John Gibbs posted on February 28, 2011 18:02
Goodwill Trip
A group representing VVP and Rotary will be undertaking a trip to Vietnam from 23 Mar to 4 Apr 2011. Planning is underway to purchase food parcels, with funding from Liverpool West and Satellite Club, which will be distributed at villages visited. Participants in this trip will include Ted Mlynarz, Charles Hili and Joe Cauchi who will then give us a report on Tuesday night 5 April when we transfer our meeting to the Bar Luck Restaurant.
Liverpool West & Satellite Club / VVP BBQ held 6 Feb 2011 at Freedom Plaza
We had another successful and enjoyable event. The record funds raised will be presented to the Vietnamese Community Association fundraiser for the Queensland Flood Relief.
In excess of $5,200.00 was raised on the day and pledges still to come will increase the amount to over $7,000.00.
The new "Master Chef" is Dr James Chau-Vo - who picked up the tongs and started cooking with the "precision of a surgeon".
He would not relinquish the operating instruments until all was done.
The "Gold plated, Diamond encrusted" tongs previously presented to Trudy were nowhere to be seen, so the formal presentation ceremony had to be abandoned.
There is a rumour circulating that Trudy (the last owner) was seen in a pawn shop in recent times.
One wonders how she paid for her recent trip to KL and Japan.
A special thank you to Van Nguyen and Long Hoang from National Australia Bank for organising sponsorship for the event as well as Lena (hope I got this right) the "balloon lady" who worked tirelessly with keeping up with the high demand for the balloons. She was well organised and had plenty of helpers.
Mr Chris Hayes, Federal Member for Fowler attended and helped with fundraising, together with Mr Thanh Nguyen, President of the Vietnamese Community Association/NSW Chapter they sought donations via a street walk of Cabramatta.
We and the crowd were well entertained by a musical group who provided their services "pro bono" and provided a fantastic atmosphere which complemented the fundraiser activities.
VVP's new member Adele Koosache attended and was kept busy with handing out balloons. The kids, little and big, couldn't resist them.
The turnout of volunteers on the day was exceptional and made the day a fun and successful event. The scouts accompanying Dan Dang provided a great atmosphere and were willing to do anything and everything asked of them, great work. Hope you can make it again next time.
The next BBQ will be held on Sunday 17 April 2011, Freedom Plaza Cabramatta, 9.00 am to 2.00 pm and yes, we will probably enjoy ourselves again.
Reported by Ted Mlynarz