Tuesday, July 09, 2013 4:55:22 PM
SACRAMENTO
(Sacramento Bee) – Trung tâm cộng đồng người Việt ở Sacramento,
lấy tên Vietnamese Community Center of Sacramento, vừa được khai trương hôm Chủ
Nhật, 7 Tháng Bảy.
Ngày lễ đa văn hóa Multicultural Festival tổ chức
tại học khu Elk Grove, Sacramento, hồi Tháng Tám, 2012. Nay cộng đồng người
Việt ở đây có trung tâm mới để sinh hoạt, không còn phải thuê mướn như trước
nữa. (Hình: LacHong.org)
Trụ sở trung tâm đặt tại 6270 Elder Creek Road, gồm
ba tòa nhà nằm trên ba mẫu đất, xây dựng trong hai năm rưỡi và phí tổn khoảng
$2 triệu, do gia đình thương gia Tim Thien Do đóng góp tài trợ.
Ông Tim còn là người sáng lập kiêm đương kim
chủ tịch cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Việt ở Sacramento.
Ông nói: “Trụ sở này là cho thế hệ con em
chúng tôi. Chúng tôi mất quê hương và tự do, bởi vậy chúng tôi mới đến đây.
Chúng tôi muốn truyền lại nền văn hóa xưa cũ cho con cháu của chúng tôi.”
Dân Biểu Tiểu Bang Roger Dickinson (Dân
Chủ-Sacramento) phát biểu không lâu sau khi bắt đầu buổi lễ khai mạc: “Đây là một ngày hết sức đặc biệt. Trung tâm
này tượng trưng cho sự thiết lập một nơi mà người Việt lẫn người Mỹ gốc Việt có
thể đến học hỏi về di sản truyền thống của họ. Đây là nơi mà người Việt chia sẻ
văn hóa của họ với cộng đồng.”
Hơn 400 người ngồi đầy trong hội trường xem trình
diễn ca vũ nhạc và võ thuật, và thưởng thức các món ăn thuần tuý Việt Nam.
Trung tâm cộng đồng nằm không xa phố Little
Saigon trên đại lộ đường Stockton. Trung tâm sẽ là địa điểm mới của trường
dạy Việt ngữ và văn hóa do hội phụ huynh giáo chức Lạc Hồng phụ trách. Được
biết, trước đây hội phải mướn 10 lớp học của học khu Elk Grove để làm trường
dạy, với chi phí từ $6,000 đến $7,000 mỗi năm. (TP)
--------------------------------------
By Tillie Fong (tfong@sacbee.com)
Monday, July 8, 2013 at 12:00 AM
Monday, July 8, 2013 at 12:00 AM
A place of their own.
That was the vision that Tim Thien Do, a Sacramento
businessman, had for members of the Vietnamese community.
"It's for our younger generation," said
Do, who is also the founder and president of Vietnamese American Community of
Sacramento.
"We lost our country and our freedom, so we
came here. We want to take our culture of the past and pass it to them."
Sunday, Do's dream came true with the opening of the
15,000-square-foot Vietnamese Community Center of Sacramento at 6270 Elder Creek
Road, which his family funded. The estimated $2 million project, with three
buildings on 3 acres of land, took 2 1/2 years to complete.
"This is a very special day," said
Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, shortly after the opening ceremony.
"It represents the establishment of a place
where the Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans can come and learn about their
heritage. Sacramento is a unique place in terms of its diversity. This creates
an opportunity for the Vietnamese to share their culture with the
community," he said.
More than 400 people packed the auditorium to watch
dancers, singers and martial artists perform on the stage. Many of the
attendees helped themselves to the chow mein, egg rolls, roast pork, chicken
wings and watermelon placed on tables in the back of the 6,000-square-foot
room.
The community center, not far from Little Saigon on
Stockton Boulevard, will be the new home for the the Vietnamese language and
culture school run by the Vietnamese Parent Teacher Association – Lac Hong Center.
"It means a lot to us," Thuy Pham,
president of the association, said of the new space. "We can have the
freedom to decorate the classrooms the way we want. Because of the fence, we
also don't have to worry about the security of the students."
In the past, the association had rented 10
classrooms in the Elk Grove school district for the Vietnamese school at a cost
of $6,000 to $7,000 a year.
With the move to the community center and its seven
small classrooms in two smaller buildings, Pham hopes to expand enrollment to
500 students, up from 180, and to bring Vietnamese language classes for
non-Vietnamese students.
Angel Duong, 17, of Elk Grove graduated from the
Vietnamese school last year. On Sunday, she was at the new center to perform
with her dance group. She peeked at the classrooms where she said she hopes to
teach this fall.
"I like it," she said. "It's big
enough for little kids to have activities. Students can feel like this is a
second home. There's (a) game room and a library, just like an American
school."
Tido Hoang, a member of the organizing committee for
the community center, said there are plans to have volunteers hold workshops on
taxes, finances, naturalization, and health issues at the community center.
"We want to be more civic-minded," he
said. "We want to build a bridge between the first and second generation
in our community."
He estimates there are tens of thousands of
Vietnamese living in the greater Sacramento area who can benefit from the
center. Dickinson has scheduled a workshop on the Affordable Care Act at the
community center on July 23.
On the second floor of the main building, part of
the space was cordoned off for five pingpong tables. That's where Albert Lim,
60, of Sacramento hopes to grow the membership of the Sacramento Table Tennis
Club.
"We currently have 50 members, but who knows
how many we would have if we open this in the daytime for players," he
said.
Even though there hasn't been much programming
planned for the community center, its existence already is drawing attention
from other Vietnamese groups in California.
Members of the Vietnamese language press as well as
representatives of different groups from San Francisco, San Jose, and Orange
County met with Do on Sunday in the center's small library.
"Throughout California, we never had an
independent Vietnamese community center," said Barry Hung Do, president of
the Little Saigon San Jose Foundation.
"In most places, we might have just an
office."
PHOTO
GALLERY: For more photos of midwives Rachel Hansen and Amy
Davenport on the job Click here.
Call The Bee's Tillie Fong, (916) 321-1006.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/08/5550822/all-caps-hed-hereeeeupper-and.html#storylink=cpy
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