News Releases

Chapter XVI, Society of the 173rd Airborne pledged a donation of $1,500 as a challenge or marching grant targeted for VFEMI’S 2nd “Reading Room/Library Project” at the Nguyen Hien Primary School in Kontum, Vietnam.

VFEMI designates a total of $3,000 as a “package” for each library project. This includes hundreds of books and DVD’s for students and staff, computer/printer, projector/screen, furniture, and room up-grades including new paint, lighting and basic electrical.

Each VFEMI-designated school offers one or two existing rooms for use as a reading room, and for book and equipment storage.

The Nguyen Hien School serves 316 children from some of the poorest villages in the area with family incomes of $200 to $300 per year. 70% of students are from the Bahnar and Sedang ethnic minority tribal groups, and 30% are Vietnamese. Many of these children walk up to 4 kilometers to and from school each day in plastic sandals, often on empty stomachs.

The rural and remote schools of Kontum Province, like many schools in Vietnam, offer mandatory schooling through grade six. However these disadvantaged government-sponsored schools are often only provided with rudimentary school buildings, minimum books and supplies, and little or no furniture and equipment or “luxuries” such as libraries.

Our goal through the VFEMI Library Program is to transform the lives of children by focusing on literacy. In collaboration with each targeted school, we hope to develop reading skills and instill a love of reading amongst the poorest primary school children in Vietnam.

Steve and Suong Konek, along with Jane Coyle, Director of the Vietnam Fund for Education, Music & Infrastructure, visited the Nguyen Huu Canh Primary School for the formal dedication of our first completed library/reading room.

The Library/Reading Room Project, facilitated and coordinated by VFEMI, was funded by the “Lilian Konek” Family and Veterans of Chapter XVI of the173rd Airborne Brigade. The international organization, “Room To Read” donated 200 books in addition to the 200 already purchased by VFEMI. In addition, we were able to provide a new computer, printer and projector, tables and benches for the library, new paint for the walls, and an upgrade to the electrical system.

Our goal is to provide poor primary school children in rural areas access to a wide variety of books and learning tools within their schools. By creating safe and inviting spaces where children can read and learn, each will have the opportunity to reach their full potential and become creative, contributing members of their communities and the world.

The Vietnam Fund is pleased to announce the addition of Steve Konek Sr. as Director of Library Development and Fundraising. Steve, a graduate of the University of Washington and a Vietnam Veteran is a member of both Chapter XVI of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the Disabled American Veterans & Veterans of Foreign Wars. For the past thirty years Steve worked as a coach and mentor to children of all ages through sports programs in the US. He is a former president of the Pacific International Semi-Pro Baseball League and the 1998 winner of the Washington Education Association Classified Employee of the Year. In 1999 Steve won the Hap Dumont award from the National Baseball Congress.

We are honored to have Steve on our team and excited to work together towards achieving our goal of providing libraries and reading rooms to needy schools in Vietnam.

Our pilot library project at the Nguyen Huu Canh Primary School in the Central Highlands of Vietnam was a huge success. Thanks to funding generously donated by the Lillian Konek Family and Chapter XVI of the Society of the 173rd Airborne we established the school’s first library. The Vietnam Fund provided in-country logistical planning and management including the purchase of several hundred books. In addition, two hundred books were donated by the international organization Room To Read. The new library marks a milestone for the Nguyen Huu Canh Primary School and will positively impact students, staff, and surrounding villagers for years to come.

Our initial work with Steve will focus on some of the poorest schools in the Central Highlands of Vietnam with future plans to work in both the North and South. The library program will operate as a partnership between designated schools and the Vietnam Fund. Principals from identified schools will provide existing rooms within each school for use as library/reading rooms. In addition, the schools will provide detailed information regarding needed repairs and upgrades necessary to create a functional library. The Vietnam Fund will contribute the necessary funds and oversee simple room repairs and upgrades. We will monitor the purchase of furniture, reading lamps, projectors, computers, printers, and educational and recreational DVD’s as well as 200-300 hundred books per school for both staff and students.

The total estimated cost for each library/reading room is $3,000.

We invite donations, in kind donations, and donations made in honor of people and/or secular organization for this very important and relevant project.