Jenny Do & Vy Gia Truong - Prayer Ceremony

Jenny Do's Wish List

Attorney Jenny Do recently was diagnosed with stage IV cancer.   The prognosis is 3-6 months survival rate or less.

The community has been rallied around her to support her and her causes.   In the 2007, she was named Woman of the Year by the California State Legislature in her district and she received a number of  recognitions for her anti-human trafficking and charity work in the Bay Area. 

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My Wish List

Your outpouring of messages, texts, phone calls and postings on social media since my diagnosis has lifted me up. Your prayers and wishes give me strength and courage. I apologize that I have not been able to thank and answer all of you individually, as I have been overwhelmed by your responses!

But dear brothers and sisters, this is not the time to be sad. If we shed tears, let us crystallize them into positive energy. There is so much left to do, so little time to do it. Here is my short wish list for the causes dear to my heart:

1. The welfare of the Friends of Hue (FHF - www.friendsofhue.org

) children and youths continues to be my priority concern! Thanks to the generosity of our donors and supporters, the self-sustainability initiative of FHF’s outsourcing center, and our financially conservative operations, we don't need a huge amount of money to bridge the gap and cover the basic needs of our children.

My first wish therefore is that FHF continues to take care of the children living at the center and those we sponsor in the vicinity. I wish that we keep supporting them until they can fly on their own. Please help me continue the annual fund raising drives.

2. Next on my mind is the Ao Dai Festival (www.aodaifestival.org

). Its fourth edition will take place on May 15th, with or without me. More than just a celebration of the Vietnamese culture and history, ADF binds our youths to a common goal and empowers them for years to come!  I wish that this vision continues after I leave you, that ADF’s fourth edition isn’t the last, and that the torch is passed to willing and able volunteers who will carry on the tradition.

3. I have also fallen in love with the children of Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world. There I met Father Pedro Opeka, the founder of Akamasoa, an association that built 18 villages housing 3,000 families who used to live in cardboard boxes in the Antananarivo dumps.

I see in him the presence and beauty of human decency and humanity. Please trust this living Saint, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize in 2012. Send him your support (http://www.madagascar-america-foundation.org

). By donating $100, you can save a child from a garbage rummaging life.

4. Last but not least, I wish that our long-awaited, long-promised and long-dreamed Vietnamese-American Community Center of San José becomes reality. Oh, how I wish this to come true before I leave this world!

Its establishment has received the support of many City Councilmembers, community leaders, businesses, and individuals. Many plans have been proposed, many discussions have taken place, but the center still remains just a dream.

It is now time to make it a reality!

I have discussed with like-minded friends. In a few more days, I will describe our vision for a sustainable Vietnamese-American Community Center. It should be a place where the elders meet, where the youths gather and participate in healthy activities, where certain basic services are provided, and where people from different walks of life or cultures share experiences and enrich the community. It should also be a place where music and arts can thrive.

Self-sustainability will be essential. This will require a strong organization to plan and manage the project. We will need a diverse and robust board of directors, an experienced management team, support from all sectors and seed funding to get the project off the ground.

In order for our wishes to come true, I will need your help beyond anything that you have extended to me in the past. Our community is strong; if we join force, we can move mountains!

Please share the dream with me. Let us make a gift to ourselves and to future generations.And please accept my gratitude. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all.

Friends of Hue Foundation Gala

Last Sunday, Friends of Hue Foundation held their annual gala at Dynasty Restaurant.  The event was sold out with 300 people attended an raised over $40,000 for the children of Central Vietnam to support their education programs and a  children's shelter.  FHF was started in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation.   

At the fund raising for FHF Gala last Sunday,  city councilmembers Tam Nguyen,  Manh Nguyen and Ash Kalra gave the organization a commendation from Mayor Sam Liccardo as well as from their respective offices.   Councilmembers  Manh Nguyen ad Tam Nguyen also congratulate Jenny Do (Chairwoman) on her candidacy for D8.  

State assembly candidates Cong Do and Councilmember Ash Kalra also praised FHF for its charity work in Vietnam.   Vy Truong, owner of Viet Tribune, shared her experience working with Jenny Do and praised her tremendous efforts in building  the shelter to its presence success.

Ash Karla for State Assembly Fund Raiser

The Making of Garden Grove City Mayor Bao Nguyen

Bao Nguyen, who won the  mayoral race 10 months ago by 15 votes largely on the strength of the Vietnamese-American voters,  has been making headlines lately.

First, he decided to come out as the first gay Vietnamese-American elected official at the same time as he declared himself a congressional candidate to replace Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.  Two weeks later, he shared with  an on-duty cop late at night in front of his house how he despises his fellow councilmen Phat Bui and Steve Jones.   The conversation was recorded by the policeman.  

To many Vietnamese-Americans, he is quite arrogant when he refused to ask Riverside City to rescind the sister-relationship with a city in Vietnam.

He does not have a chance in the congressional race since he could not raise money and he does not even live in the district.   He will also have a tough time in the re-election.   Phat Bui and Steve Jones will likely run for the mayoral office.  

Potential Candidates for San Jose City D8

Now we know that Attorney Jimmy Nguyen has declared himself to be the front runner (via Mercury News) in the city council race for D8, who else is considering?

Litigator Jenny Do has mentioned her intention.   Meanwhile, businesswoman Denise Belisle is rumored to be thinking hard about a possible run.  Jim Zito is another potential candidate that has his name floating in the mix.  But at the end of the day, the most prominent name is still Pattie Cortese. She is motivated to run before she left for her Italy vacation.  

Anyway, it is too early to tell for the campaign cannot be official until December when the fund raising can begin.  This is a district with high voter turnout.  In 2012, there were close to 32,000 ballots cast.  In comparison, D7 had no more than 15,000 ballots cast.

LSI expects the race to have at least 5 - 6 candidates.  

Attorney Jenny Do Runs for D8 City Council Seat

Overnight, the race for San Jose D8 city council seat just became exciting in the Vietnamese-American community.  Email was flying all night long in various e-groups as  Attorney Jenny Do mentioned her intention to run in around table discussion on air with Councilmember Tam Nguyen and  Council-elect Manh Nguyen last night.

A long time attorney, she is well known in the community and the philanthropic crowd.

Besides her legal practice focusing in health care insurance and compensation,  she founded the Green Rice Gallery in downtown San Jose.  The gallery provided a venue for Vietnamese-American artists. She was the curator for many well-received exhibitions around the San Francisco and Greater Bay Area. These exhibitions are designed to promote Vietnamese American arts and culture, as well as to raise awareness on social issues in the Asian-American community.   

She involves in South First Friday event to help promote downtown arts and culture in San Jose every first Friday of the month.

Her love for the arts also led her to run a very popular and successful wedding and special event design company in the Bay Area.   She recently sold the company for it grew too big where she could not effectively spend time on her legal work.

She has been a strong advocate against human trafficking before it became a nationally recognized issue.  She was a guest speaker at national conferences on human trafficking. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D) honored her with a special congressional recognition for her effort.


She also co-founded Homeowners in Action to help homeowners save their home against predatory practices by lenders during the housing crisis.   

In her spare time, she is responsible for Ao Dai Festival where she produces an elaborate production to showcase Vietnamese culture.  The bi-annual show attended by thousands of people and raised over $250,000 for a children shelter in Vietnam.  

She served on the Art Commission of San Jose and is currently a member of the American Leadership Forum in Silicon Valley.  The members of the forum include senior executives of hi-tech and biotech companies as well as political leaders like mayors of San Jose and Santa Clara County supervisors. 
  

For her philanthropic work in the community and her advocacy efforts, she was recognized as 2007 Woman of the Year in California for District 23,  a prestigious award bestowed by the California Legislature.  The state legislature identified her as one of those rare individuals who made a difference not only in her local community but much further beyond. 

She also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of San Jose in 2007 and the unsolicited Belle Foundation grant in 2005.

She is an Amerasian and her story of gaining acceptance and her search of her American father whom she never knew was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

In San Jose D8,  about 22% of the registered voters are Vietnamese-American. 

It will be an interesting race and if Pattie Cortese decides to run, she will automatically be the front-runner.   According to Pattie before she left for her vacation in Europe,  she is motivated but her only concern is that she promised East Side Union School Board that if they chose her to be the board trustee, she would not run for office in 2016.