Mounting Community Support for VAOHP
In the midst of the Holiday season and in the spirit of giving, we at the VAOHP want to acknowledge the outpour of generosity from the Vietnamese American community in Southern California.
Representing the VAOHP on December 8, Linda Võ and Thuý Võ Đặng attended a Directv-sponsored dinner at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach honoring the Vietnamese American Media. We dialogued with Huntington Beach Mayor Joe Carchio, Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce President Tâm Nguyễn and Mr. Derrick Nguyễn, ESQ—all pictured in the photograph below, courtesy of Tâm Nguyễn.
Another important organization representative we met was Boat People SOS: shout out to Mr. Alex Phạm with whom we did not nab a photo.
From this event, we networked with Hưng Doãn, marketing manager of Việt Báo Daily News and a new enthusiastic supporter of the project. Hưng quickly followed up in the days after the dinner by scheduling a meeting and tour of the Southeast Asian Archive and Special Collections at UC Irvine. Thuý and Christina Woo, Research Librarian and VAOHP Advisory Committee member, accompanied Hưng and his sister, Khánh Doãn, who is an affiliate of Viện Việt Học, or the Institute of Vietnamese Studies, on a tour of the archive. Both are steadfast supporters of historical research on Vietnamese Americans and have expressed the desire to advocate for and assist in the execution of the project.
From this pleasant meeting and tour, Hưng and Khánh were able to view some of the artwork from the refugee camps in Hong Kong, part of our exclusive collection at UCI. Khánh then set up a meeting for Thuý to meet with General Secretary of Viện Việt Học in order to foster a close collaboration between the institute and our project. Our meeting on December 22nd was productive and informative, as both sides came to see the synchrony of preserving and disseminating history with language and culture.
In the months ahead, there will be many more fortuitous connections and strong relationships with the Vietnamese American community built and sustained. But, just to help spread a little holiday cheer, we want to give a big, heart-felt thank you to all the community supporters who are generously giving their input, time, and connections to the project—a critical driving force behind the effort to bring Vietnamese American history into the foreground of public history.
Happy holidays!