It's Spring 2019! Bridges to Learning Newsletter

Happy Spring to you and yours! The children are successfully approaching the end of the school year due to your generous contributions and support. Thank you for your kindness as we work to help the children who are in desperate need.

With spring comes change, and a lot of new and exciting things are happening at Bridges to Learning.
In this newsletter, we have lots of updates:

1st Annual B2L Golf Tournament at Stonebrooke - June 1st!
New School Bus at Viet Anh School, and a Well Too!
Academic Olympiad at Anh Linh School
Jerri's Trip to Vietnam
Jerri's "Retirement" and B2L Plans for the Future
Thank You and Ways to Give

1st Annual B2L Golf Tournament

Get the summer off to a great start by joining us for the 1st Annual B2L Golf Tournament. Meet us at the beautiful Stonebrooke Golf Club. It is one of the funnest, while still challenging, courses in the state. We hope to make it an annual event to raise funds for the children in the schools, and have some fun along the way.

Date: Saturday, June 1st
Registration at 12:00; Golf at 1:00, followed by a delicious BBQ.

Join us for:
- 18 Holes with Carts
- Driving Range
- Games
- Prizes (Restaurant Gift Cards, Flying Dutchman Spirits, and more)
- Silent Auction (Blue Truck Pizza, Anthony Barr Autographed Football, Wine, Golf Clubs, and more)
- Tasty BBQ

Tickets are $125.

Friends, it's your LAST CHANCE to sign up.

School News

Changes at Viet Anh School!
New Bus, New Well

The Viet Anh Primary School has been especially blessed this year with two incredibly useful gifts.

The first gift is a result of a VERY generous grant of over $20,000 from the Resource Capital Funds Foundation, The RCF grant, which spurred additional giving from donors near the school, resulted in a new school bus.

The second gift is the result of a donor who learned of the Viet Anh School and donated $1,000 to the school to help where needed. The gift came at the perfect time as they had received about $2,000 from donors in Hong Kong. The combined funds were enough to build a well -- providing an abundant supply of water to the school.

We received a note from Agnes Kim Ngoc, Principal at Viet Anh School expressing their gratitude for the funds for the school bus and well. In Da Teh province, they are dependent on well water, since they do not have fresh water from a water treatment plant. In the past, they shared a well with a neighbor, but it was not enough. Now they have an abundant supply of water.
About the school bus, she added:
"The children and their parents are so happy with the school bus. Now, the children can safely go to school in this bus. It's so dangerous if they go to school by motorcycles on a long journey, because they live so far from school."

Thank you very much to RCF, and the donor who supplied funds for the well. The gifts go such a long way in providing the basics for safety and health to the children so they can thrive at school.

Academic Olympiad at Anh Linh School!

Move over Alex Trebek! There is a new game in town!
The Academic Olympiad is an afternoon-long competition (sort of Jeopardy style) where teams of students answer questions across all subjects (e.g. math, science, English). It is put together by staff and held on the ground floor of the Anh Linh School. Staff display questions (including some in a video format) on the projector. It was extremely well organized and the students were very enthusiastic participants. The photos are of the secondary school competition in late March. The elementary students got in on the competition earlier in the week with their own contest.
The students really enjoyed themselves!

A huge thank you to Ellen Klahn-Grove for sending the photos and report. She is currently volunteering at the Anh Linh School as an English teacher for 7th to 9th grade students. She is a great asset to Bridges to Learning and the school.

Jerri's Retirement and B2L Future Plans!

As some of you may know, Jerri Hirsch, after 15 years of founding, building, supporting, and promoting Bridges to Learning, has retired from management and board responsibilities. Of course she will still be involved with B2L. You will see her at events and she will continue to provide wisdom and advice as the organization carries on supporting the children we dearly love. She describes the transition best in her own words. See her letter here.

We can not thank her enough for co-founding B2L, her hours of tireless work, and her deep-seeded compassion for the underprivileged children in Vietnam. The results of her work are countless, ranging from building schools, to providing education, guidance and love, and improving the nutrition and health of each child served at the schools. Most importantly providing hope and opportunities for their future.

Come out to the links on June 1st to join Jerri at the B2L golf tournament!

In other news....

Coming soon: a new, and improved B2L website! Thanks to a grant from our partners at the Hubbard Broadcasting Foundation we have the funds to improve the site so it's friendlier for phones and other mobile devices. It will be a great resource for school updates, event info, donations and sponsors. We are hoping to launch it in July!

Jerri’s Trip to Vietnam

Jerri was in Vietnam to visit the Anh Linh Free School in January. The highlight of her trip was the surprise celebration at the school. She was greeted by decorations, flowers, and lots of smiling faces. A show was staged in her honor and in thanksgiving for all of her years of effort to support the school.

What a trooper! You wouldn't know from the photos that she was fighting a bout of pneumonia that cut her trip short, and resulted in not visiting the Viet Anh School. But she hung in there and enjoyed the love and appreciation of the students and teachers.

Another surprise on her visit was the trip to the airport! Kim Dung, the current principal of Anh Linh, and Cam Thuy, the former principal, arranged the surprise -- a send off for Jerri and a tour for the secondary students. After sending Jerri off with love and well-wishes, the students were treated to an "insiders" tour of the airport. Experiences like this give the children a taste of what their futures might be. It's a great example of how the kids' lives are enriched through the school--and we help make that happen.

Here are a few highlights!

Thank You and Ways to Give!

Thank you for your support of Bridges to Learning and the kiddos in Vietnam.

As we move through the year, we hope that you will include us and the free schools we support in Vietnam in your giving plans. As we all know, children who have no education are destined to remain at the bottom of the society. It's simply a matter of birth. Anh Linh Love School and Viet Anh Primary School offer opportunities for impoverished children to learn and thrive.

These kids have great hearts and minds and spirits that just need a hand up.
We can do that with your help! Thank you.

There are many avenues for your support:

To fund special projects, or help with general operating expenses, please consider making a donation at:
If you'd like more information about sponsoring a child go to:
Does your company match donations? If so, please consider requesting a match for your donation to Bridges to Learning.
We learned of the Hubbard Broadcasting Foundation and the RCF Foundation grants through supporters of B2L. Do you know of any grant opportunities? Does your company, or foundation, offer grants? If so, please contact us at info@bridges2learning.org .
Volunteering is a great way to contribute to B2L and the schools. Please contact us at info@bridges2learning.org if you are interested.

Keep up-to-date on the schools and Bridges to Learning on Facebook and Instagram, as well as the website.

Please visit, "like", and "follow" our new Facebook page. Due to a glitch, or two, we have started a new page. Find info and updates about the school and Bridges to Learning. You can find us at: https://www.facebook.com/bridgestwolearning

We are on instagram too! Find the latest and greatest by following “bridges2learning” on Instagram.