SIMBA earned an amazing 47,226,000 VND between March and December of 2015. We are so excited to share with you what we did with your donations. Before the holiday break I made arrangements with an amazing woman by the name of May who is working closely with a couple of local orphanages and other charitable organizations. She is very passionate about her work and invested in helping these children in any way that she can. Her passion and big heart made it easier for us to choose her as our donation facilitator.
I took 47, 026,000 VND and donated it to May to purchase different items for these organizations. The first orphanage is Dieu Giac Orphanage http://www.orphaned.org here in District 2. We have learned that the orphanage does not have any ongoing support from local schools or organizations and that the majority of donations mostly come in during this time of year and at Tet. During other times of the year it is harder for the orphanage to support itself strictly through donations at their temple and their vegetarian eatery. May is working on a list of monthly needs and hopes to be able to supply this to them to support them on a more long term basis. Simple things such as supplementing their diet with fruit can often be difficult to accomplish. May would like to see that they can get a supply of fruit each week to ensure the children have a balanced diet. Some of their other ongoing needs include a supply of personal hygiene products including feminine hygiene.
Two weeks before Christmas, May spoke with a nun working at the orphanage who gave her a list of needs for the orphanage. To date with your donations we have purchased:
170 pairs of underwear for boys and girls
60 bras
16 packs sanitary pads
90 x sandals
80 flip flops
20kg of seasoning powder
2 big tubs of laundry powder
5 extra large tubs for the kitchen
150 chopsticks
150 spoons
May is also looking for 150 food trays that are good quality for the children at meal times. The remaining funds will be used to buy the food trays as well as continuing to support their needs over the next several months as certain needs arise.
May will also be sending over 20,000,000 VND to Tiny Hearts of Hope, a charity helping the migrant village in District 2 https://www.facebook.com/Tiny-Hearts-Of-Hope-302464397534/?fref=ts.They have set up a classroom to teach the children from the slum area who cannot afford to go to school, or cannot go to school due to not having the right paperwork.
The remaining 7,200,000 VND will go towards buying clothing for an all-girls orphanage here in District 2. This will be done before Tet and we will share the information with you after the donation happens.
Thank you all to my SIMBA families for joining in our meet ups and for donating each and every time. It feels so good to know that everything we have earned has gone to three different organizations with in the local area with their own unique needs.
– Samantha Grillos
SimBa 