Dear AusCham members,

Funds raised for charities from the successful AusCham Aussie Oscars 2008 Ball, have been distributed to the following 3 charitable organizations; Loreto Vietnam Australia Program (LVAP), Saigon Children’s Charity (SCC) and Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia) (BKFA).

We endeavour to support causes that all our members would be confident of and where we can, ensure the funds are directed to those in need.

We welcome any submissions to any organization seeking support and funding.

LVAP: Contributing towards a school bus for “Sunrise School 2”.

This school bus is an essential to ensure there is provision of a safe and reliable means of transportation for the students at both Sunrise School 1 and Sunrise School 2. The use of a school bus will not only provide students and teachers with a safe transportation facility, but will also help facilitate the collaboration between the two campuses and allow greater access to excursions and opportunities for both teachers and students to participate in external school activities within the local community of HCMC.

Sunrise School 2 supports intellectually disabled children through education and vocational training and works in partnership with the Education Department of Tan Phu District.

Birthing Kits Foundation (Australia) (BKFA) “Community Development Programme- Southern Vietnam”

BKFA has created a 5 day course educating village nurses/traditional birth attendant in the use of birthing kits, general midwifery, hygiene, nutrition and health training. Attendees receive educational booklets in Vietnamese. BKFA works with the local Provincial Health Authorities to target the most needy communes and organizes the training programmes, educational books etc.

BKFA has been in partnership with NGO: The Centre for Ecologically Sustainable Agriculture (CENESA) for 3 years and has delivered their programme in Hanoi and some Northern Provinces and wishes to extend it to Southern Vietnam through the support of AusCham.

Saigon Children’s Charity (SCC) “Working With Other Organisations"

"Working With Others" has been developed by SCC to help disabled children build a better life though education and rehabilitation. "Working with Others" seeks to achieve this by providing financial support for projects and advice for the applying specialist organisations. SCC aims to provide opportunities for small, local Vietnamese organisations working directly with children with disabilities, helping them obtain small scale funding for projects that create or strengthen educational opportunities for disabled children.
Funding of $1,500 to $3,000 per project will be made available to qualifying organisations to run a variety of projects such as:

• Promoting the education and training of disabled children with self-help skills, vocational training and social development activities.
• Developing opportunities for organisations to explore their own capacity to enhance and improve their skills and facilities in education for children with disabilities.
• To increase the ability and confidence of organisations, schools and groups in identifying and addressing the issues that limit their functions.
• To develop networks of communication, experiences and co-operation between different groups.
• To promote models of good practice in rehabilitation and education for children with disabilities.

In addition we aim to support the process of Vietnam to develop its own specialist charity sector and we aim to help put the projects on a more sustainable footing. If you want your donation to last and to mean something tangible for children with disabilities – this is the project for you!