Caroline Phillips, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, December 24, 2007

...

More than 70 hardy souls made it through last Sunday's near-crippling storm to reach the Taste of Vietnam fundraiser held at the Plant Recreation Centre in Centretown West. The journey was tedious and difficult, but the reward for those who arrived was bountiful: second, third and even fourth helpings of Vietnamese food.

Attendance was lower than organizers expected due to the severe weather, but the event still exceeded the fundraising goal by netting at least $2,450 (the sum included $74 in change from a young girl who broke open her piggy bank).

The two causes were: Sunflower Mission, a non-profit group that promotes education in rural areas of Vietnam, and Freedom at Last, an initiative led by the Vietnamese Canadian Federation to sponsor Vietnamese refugees stranded in the Philippines (Immigration Minister Diane Finley announced in May that Canada will facilitate their immigration on humanitarian and compassionate grounds).

The event was organized by the Ottawa Vietnamese Youth Community and headed up by Nhung Nguyen, a public servant with the Department of National Defence. For fun, she gave the crowd a quick lesson on speaking Vietnamese, starting with her own name (pronounced "knee-ohm new-win").

The crowd had more than 27 dishes to choose from, including spring and salad rolls, chicken curry, banana leaf wraps and beef noodle soup, with all the food and ingredients donated by area Vietnamese restaurants, businesses and Buddhist temples.