2004-2005 Academic Year Report

March 21, 2005

Dear Members of Sunflower Mission, Sponsors, Volunteers, and Scholarship Team.

Sunflower Mission's Dao - Le Scholarship was established this year for the first time during the academic year 2004-2005. The purpose is to provide financial assistance to the promising students under financial hardship so that they may continue their education, especially the students attending schools where Sunflower Mission has built classrooms. President First Lady Laura Bush has said, "The most important gift we can give the world's children is the gift most likely to lead to future peace and prosperity - and that gift is the gift of a good education." It is our hope that these students, the recipients of our work, will mature into responsible citizens that will help society and improve the lives of those around them.

From August 2004 through May 2005, the Dao -Le Scholarship program awarded $ 9,730.00 US to 451 students that presently attend many different schools including Thanh Thoi A, Thanh Thoi B (Mo Cay, Ben Tre), An Thoi, Binh Phu, Dong Thap, Phuoc Hau (Phu Yen), Doan Ket, Nam Ban, Le Van Phung, Thanh Mau, Lan Tranh, and Ninh Loan. Included in this total are 10 scholarships awarded to students attending college or university through our Sponsor-a-Student project.

The Dao-Le Scholarship funding was donated by Texas Instruments, on behalf of Duy-Loan Le.

As the name implies, the Sponsor-a-Student project was funded by donations by ten generous individual sponsors. The individual donors agree to a one-year commitment to fund a specific student's education expense. These students have demonstrated financial need and high potential. The investment is less than $150 to help a college student with his tuition for one year. It is our hope that mentor relationships may develop from these sponsorship arrangements.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers in Vietnam, Sister Ngoc Hoa, Thanh Tam, Nguyen Dang Hoang, Dinh Thai, whose tireless efforts have led to a successful implementation of our scholarship program for the first year. We would not have been able to reach our targeted students without them.

We would also like to thank the countless charitable individuals who support our Dao - Le Scholarship Program directly and indirectly.

We are off to a wonderful start, and I hope to work with you to improve and grow our Dao - Le Scholarship Program. I look forward to receiving input from you. We continue to look for individual donors to sponsor a student. Please let me or Quynh Bui know if we can count on you.

Best regards,

Fr. Dominic Pham Scholarship Committee Chair