% handmade silk scarves, silk necklaces, bracelets, Laos purses and sweet Cambodian dolls.  We will be featuring our products at upcoming markets  (Orakei Market - 12 Nov) and churches around Auckland.  Please contact me if you would like to purchase our products or know of a store that would be interested in stocking them.
Thank you so much for supporting Quan Am Foundation
Quan Am Foundation is a New Zealand Registered Charity - Ref: CC48133

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Quan Am Foundation · PO Box 55134 · Mission Bay · Auckland, Auk 1071 · New Zealand

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