...from Sr. Cecilia Nguyen, CCSS
President and Co-Founder

February 9, 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,

May the peace of Christ be with you and your family!  Happy Lunar New Year of the Tiger to you and your family.  May this New Year bring you great Happiness, Health, and Prosperity!

Thank you again to our friends and benefactors who contributed to the success of our Annual Gala on December 6, 2009.  We are speechless when it comes to saying "thank you" to each and everyone of you.  Special thanks to our MC Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen and our celebrity singer Luu Bich.  We express to them once again our profound gratitude! 

I am writing this letter to once again THANK YOU for your prayers and financial support of our humanitarian projects that provide a better quality of life for the poor in Vietnam through the means of education. 

I was in Vietnam for two weeks this past December.  I am happy to share with you the good works God is performing in our ministry through your prayers and generosity. 

On December 10, 2009 we had the honor and privilege of receiving Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen and her friend David Huan as our SPECIAL GUESTS at our Lavang Boarding House for Women in Saigon.  VDS invited Ky Duyen and David Huan to distribute 33 scholarships to our 33 college students with each receiving $200 in cash.  A college student who represented the recipients expressed his gratitude and conveyed that $200 can pay a whole year tuition for most of them.  What a blessing!  Ky Duyen and David Huan received a warm welcome from our college scholarship recipients and all of our students from both the Lavang Boarding Houses for Men and Women in Saigon.  Ky Duyen and David Huan remained with us for more than an hour for the scholarship ceremony and a light reception that followed.  They even took time for some photo opportunities.  Our students were "thrilled" to see Ky Duyen in person...  Thank you!  Your visit meant a lot for our students.  Please come back and visit us again!  You are always welcome! 

We also awarded scholarships to 40 high school students and 20 elementary school students in north, central, and south Vietnam.  In addition we distributed 70 bicycles to poor high school students in central and south Vietnam. 

We are also establishing a mission Lavang Library for the children in Nghe An, north Vietnam.  We will share with you some photos when the library is completed within the next few months!

This coming June, 2010 nine (9) of our students at the Lavang Boarding House will graduate from college with degrees in English, physical therapy, traditional medicine/acupuncture, veterinarian technology, and pharmaceutical technology.  In addition, two (2) of our college scholarship recipients will receive degrees in veterinarian and journalism.  That means we have a total of eleven (11) college students graduating this summer who are receiving financial assistance from VDS.   That is indeed very good news!

Currently there are sixteen (16) women residing at our Lavang Boarding House for Women in Saigon (Thu Duc).  Sr. Nga from the Community of Charity and Social Services (CCSS) is the Director at the house.  There are also fourteen (14) men at our Lavang Boarding House for Men in Saigon (Go Vap).  Brother Thanh (CCSS) is the Director at the house.  The Brothers and Sisters of the Community of Charity and Social Services cooperate with VDS to ensure that the needs of our college students at the two boarding houses are met. Our Brothers and Sisters are there to remind our students of the need to pray for their benefactors and to give thanks to God for all the blessings that they are receiving.  In addition, our students are constantly exhorted to share their blessings with the less fortunate once they are financially secured.  We are truly blessed to have the CCSS Brothers and Sisters assist us in this wonderful endeavor!

Once again I am writing to appeal for your prayers and financial assistance to help us continue the wonderful works God is working through all of us to help provide a better quality of life for our poor students and their families in Vietnam.  Any gift you offer will be deeply appreciated.  We rely on God’s providence through your continued support and generosity. 

Hopefully this year with your assistance we will be able to continue to provide for our 16 women and 11 men college students at the Lavang Boarding Houses, award scholarships to our elementary, high school, and college students, and help establish a library for the children at a poor parish in north Vietnam.

Please make your tax-deductible donation to “Vietnam Dream for Success” or simply “VDS” and send it to our address below. 

                                                                          Vietnam Dream for Success (VDS)
                                                                             c/o Sr. Cecilia Nguyen, CCSS
                                                                                        P. O. Box 29555
                                                                                  Washington, DC 20017

Please also consider donating through Paypal (see "Donations & Contact").

As always, we are profoundly grateful for your continued prayers and support and ask God’s blessings upon you and your family.

Gratefully yours in Christ,

Sr. Cecilia T. Nguyen, CCSS, President and Co-Founder