THE MAI TAM HOUSE OF HOPE PROJECT

HO CHI MINH CITY SAIGON VIETNAM

CARE AND SUPPORT FOR ORPHANS AND WIDOWS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS

www.maitamhouseofhope.com

www.maitamhouseofhope.org

Introduction

The Boston-based fund raising site www.maitamhouseofhope.com undertook in 2006 to provide start-up seed money to the Mai Tam House of Hope, Ho Chi Minh City Saigon, Vietnam for the provision of life-saving medicines and food for HIV/AIDS orphans and widowed mothers. This micro funding project was targeted for five years, and to be reviewed in the last quarter of 2011. The founders (Jill and Robert Morris ) of www.maitamhouseofhope.comcarried out an on-site visit Dec 2011 and wrote the five year summary report with recommendations to continue the solicitation of donations, to write grants, to develop new initiatives to support the funding of Mai Tam.

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Progress and Achievements

Mai Tam started with 5 orphans and peaked at some 550 clients in the Center and the community. The 2012 client base was some 23 widowed mothers and 72 orphans who reside at the shelter and receive comprehensive support, and 259 orphans living in the community who received monthly support from Mai Tam. (Ref:Mai Tam Shelter Application VASR/CESR grant). Under the astute leadership of the Director John Toai, the Center has provided the life-saving drugs, nutritional needs, and expanded services that include the medical, psycho and social needs of the target population, income creation, education and housing needs.

New objectives to create funding opportunities arose from the 5 year review. While initial 5 year donors remain involved, there has been expected donor fatigue. The Board looked to gain additional funds through fund raising, expansion of the online site to two sites, and grant writing. In each area, measured success was achieved.

Fund Raiser.

Director John Toai traveled to Boston in December 2012 to support the fund raiser. There were some 110 attendees. Several more donors (90) could not attend. While total donations await final tally;with potential matching funds, the fund raiser dinner realized some $27,000 from the very generous patrons. Additional fundraisers were carried out by Friends of Mai Tam in San Jose, California and Arlington, Virginia. We provided moral support for these groups as they did for us.

Total donations received for the year were $29,385, with $20,000 transferred to Mai Tam by year's end. The remainder (late arriving donations) are transferred to Mai Tam in financial year 2013.

Grants.

One grant application was submitted and was successful. The U.S. based organization VASF/CESR (Vietnamese American Scholarship Fund/ Center for the Encouragement of Self Reliance) gave a renewable open ended grant of $10, 000 to Mai Tam, for the Center’s program Transiting to Young Adulthood for the clients now approaching young adulthood.

The Fetzer Institute of Michigan held a symposium: Love and Forgiveness, an Evening of Music with Andreas Boccelli and Dionne Warwick, Assisi Italy September, 2012 . Mai Tam House of Hope was recognized for its excellence in healing with love, forgiveness, and compassion. A grant was generated out of this,but was declined, as John Toai felt he could not fulfill the requirements of the grant.

On-line Expansion.

An additional web site www.maitamhouseofhope.orgwas launched with a younger more aggressive image created by volunteer Tony Luong of AAPIP San Francisco (Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy). Both sites now include a Pay Pal Button allowing donations to be submitted on line. Donations are now received regularly via Pay Pal.

Online Videos.

Two professional videos are currently online at You Tube and tell a beautiful story of Mai Tam. MAI TAMHOUSEOF HOPE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG-IMH9lOJU&feature=plcp was developed by Mr Mike Durkee of Clinton, Massachusetts, and shows video clips generated during the 2012 site visit. The second video FATHER JOHN TOAI INTERVIEW PART 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k71Fm5mCXcc was developed by free-lance videographer Jon Napa of Camden, Maine for his group Storm Warriors International. It is a video of love, compassion, and forgiveness, expressed through an interview with Director John Toai. There are many other videos on You Tube. Just Google Mai Tam House Of Hope to see.

As we have noted before, Director John Toai runs a separate hospice for terminally ill adult AIDS patients. Some donors request that their donations be used for the work at this facility and we gladly comply.

International Foundations for Health (IFFH) continued to provide administrative consulting and banking services cost free, allowing Mai Tam to utilize IFFH's 501 c 3 status to transfer funds from the U.S. to Vietnam. In the past, we could report that all funds donated were transferred to Mai Tam without a fee. However Pay Pal charges a small fee for each donation and IFFH has asked that we pay the 4 wire transfer fees/year. Overall these fees are miniscule.

Going Forward

Our web site will continue to collect donations, and staff will look at other opportunities to generate income—such as grant writing, sale of local arts and crafts to the US market, and assuring follow-up to the donors through personal communication from the orphans and staff in Vietnam to the donors.

Additional senior staff will be taken on at Mai Tam by Director John Toai to manage the Center and the outreach programs.

Consideration of a 2014 fundraiser will be undertaken. Mai Tam's uncovered financial needs are about $120,000 per year and must be garnered from donations. Large corporations will be resourced to determine companies that might commit a certain portion of their philanthropic giving to Mai Tam for an extended period.

A mid-term business plan remains a priority, to rationalize activities and sustainability.