Founder
Thi’s Story
I grew up on a farm in a small village in western area of South Vietnam, where the villagers grew mostly rice, depending on seasonal rains.
South Vietnam has a rainy growing season, but during the dry season, nothing grows. Farmers, therefore, depend on rain to grow rice and vegetables. But, they can also lose crops if there is too much rain, bringing floods.
I remember walking or bicycling to school, but sometimes there wasn’t enough money for the scholarship I needed to attend. Most children in my village still can’t go to school beyond grade nine, because they can’t afford scholarships.
I came to the United States when I was 17 and was able to finish high school and attend college. I became a U.S. citizen and then created a beauty salon business in Connecticut. After more than 25 years I am proud to say it has been a great success and has given me the opportunity to add value to my community.
In my visits back to my Vietnamese village, I saw that the government had built canals around the farmlands, to avoid flooding and to extend the growing season, however is has also created a new problem: they did not build bridges across the wide canals, so many children and adults have drowned, because they have to cross these canals for work and school.
My heart went out to these hard-working villagers and I began a project to build small bridges to the rice paddies and schools. The problem of affording school also still exists, and children need money for school supplies as well as rice and clothing. Their basic needs are not being met.
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She learned children were drowning in the canals as they attempted to cross over to school and the rice paddies where they must work.
After sending money to this village, I realized the need and challenge are bigger than one person can do. So I created the non-profit, Children in Need Globally (CING) to multiply the help needed by this village and soon many beyond. My passion is to help young children in Vietnam and and other countries, to give them hope and to bring them opportunities for a brighter future.