The volunteers, who will be here until March 29, include physicians, nurses and other medical workers working with the US-based non-profit Catalyst Foundation, founded by Vietnamese-American Caroline Ticarro-Parker.
The group will also be building and renovating houses of poor families in Cao Lanh district in Dong Thap province and handing out toys and gifts to 1,000 children.
Free check-ups and medicine will be given to 500 poor children who live in Dong Thap province and at Thu Duc Juvenile Village and the HCM City Child Welfare Foundation’s shelter for girls.
The beach camp, Ticarro said, gives children who have never seen the ocean an opportunity to enjoy an extended playtime.
The children will also be participating in an art contest called My Vietnam at the seaside on Ha Tien beach in the Mekong province of Kien Giang.
Ticarro left Vietnam in 1975 and returned for the first time in 1998 with her husband to adopt twin orphans.
After the trip, she and her husband decided to set up Catalyst to gather support in the US to improve the lives of Vietnamese children.
Ticarro said that Catalyst’s simple goals had attracted as many as 200 American volunteers from different backgrounds to join its cause.
In 2004, the foundation began sponsoring the HCM City Child Welfare Foundation’s shelter for girls.
Since April last year, Catalyst has also become active in fighting the trafficking of children in Dong Thap province’s Cao Lanh district, which borders Cambodia.
Ticarro’s twin daughters Cassidie Parker and Natalie Parker, sold 100 bracelets in the US to help contribute to the trip.
The money, together with other donations, will help buy 100 bicycles for Vietnamese children.
The Catalyst Foundation is also one of two organizations in the US that organise culture camps for Vietnamese adoptees to learn about Vietnamese culture.
