Friends of Hue Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit tax-exempt, non-governmental organization (NGO/INGO). The primary mission of the foundation is to provide assistance to impoverished people and victims of natural disasters in Thua Thien Hue province of Central Vietnam. All staff and Board members of the Friends of Hue Foundation in the United States serve as unpaid volunteers. Federal Tax ID #77-0543081.
To provide long-term assistance in economic self-sufficiency, health care, education and emergency relief for victims of natural disasters in Thua Thien Hue and nearby areas in Central Vietnam. The assistance projects are diverse, efficient and flexible to accommodate changing needs over time. FHF hopes to later expand services to other neighboring provinces as funding allows.
Hue is Vietnam’s de facto “third capital” due to its historical linkages and geographical location. However, due to its rugged terrain and inhospitable climate, Hue has not been seen as an ideal place for large scale manufacturing and aggressive economic development. This results in less economic opportunities to its inhabitants producing more than its fair share of people living in poverty. Hanoi to the north and Saigon to the south are both political and economic capitals, respectively, and have also received the bulk of attention from NGOs/INGOs. Hue also falls short in this respect. Currently, FHF is the only officially registered, US-based INGO with a physical presence to providing services in Thua Thien Hue Province.
FHF was officially founded in May 2000, for the purpose of assisting victims of the November 1999 flood, in central Vietnam, especially at Thua Thien Hue Province. This natural disaster is the worst to hit this region in the 20th century. After surveying the damage in this area, the United Nations Development Programs and local authorities confirmed that the victims of the flood will need assistance for at least 10 years before they can return to a normal existence.
In September 2000, a group of FHF's representatives, at their own expense, visited Thua Thien Hue to start a long term assistance program. The group included Professor James Freeman, Ms. Dang Thi Lieu, volunteer Nguyen Trung Tomiko M.D. and Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huu. Vietnamese officials authorized FHF to set up an office in Hue City to pursue the foundation’s charitable activities.
- Free health care check up and medicines to 2,100 patients in Phu An Commune, Thuy Thanh commune and Phu Binh Quarter of Hue city;
- Emergency cash donations to 159 households in Phu An commune, which had been seriously affected by the great 1999 flood;
- Small interest-free loans to 25 poor households in Phu Hau quarter
- Began the process of building a shelter for orphans and disadvantaged children in Hue City
Two principles put forth by our founder Huu Dinh Nguyen:
(1) “Treat the children under your care as if they were your own.”
(2) “The protection and welfare of children should be the first priority of people and agencies entrusted with their care.”
Our primary activity is the support of seriously disadvantaged children, who live at the Xuan Phu Children’s Shelter in Hue, which we built. Some of these children are orphans; others come from homes with one parent, with families that often are at the margins of hunger and extreme privation. At the shelter, the children receive lodging, food, medical treatment, and educational expenses. Our staff members at the shelter provide a safe and loving but also disciplined and enriching environment in which each child is encouraged to do his or her best. Your donations provide more than just physical maintenance. It is an investment in their lives and future. By providing loving care and guidance, education and job skills, the Friends of Hue Foundation staff members in Vietnam give these children a chance in life. They acquire the values, discipline, and skills they need to succeed and contribute to their society. Your assistance is significant, for it comes at a time when these children need it most. Thank you for helping these children.
- Children:
- Built and operate a children's shelter for orphans, children in poverty and victims of natural disasters
- Built and operate a Vocational Center for skills, job trainings and job placement: ESL, Informatics/Computer Literacy, industrial sewing
- Cattle Raising Program - giving incentives to poor families so their children can remain in school - Health:
- Mobile clinic program: medical team visits remote rural areas monthly to provide free health care
- Reconstructive surgery (in co-operation with Hue Central Hospital)
- Heart Surgery - Education:
- Build elementary classrooms in rural areas and remote villages
- Scholarship, assistance for payment of school fees, books, clothing and vocational training - Microfinance:
- Small short term interest-free loans to local entrepreneurs for every thing from street vending, to small businesses and to support animal husbandry, aqua culture, and small farming activities.
Nguyen Dinh Huu, MSW, Co-Founder
Dr. James M Freeman, Ph.D; Co-Founder
Dang Thi Lieu, Co-Founder, Co-Treasurer
Jenny Do, Esq., Chairwoman, Board of Directors
Arthur Bao, MA, Vice Chair, Board of Directors
Luong Thien Nhien, MPH; Executive Director
Dan Do, Esq., Public Relations Director
Nguyen Tran To Uyen, MS/MBA; Special Advisor, Board of Directors
Sandy Dinh, Co-Treasurer
Uyen Nguyen, Member, Board of Directors
Spencer Ton, BA, Global Volunteers Program Coordinator
Thanh Tran, BA, Secretary and Medical Outreach Program Coordinator
Nguyen Van Van, Platinum Level Donor
Dr. Nguyen Van Thien, MD, Member, Board of Advisors
Dr. Phuoc Le, MD, Member, Board of Advisors
Project Coordinators:
Mobile Clinic - Thien-Nhien Luong
Economic Self-Sufficiency - Dang Thi Lieu
Corrective Surgery - Nguyen T.T. Uyen
Children's Shelter - Jenny Do
- Huu Dinh Nguyen
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huu is also affectionately known as Uncle or “Bac” Huu. His vision constantly guides us as we continue to make his goal of the protection and care of vulnerable children a reality. For over 25 years, Bac Huu assisted vulnerable children in the United States, refugee camps in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, and now in central Vietnam. In refugee camps, he saw the terrible conditions under which unaccompanied minors were living, and saw how badly they fared when thousands of them were repatriated to Vietnam. This inspired him to set up projects for their assistance, including our highly successful shelter in the Xuan Phu neighborhood of Hue City in central Vietnam.
His self-less dedication and fervent believe that the children should be treated "as if they were our own" is the compass needle which steers our Board, staff and volunteers in the right direction in face of adversity. Whether challenges in fundraising or dealing with red tape at the local or regional levels. - James M. Freeman
Co-Founder and former Chairman of the Board James M. Freeman, (Ph.D. Harvard) was Chair of the Board of Directors of Friends of Hue Foundation from 2000-2006. He is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at San Jose State University, a former Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, winner of an American Book Award for Hearts of Sorrow: Vietnamese-American Lives, and co-author, with FHF Founder Nguyen Dinh Huu, of Voices from the Camps: Vietnamese Children Seeking Asylum, which describes their assistance activities for unaccompanied minor children.
- Lieu Thi Dang
Working with Huu Dinh Nguyen for over two decades has been a woman who is as remarkable as she is unassuming. Like Bac Huu, Miss Dang Lieu held a full-time job that involved assistance to refugees, and then in addition to that worked with Bac Huu on a variety of voluntary activities to assist the children in the camps and in Vietnam. But that is not all. The full scope of her voluntary assistance activities is simply stunning. It took those who know her years to discover this because this is a woman who does not talk about or promote herself; instead, she acts. The total number of children throughout the world who she has personally helped, though sponsorships, scholarships, and many other kinds of assistance numbers in the hundreds, or maybe more. In cities throughout America, in Australia and France, in Hue, Danang, and Saigon and other sites in Vietnam, there are adults who will tell you, “Dang Lieu, helped me when I was a child. It is thanks to her that I have succeeded in life.” Dr. James Freeman been with her in Vietnam and in the camps and have seen what this remarkable person does for those in need, and the impressions she has left on him are vivid and indelible. Miss Dang Lieu is one of the co-founders of the Friends of Hue Foundation, and this organization is infused with the spirit of her devotion to helping those in great need and inspiring them to press on, live successful lives, and then help others. Co Lieu has been there when the organization needed her, in many and varied ways. She is one of the pillars of the Friends of Hue Foundation and a significant contributor to its success. We wish to thank Co Lieu for all that she has done over the years, not simply for this organization, but for the hundreds of people who are indebted to her. In her retirement she still volunteers her time to teach Vietnamese "senior" citizens on how to pass the Citizenship exam so they could qualify for social security and medical benefits. She continues to be active as FHF's co-treasurer keeping the debit and credit columns correctly aligned and accounted.
- Thien Nhien Luong
Thien-Nhien’s commitment to helping Vietnam stems from her organic experiences when working on the HIV/AIDS project in Vietnam to estimate the HIV infection rate among commercial sex workers. This research project exposed her to countless witnesses of social breakdown in Vietnam and how poverty plays an integral part in dangerous risk-taking behaviors in an individual, tearing a family a part, breaking a community, and weakening a society and its culture. Mrs. Luong has actively worked on charitable projects in Vietnam with many different non-governmental organizations since 1997.
Professionally, Thien-Nhien Luong had held various positions with the Public Health Department of Santa Clara County for nearly a decade prior to resigning from the job she loved to be a fulltime mom to her children and taking up contract work. Her last position with for the Public Health Department of Santa Clara County was a Senior Health Care Program Manager. Mrs. Luong managed the Epidemiology and Data Management Unit that is responsible for population health research and leads health assessment for the Health Department. This included the planning and implementation of Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS), Youth Behavioral Risk Survey (YBRS), and Vietnamese Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (VBRFS); and the reporting, analyses, and health status report production of data from numerous disease and injury surveillance systems in the County. Mrs. Luong served as the Planning Chief for the Department Emergency Operation Center. Mrs. Luong helped to design and to implement a public health integrated information system. In furthering the Health Department’s Public Health missions, she served in different roles and capacities in numerous collaborative county-wide, regional, and statewide public health initiatives, especially as related to emergency disaster planning and responding. Additionally, she has more than 10 years of experience working with community coalitions and partnerships to improve the well-being of Santa Clara County’s residents. She serves on and supports the mission of Tuberculosis Prevention Partnership, Traffic Safe Community Network, Violence Prevention Council, Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Network, and Vietnamese REACH for Health Initiative (VRHI).
Together with colleagues, she has published numerous public health works and research articles in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Journal of General Internal Medicine, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicines, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, Journal of Immigrant Minority Health and CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR).
- Jenny Do
Littigation attorney by day, engaged artist and philanthropist by night, Jenny Do was recognized as 2007 Woman of the Year, a prestigious award bestowed by the California Legislature of District 23. The state legislature identified her as one of those rare individuals who made a difference not only in her local community but much further beyond.
Ms. Do is a successful littigator who gains the respect of clients and peers. She devotes her spare time as a founder of an art gallery and she also serves as a full time non-salaried Executive Director for the Friends of Hue Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that provides multiple services to the poor and disadvantaged people in the region of Thua Thien - Hue, Central Vietnam.
Locally, Jenny founded the Green Rice Gallery which provides a venue for Vietnamese-American artists. She curated many well-received exhibitions around the San Francisco and Greater Bay Area, such as Humans For Sale: A Photo Documentary, Traces of Hundred Viets, Insistence on Hope, Poetry Gate, and Metamorphosis, to name a few. These exhibitions are designed to promote Vietnamese American arts and culture, as well as to raise awareness on social issues that impede the advancement of the Vietnamese American community and other groups. Jenny has also sat on the City of San Jose's Arts Commission.
Ms. Do has participated in planning and organizing numerous fundraising events to support non-profit organizations and the arts. Jenny earned her Bachelor's of Arts degree from San Jose State University and her law degree from Lincoln Law School. She is an adjunct instructor at San Jose City College and a regular contributor to the Viet Tribune newspaper. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of San Jose in 2007 and the unsolicited Belle Foundation grant in 2005. Jenny's works and life story have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, Time-Warner Production and many other programs on national and local media.
Jenny Do has limitless energy. Between court preparations and litigation, her art and writing, she manages a 9 person staff and their programs in Vietnam on a daily basis. A gifted and creative fundraiser to keep the lives of 40 children half a world away realize their dreams and futures. - Uyen Nguyen
Uyen Nguyen has been an active Board member for the Friends of Hue Foundation since 2000, where she is now Chairman of the Board. She was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, but has lived most of her life in Saigon and California. Uyen decided to become a Board member of the Friends of Hue after being completely blown away by the dedication, passion, and drive exhibited by the FHF founders and Board members that she had met. Their compassion and devotion in helping others made her truly believe that the world can be made better by changing one life at a time.
In her day job, Uyen is the Head of Business Development of Mekong Capital, a private equity firm in Vietnam. She currently lives in Vietnam indefinitely, and is the first Chairman of the Board to live full-time in Vietnam. - Spencer Ton
Spencer holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of the Pacific in International Relations, Economics, and Chinese Language. He is ethnically Chinese and Vietnamese and is passionate about sustainable development. He has traveled extensively throughout Asia and has a passion for economic and legal development in Asia. In 2008, Spencer spent his summer teaching a large group of university students an English and International Relations course at the College of Foreign Languages in Hue, Vietnam. He has worked for a wide range of public organizations including the San Joaquin County Public Defenders office, where he spent one year researching the unjust nature of the California Juvenile Justice System. He has also worked in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Cabinet as well as other non-profit international organizations. Spencer is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese and intends on attending law school in the near future to further his interest of legal studies and international development.
- Thanh Tran
Thanh became involved with the Friends of Hue Foundation when she volunteered at the children's shelter in Hue. Through the Haas Summer Fellowship Program, Thanh taught the shelter staff how to can foods as an alternative form of food supply during monsoon season. She fell in love with the children and has returned to Hue each summer since. She joined the Board of Directors in June 2009 and is working to improve the Mobile Clinic Program (MCP) and launch the Health Initiative thru Peer Education (HIPE) initiative.
A recent graduate of Stanford University, Thanh is passionate about medicine. She hopes to practice with populations which lack access to health care, especially in developing countries such as Vietnam.
- Arthur Bao
Vice Chairman of the Board
Community Involvement Background
*Friends of Hue Foundation, San Jose, CA 2001 - Present
- Board Member, 2001 - 2002
- Executive Director, 2002 - 2004
- Chairman of the Board of Directors, 2004 - 2005
- Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, 2005 - present
- Webmaster
*New Saigon Library at Tully Road Branch, 2004
*Community Advocate against police brutality in the murder of Vietnamese mother wielding a vegetable peeler, 2003
- Coordinating rallies at City Hall
- Holding Press conferences
- Grassroots organizing with various ethnic groups to push for open hearings and investigation in the shooting death
- Developed community recommendations for police use of force, cultural sensitivity training for officers and hiring linguistically competent officers
- Met with Police Chief Davis with community recommendations
- Reference
*Vietnam Health Education Literature Project (VNHELP), 1998 - 2001
- Website volunteer
- Disaster Relief fundraiser
- VNHELP.org
*President Clinton's AmeriCorps-USDA Inter Faith Anti Hunger Project, Los Angeles 1994, 1995
- Program Director of 5 teams of 8 volunteers each:
- START YOUR HEAD - Breakfast program for elementary school children
- Soup Kitchens
- Urban Garden development project
- School Gardening program
- Skid-row program
- http://www.americorps.org/
*Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, Los Angeles1993
- Program Manager, Asian Pacific Young Male mental health coalition
- APYM Mental health survey, research roundtable, policy advocacy
- HIV/AID education, awareness, prevention program
- Anti-Tobacco education, awareness, prevention program
- Umberella organization with Vietnamese Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Camodian Americans, Filipino Americans, and Pacific Islanders
- Reference
