Dear all,
At my office, we are in the midst of a very busy time of auditing. I just get a break from a week of meetings, meetings and meetings. Thanks for your exciting messages; they gave me such a wonderful feeling. Everyone is so good, from the tickets selling, arrangement of the tables, decorations, and greeting the guests, to the execution of the entertaining program and the financial matters. Of course, there were some mishaps but they are negligible and forgettable. Entertainment was somewhat simple but the meaningful of the program carried the day. Our talented MC Julie, Steve, Ky Duyen and anh Trung's band, together with anh Chris, the stage manager, kept the evening going so smooth and lively. The dining hall was simple but elegant. The auction (Silence and Live) items were intelligently and appealingly displayed. The Treasury team tallied the money and donations so efficiently, and have the results announced very timely several times during the evening, which gave everyone and especially the attending guests the happy and warm feeling that they have made a big difference in the successful of the fund raising event. The evening was a great success, we passed with flying colors.
   Co Mai, please forward our praises to the young and beautiful ladies of the Candle Dance team who danced so very gracefully in their white "ao dai". These young ladies started the evening in just the right tone. When the light dimmed, their candles shined, the soft melody of the meaningful song touches everyone's hearts.
  Co Hanh-Dung, The Beacon of Light team did a wonderful job greeting and guiding the guests to their tables. Anh Cang and the guests were very impressed; they remarked on how the team, in a very professional manner, located and escorted the guests to their tables. Even with the unusual arrangement of the tables, and with all the unexpected types of tickets (tickets with no number, tickets with number changed, people switched tables) they handled their tasks calmly, coolly and tactfully. They did not mind all the little extra jobs (putting atop of each table the table numbers, the questionnaires, the pens, the program booklets, on each of the 100 tables in all). The youth were on their toes, serviced with a smile, selling raffle tickets and collecting donations through out the evening. They were young but they took their responsibilities seriously.
  Co Mai Le, co Hanh-Dung oi, It was so very nice to see the young working along side with the older generation. It was very nice to see how the young people so sweet and polite in talking and in contact with the elders guests. And it was very nice as well to see the respect and love in the way the guest treating the younger generation. I am sure the young ones went home after doing a good deed feeling as happy as we did.  We came together and created a remarkable evening; we come together and built a warm friendly relationship with all the volunteers. What a wonderful cooperation of all concerned. We had a successful evening in many ways!
   All and all, I myself truly admire all of your hard work. I enjoy working with each and everyone of you. Like co Julie, I went home feel so peaceful. Like anh Trung, I can't wait for the next project.
FYI Note: I'd like to share several interesting situations, some funny, some not.
There was a lady who refused to accept her table because it was not at the correct location as indicated in her email. There was also a group that would not sit at their indicated table because it was a VIP table, and even though the table number and their tickets numbers are the same. There was a table which had both VIP and non-VIP tickets. There were two sets of tickets for the same table.
There were tickets without numbers, there were tickets with numbers crossed out and replaced with different numbers. There was a table reserved for Vien-Thong Pagoda which was moved to another location. The servers could not serve them with their pre-ordered "thuc an chay." Hopefully that they were not left hungry all evening. There were several people who requested "thuc an chay" on the spot, which the restaurant would be happy to charge an extra $15 per person. Luckily, I found some tables of Chua Vien-Thong that still had some empty seats, and the nice people there did not mind sharing their table. Thank God, Ca'm on Chua', those issues were all resolved nicely and peacefully because I believed everyone there were very understanding and came with a good cause in mind.
We came together and created a remarkable evening; we come together and built a warm friendly relationship with all the volunteers. What a wonderful cooperation of all concerned. We had a successful evening in many ways!
  All and all, I myself truly admire all of your hard work. I enjoy working with each and everyone of you. Like co Julie, I went home feel so peaceful. Like anh Trung, I can't wait for the next project.

Phuong Dung Vu

With Our Hearts and Hands, We Can Build a Village

Dear all,
At my office, we are in the midst of a very busy time of auditing. I just get a break from a week of meetings, meetings and meetings. Thanks for your exciting messages; they gave me such a wonderful feeling. Everyone is so good, from the tickets selling, arrangement of the tables, decorations, and greeting the guests, to the execution of the entertaining program and the financial matters. Of course, there were some mishaps but they are negligible and forgettable. Entertainment was somewhat simple but the meaningful of the program carried the day. Our talented MC Julie, Steve, Ky Duyen and anh Trung's band, together with anh Chris, the stage manager, kept the evening going so smooth and lively. The dining hall was simple but elegant. The auction (Silence and Live) items were intelligently and appealingly displayed. The Treasury team tallied the money and donations so efficiently, and have the results announced very timely several times during the evening, which gave everyone and especially the attending guests the happy and warm feeling that they have made a big difference in the successful of the fund raising event. The evening was a great success, we passed with flying colors.
   Co Mai, please forward our praises to the young and beautiful ladies of the Candle Dance team who danced so very gracefully in their white "ao dai". These young ladies started the evening in just the right tone. When the light dimmed, their candles shined, the soft melody of the meaningful song touches everyone's hearts.
  Co Hanh-Dung, The Beacon of Light team did a wonderful job greeting and guiding the guests to their tables. Anh Cang and the guests were very impressed; they remarked on how the team, in a very professional manner, located and escorted the guests to their tables. Even with the unusual arrangement of the tables, and with all the unexpected types of tickets (tickets with no number, tickets with number changed, people switched tables) they handled their tasks calmly, coolly and tactfully. They did not mind all the little extra jobs (putting atop of each table the table numbers, the questionnaires, the pens, the program booklets, on each of the 100 tables in all). The youth were on their toes, serviced with a smile, selling raffle tickets and collecting donations through out the evening. They were young but they took their responsibilities seriously.
  Co Mai Le, co Hanh-Dung oi, It was so very nice to see the young working along side with the older generation. It was very nice to see how the young people so sweet and polite in talking and in contact with the elders guests. And it was very nice as well to see the respect and love in the way the guest treating the younger generation. I am sure the young ones went home after doing a good deed feeling as happy as we did.  We came together and created a remarkable evening; we come together and built a warm friendly relationship with all the volunteers. What a wonderful cooperation of all concerned. We had a successful evening in many ways!
   All and all, I myself truly admire all of your hard work. I enjoy working with each and everyone of you. Like co Julie, I went home feel so peaceful. Like anh Trung, I can't wait for the next project.
FYI Note: I'd like to share several interesting situations, some funny, some not.
There was a lady who refused to accept her table because it was not at the correct location as indicated in her email. There was also a group that would not sit at their indicated table because it was a VIP table, and even though the table number and their tickets numbers are the same. There was a table which had both VIP and non-VIP tickets. There were two sets of tickets for the same table.
There were tickets without numbers, there were tickets with numbers crossed out and replaced with different numbers. There was a table reserved for Vien-Thong Pagoda which was moved to another location. The servers could not serve them with their pre-ordered "thuc an chay." Hopefully that they were not left hungry all evening. There were several people who requested "thuc an chay" on the spot, which the restaurant would be happy to charge an extra $15 per person. Luckily, I found some tables of Chua Vien-Thong that still had some empty seats, and the nice people there did not mind sharing their table. Thank God, Ca'm on Chua', those issues were all resolved nicely and peacefully because I believed everyone there were very understanding and came with a good cause in mind.
We came together and created a remarkable evening; we come together and built a warm friendly relationship with all the volunteers. What a wonderful cooperation of all concerned. We had a successful evening in many ways!
  All and all, I myself truly admire all of your hard work. I enjoy working with each and everyone of you. Like co Julie, I went home feel so peaceful. Like anh Trung, I can't wait for the next project.

Phuong Dung Vu

With Our Hearts and Hands, We Can Build a Village