Appeal raises $550,000 for the poor in Vietnam

ThanhnienNews - Some VND8.85 billion ($550,000) has poured into the Fund for the Poor in Vietnam by 6pm Tuesday, two days after a live New Year Eve TV program launched an appeal.

The fifth Joining Hands program is jointly organized by the Fatherland Front, Vietnam Television, and the Military Telecom Corporation (Viettel).

Individuals and organizations in Vietnam and abroad have contributed by sending instant messages, each worth VND15,000 ($0.93), from their cell phones to the switchboard.

After a kind foreigner in the central beach city of Nha Trang promised to donate $1 for every message sent in, 80,000 messages were sent within an hour.

On Sunday 300,000 messages were sent, jamming the Vinaphone mobile network from 9pm to 10pm.

In the past six years the Fatherland Front has used money from the Fund for the Poor to build 490,000 houses.

There are about 3.7 million poor families in Vietnam.