By Sara Stevens Nerone | Founder
Dear Friends,
First, let me just say, thank you to all of you, from myself and my two daughters and our volunteers for helping us win the GlobalGiving Girl Fund! At the end of March, thanks to so many; our personal friends here in Rhode Island and around the country, and so many more that contributed to our bikes for girls project, we won first place in the GlobalGiving Girl Fund for 2017! What this means is that GlobalGiving will be helping us fundraise for the rest of the year and helping us to provide more girls living in poverty in Vietnam with bikes and helmets to get to school! Thank you everyone!
As has been throughout the history of Vietnam, the motorbike and the bicycle are the two main forms of transportation, and remain so today. For those who can’t afford a motorbike or bicycle, walking long distances to buy food, go to school and even getting to medical care, is often their only choice. When my daughters and I lived in Vietnam in 2011-2012, before starting this non-profit, we rode bicycles all around the countryside, often being swept up in a sea of bicycles leaving the local schools in the afternoon. It was an amazing experience. We couldn’t help but notice how many kids carried other kids on the backs of their bikes, and how many bikes were broken in disrepair, with flat tires, no brakes, etc…hence the lightbulb to start this program was turned on!
Many people have asked, “why only girls?” Well, first of all, my late husband and I adopted both of our daughters from Vietnam, and I wanted to celebrate them and where they came from. I read a lot about the lack of assistance provided to girls in Southeast Asia in general, and the difficulties young girls face in trying to go to, and remain in school. Many are laden with the additional responsibility of their younger siblings when parents work, and often are the first to drop out of school because of the extra domestic dependency put upon them. We wanted to celebrate and honor these girls in giving them new bicycles and continue to encourage and empower them to stay in school.
Please, if you haven’t seen it already, take the time to watch this live Facebook feed of one of our bike giving ceremonies. Some friends of ours from Rhode Island were in Vietnam volunteering in our art and music classes and took part in one of the bike givings. Go here--it’s a great way for you to see your donations at work:
https://www.facebook.com/RockPaperScissorsChildrensFund/videos/1474050589274515/
Again, thank you so much to all of you who donated in March as part of the Girl Fund and to all those who continue to support us year round!
Sara Nerone
Links:
By Sara Nerone | Founder
By Sara and Giao | RPS Founder and Staff
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