Effort To Educate Students about Land Mine Problem in Vietnam Set for Oct. 22 at Freedom High School in South Riding, Va.
Washington D.C.—Caroline Heydinger and her fellow students at Brattleboro Union High School in Brattleboro, Vt., have launched a national effort to raise awareness and generate support for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s Project RENEW™, a humanitarian initiative designed to reduce the threat of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and land mines in Quang Tri Province in Vietnam, said Jan C. Scruggs, the organization’s founder and president.
Heydinger will visit schools throughout the United States to educate students on the continuing impact of land mines and unexploded ordinance in Vietnam. The Oct. 22 presentation, beginning at 10:45 a.m., will feature Memorial Fund Treasurer Robert H. Frank, CPA, addressing the students of Freedom High School. Frank has made more then 20 trips to Vietnam to oversee Project RENEW™ since 1999.
“We are happy to see the students of Brattleboro Union High School taking an interest in Project RENEW™ and helping to support it,” said Scruggs. “Having young students eager to educate their peers and the general public about Vietnam and help the citizens there is remarkable.”
Caroline Heydinger, a junior at Brattleboro Union High School, became interested in Project RENEW™ after her mentor, teacher Bill Holiday, returned in August from a visit to Vietnam organized by the Memorial Fund. Holiday is a member of the Teach Vietnam Teachers Network, a group of educators established by the Memorial Fund to serve as an informational resource about the Vietnam War in their schools and communities. Along with fellow students Freida Hirsch and Violet Batcha, Heydinger turned her civic leadership course into a fundraising effort for Project RENEW™. She hopes to travel to Quang Tri Province in the next year to present the funds raised in person.
Project RENEW™ was launched in December 2000 by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to reduce the threat of an estimated 350,000 tons of land mines that remain scattered throughout Vietnam from the war that ended in 1975. Land mines and UXO result in more than 1,000 casualties each year. The project focuses on mine awareness education and victim assistance in Quang Tri Province.
Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, through a series of outreach programs, it is dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Wall, promoting healing, educating about the impact of the Vietnam War and is building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center, an underground educational facility, near The Wall.
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