New Zealand companies donate fruit to support vulnerable children in Vietnam
Seven of New Zealand’s top fruit exporters to Vietnam will come together to donate nearly 10 tons of fruit to several children’s and women’s charities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi this month.
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| Mr. Joe Nelson, Consul-General and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) Trade Commissioner to Vietnam presents fruits to disadvantaged people in Maison Chance. |
Child nutrition is a major challenge in Vietnam, where chronic malnutrition is a key concern among vulnerable children and adults.
This donation was driven by the New Zealand Consulate and NZTE and was done in conjunction with the ‘Be Strong Vietnam Campaign’ launched by Sống Foundation and the New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi.
In 2021, several of New Zealand’s top fruit businesses donated New Zealand apples and kiwi fruit to eight Vietnamese hospitals, staff and patients during the lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City.
This year’s donations were made by T&G Global, Golden Bay Fruit, Zespri International, Freshmax Exports, Mr Apple, Bostock Group and Fresh Fruit Company of New Zealand (Freshco).
New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Tredene Dobson, expressed her pleasure at seeing New Zealand’s largest fresh produce exporters finding creative ways to help local Vietnamese communities, especially vulnerable children and women.
“The New Zealand Embassy is pleased to show our support to Vietnam by assisting New Zealand exporters to donate nutritious, fresh apples and kiwifruit – just a small way that New Zealand can help contribute to better health outcomes for the communities we are part of. It is through small gestures just as these that we can show the deep friendship between our two countries", she said.
For his part, Mr. Joe Nelson, Consul-General and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) Trade Commissioner to Vietnam, highlighted: "New Zealand businesses do not want to simply sell their products to Vietnam. They also want to be socially responsible.
It is great to see these seven fruit companies contributing positively to the communities of Vietnam by donating their healthy nutritious kiwifruit and apples. It is a small gesture that I am sure will brighten the day for these at-risk children and women. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the New Zealand Consulate are proud to partner with these companies for the second year. We hope these fruit donations will become an annual event".
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| This donation was driven by the New Zealand Consulate and NZTE and was done in conjunction with the ‘Be Strong Vietnam Campaign’ launched by Sống Foundation and the New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi. |
| The donations will benefit these recipients: Operation Smile in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, an international charity that provides free surgeries for children and young adults in developing countries born with cleft lip, cleft palate, or other facial deformities. Tan Binh District Support Centre for Inclusive Education and Development, which supports approximately 150 children with learning difficulties and disabilities (autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome) in teaching life skills and offering vocational training. Women’s Charity Association of Ho Chi Minh City, which supports seven shelters caring for over 150 children in need, aged between 5-18 years old, mostly girls and many from ethnic minority backgrounds. Blue Dragon, an NGO based in Hanoi that rescues children from sex trafficking, forced labour, and slavery and provides shelter, education and employment. It also supports 200-250 children in crisis through its network of safehouses and residential facilities and works directly with over 10,000 children and a youth from around Vietnam. Maison Chance provides accommodation, medical care, education and vocational training to disabled people, orphanages and children in Vietnam from challenging backgrounds. They operate through three locations in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Dak Nong Province. |
(Source: New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi)
