The California-Based Ha Phuong Foundation and the Vietnam Relief Effort
Ha Phuong Gives Back
The Ha Phuong Foundation
Always eager to develop further, Ha Phuong expanded her repertoire to include acting and singing lessons in New York, studying with prominent master coaches Susan Batson for drama and Alissa Grimaldi for voice. Today, in spite of how busy she is pursuing her artistic endeavors in the United States with a new movie, music videos and an upcoming record album—all in English- Ha Phuong has in fact accelerated her deep commitment to charitable work. In addition to her own organizations, last year she added “top donor to UNICEF” to her list of good works.
On April 4, 2008 Ha Phuong unveiled the Ha Phuong Foundation with an initial million dollar donation in Huntington Beach, Orange County CA. The Foundation is one of the largest of its kind and is the culmination of Ha Phuong’s passion for music and her fierce devotion to supporting children’s causes. Her inaugural project to build a multi-media arts center partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Garden Grove has already been completed. In an extraordinary demonstration of her commitment to helping others, Ha Phuong pledged 100% of her future earnings including DVD/CD sales, concert revenue and royalties from her music and acting career to the Foundation.
The Foundation’s work revolves around two primary objectives. First, the organization provides aid to underprivileged children directly by building small houses and paying for necessities such as surgery, food, clothing and education. Secondly, the Foundation provides support for artists who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to develop their talents. Already HP has opened free schools for artists, enabling the underprivileged or disabled to pursue their dreams.
Specifically, the art center puts technology into the hands of young people and allows them to creatively express themselves while simultaneously providing them with market-ready job skills by training them to use professional equipment and software. The Foundation focuses on musical teaching/career development programs for blind children. The program provides musical instruments, curriculum, and arts-based vocational training for these underserved youngsters.
Ha Phuong is also an integral part of the Vietnam Relief Effort, a non-profit organization that her husband, Chinh E. Chu, formed with his sister in 1999, which is dedicated to giving back to Vietnam and some of its poorest citizens. The charity has funded the construction of schools and footbridges across rivers in rural communities as well as subsidized surgeries for war veterans and the disabled. Another of the organization’s primary missions is bringing Vietnamese doctors to the U.S. for training. The couple returns regularly to Vietnam to personally deliver money and supplies to deserving recipients.
As in Orange County, Ha Phuong also connects young people and the Arts in Vietnam. Among the classes sponsored in Vietnam by Ha Phuong are five different music classes, a guitar class, an organ class, a voice class, a dance class and a class that teaches musicians and singers how to read sheet music.
This gentle soul, lovely and talented, is constantly seeking to further the reach of her works through the success of her myriad other projects. With her tenacious dedication to everything she does and her bottomless compassion, Ha Phuong epitomizes the Renaissance Woman of the 21st century.
