Here’s the text of an email I blasted out to everyone in my address book, which is something that I pretty much NEVER do.

Hello to many friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and family.

I don’t often send out big group emails. In fact, I never do, because they usually kind of bug me when I get ‘em.

Most of the time, they’re either an urban legend, a political screed, or some kind of scam (I’m still waiting for my Nigerian fortune to show up in my bank account).

But every so often, you get an email directly from someone you know and trust- and it’s an email that can really mean something in this world.

Hopefully, for all of you, this is one of those emails.

Most of you know (or know of) Kim. Kim and I have remained good friends over the past couple of years since we broke up, and I think very highly of her.

Kim took a trip last year to Vietnam. Kim volunteered for a really interesting organization, basically serving as a missionary for her local church. She stayed and did charity work for several months (in addition to visiting her family still in Vietnam, of course.)

The organization that Kim worked with in Vietnam is called HSCV- Humanitarian Services for Children of Vietnam.

This group was started by an American and his daughter simply because they felt the need to Do Something. They’d gone to Vietnam on a vacation, seen the needs of the kids, and it changed their lives- and now they’ve changed the lives of hundreds of kids.

HSCV is particularly interesting because every penny- every single cent- donated to the organization goes to directly aid the children they serve.

There’s no big fat salaries for the administrators, there’s no organizational overhead; they are a small service organization, keep their costs down, and basically pay for all their costs themselves- using donations they get for direct aid to the children.

For example, when Kim went over, while they asked around and found her a place to stay, she paid for her own rent, her food, her transportation costs, and so forth.

HSCV was happy to have her come and help with translation, teaching, and other work with the kids, but they didn’t give her anything for it; all her costs were up to her.

The point here is that this organization is the real deal. If you donate to them, they’ll use every bit of those funds to aid children- with food, medical care, housing, or schooling.

If you go to their web site at http://www.hscv.org you can see what kind of work they do.

Right now, they’re staging a special funds drive for a little girl named Thao.

Thao suffered some horrible burns when she was 5, and they’ve managed to arrange for her to be able to come to the United States and get some medical treatment that will change her life.

Thao’s scar tissue around what’s left of her fingers is preventing her from even simple tasks, but after the treatment and surgeries, she’ll be able to handle those things.

Imagine not being able to write, or brush your own teeth or get dressed; well, Thao can’t do that right now, but with some help she’ll be able to in the future.

You can donate to Thao. I’m not asking a lot; if you can only give a dollar, that’s one dollar closer to self-sufficiency this little girl with a great attitude will be. (A dollar goes a LOT further in Ha Noi than it does in the USA.) If you can skip a couple of lattes this week you can probably chip in 5 or 10 bucks.

Kim met Thao when she was in Vietnam and says that despite the burns and scars, Thao is a tough, good child. Kim said “She grabbed a special place in my heart.”

I know there’s a million different causes in the world we can donate to. Some are close to home, and I applaud anyone and everyone who helps out in whatever way they can. Some are far away. Some will make a big difference and some will probably
not accomplish anything in the long run.

This is a case, though, where someone I know and trust has not only personally vouched for HSCV, but has gone and worked alongside of them to help children.

This is a case where you can make a real difference- not just now, but for the next 30, 50, even 70 years of someone’s life. Thao has a shot at being able to do so much more for HERSELF.

While it’s great to donate and give a family a big bag of rice, I think it’s even better to donate and give someone the means so they can do more in the future for themselves. You know what they say about “give a man a fish” versus “teach a man to fish”.

Please go to www.hscv.org and consider making a donation.

It’s 100% tax deductible, you can do so quickly and easily via PayPal, and it’s a case where you can send a few bucks knowing that every bit of it will go to a great cause and make a huge difference for decades in someone’s life.

Thank you for your time and your patience in this all-too-long email.

To be honest, I’d rather you don’t forward it on; the point here is that I know you or am connected to you somehow, and that’s why I’m sending it to you; once it goes second or third hand, those people don’t know me from Adam and there’s not much reason
to trust it, and it just becomes another one of those internet junk emails.

Instead, let’s join in a mini-network of connected people and make a little difference in someone’s life.

Thank you again for your time,

Paul

Now, not all charity organizations are overstaffed, or spending too much on admin costs. People working for those charities deserve a good life and fair salary, of course. I don’t mean to slag on the good ones here.

Please consider donating a few bucks- even 3 or 5 dollars per person can add up quickly.