1st

During the preparation and planning part for this CAS project, we run into a lot of challenges. Our initial plan was to collaborate with the animal shelter. Still, due to some problems, we couldn’t make it happen, so we had to change our plan, but luckily the foundation replied to us, and after some discussion, both parties agreed. 

The Foundation is very kind and helpful in narrowing down our goal and the cause that we want to contribute to. After some group discussion, everyone agreed that we should contribute to healthcare and education. When we all knew what area we wanted to contribute to we started to narrow down what program we should choose. After some research and reading different programs, we decided to choose the Heartbeat Vietnam and Brighter Path programs. 

Heartbeat Vietnam is a program run by the VinaCapital Foundation. The program aims to provide life-saving heart surgeries to underprivileged children in Vietnam who suffer from congenital heart defects. By covering the cost of these critical procedures, the program offers children the chance to lead healthy lives and relieves financial burdens on families who cannot afford the surgery, Since its inception, the program has transformed thousands of lives, giving children the opportunity for a healthy future. Providing continuing care of children. 

The Brighter Path program provides Bright Path Scholarship for Girls, which is an initiative by the VinaCapital Foundation. To empower ethnic minority girls in Vietnam by providing them with scholarships to continue their education. The program targets girls from underprivileged backgrounds, offering them the resources and support needed to complete their schooling and pursue higher education. By investing in their education, the Bright Path Scholarship aims to break the cycle of poverty and give these girls the opportunity to achieve their full potential and become leaders in their communities. Providing funds for Brighter Path Girls’ Clubs, which promote gender equality and help set up girls for brighter futures. 

After planning and the goal that we set, we decided to choose Heartbeat Vietnam as our first cause to which we will contribute. The reason why we chose this program is to help fund the care of children. This is important to us because we believe that all children should be offered adequate healthcare and opportunity, and also raise awareness about congenital heart defects in children.  

2nd

We decided to host our first food sale during the DP parent conference (Wednesday, October 23, 2024). A week before the food sale, we do a lot of preparation to advertise our project and our food sale. My main role for this event is to prepare the poster, infographic, and ideas for the Instagram post. 

Our food sale menu included egg rolls, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate, juice, and cheesecake. To our surprise, it was a huge success, all of our preparation paid off. One moment, when some of our teammates were doing the conference there was one person who was very generous and donated 1,400 € to us, a contribution that was far from our expectation. It was a surprise and heartwarming story when our teammate told us that story. This donation alone made me realize how powerful the community can be in supporting a cause. 

During our food sale, I noticed that a lot of people were curious about the programs that we support and our future events. Seeing how our project could spark interest and inspire others to know more about it was incredible fulling. I am also very proud of all of my teammates everyone collaborates with each other really well, and everyone tries their best to make this project meaningful and successful, but sometimes we do have some disagreements but in the end, we always tried our best to make everyone ideas and opinion contribute in the project. 

Looking back at this experience, I feel very proud of what we accomplished, but I also see the area for improvement. Next time, we could be more organized, we don’t actually have a person who does photography doing the event, so we don't have many pictures and some of the pictures that we took don’t even have all of the members.

This event taught me a lot, about how to host an event, the power of teamwork, and leadership skill.