September 23, 2005

Hurricane Katrina Relief Benefit raises $150,000 to aid victims

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Most organizations spend months, even a year, to organize a major fund-raiser with food, entertainment, a fashion show and a silent auction.

The John Robert Powers Modeling Agency, in conjunction with clothing designer Quang Chanh and Tina Mai of the Miss Vietnamese Pageant, dazzled the crowd with bril

Yet Debbie Nghiem, co-founder and volunteer vice president for the United Vietnamese Americans organization, knew that she only had seven days.

Her boss at Network PCB, well aware of her volunteer activities, prodded her to organize a fund-raiser by offering the first $1,000 donation. That got the ball rolling.

Despite her 5,000-person e-mail arsenal in hand, Nghiem knew the value of team work, so she called her friend Dana Contey to help find a location for the event that could attract lots of people. She and Contey had worked together on both 9-11 and tsunami fundraisers in the past.

Contey’s connections paid off. She secured Capitol Club Athlet-ics in downtown San Jose to host the event on Sept. 9. Since this disaster affected the whole nation, both Ngheim and Contey began expanding their outreach, and Ryan Hubris, interim executive director of the Viet Heritage Society, teamed up as the third co-organizer of the event.

Nghiem wanted to do more than raise funds, so she decided to hop on a plane on Sept. 4 to assist the 1,000 Vietnamese-Americans stranded in Houston. She returned home to the Bay Area by Sept. 7, just two days before the event.

“We were incredibly proud of this community coming together and recognizing how devastating Hurricane Katrina was,” said Hubris, noting that people from all walks of life joined the effort, from business, education and politics—mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.

The proceeds exceeded all expectations: $80,768 for American Red Cross, $7,770 for the Houston Community and $67,000 for the Biloxi Community. Thousands more trickled in after the event.

(Second from left) Former ABC anchor Thuy Vu joins Hurrican Katrina Benefit organizers Ryan Hubris, Dana Contey and Debbie Nghiem.

Yet Hubris added, “This has nothing to do with who raised more money. This is about how we came together and transcended all boundaries as one American helping another.”

Evergreen resident Van Le—president of the Viet American Cultural Foundation who organizes the Tet Trung Thu, or Mid-Autumn Festival—attended the lively event. “The people all felt they could make a difference in the community to support Katrina,” said Le, who enjoyed the socializing and the fashion show as a fringe benefit of the fund-raiser.

Several of her board members flew to Houston, and she herself will be heading there in October. For some, nothing can replace hands-on assistance.

In the meantime, the organizers of the event thank all who participated on behalf of the children and families whose lives they have touched, but may never meet.

For more information about the Viet Heritage Society, go to www.vietheritagesociety.org and for the United Vietnamese Americans, go to www.uvaus.com.

The Evergreen Times is seeking stories about local District 8 residents who traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist with the hurricane victims OR who may be housing people who have relocated from the area. Please contact Bea Baechle at (408) 494-7000, ext. 203, bea@timesmediainc.com.