Caring donors swing again for kids

The organising board granted scholarships to students at the press conference

Last week Vietnam Investment Review announced the return of the annual charity golf tournament, which will take place at BRG Kings Island Golf Resort in Son Tay district, Hanoi, on November 21 after a seven-month postponement due to the current pandemic.

Having become a prestigious convergence for golf enthusiasts, the tournament is not only appreciated by the public for its humane focus, but is regarded as a premier golfing event for investors, domestic and international businesspeople, diplomats, and representatives of international organisations to meet and share ideas about life and work.

The 14th edition this year sees even more anticipated drives from VIR’s valued golfers and sponsors, who have been accompanying impoverished but studious children across Vietnam.

The charity event becomes even more meaningful this time around because it is part of a chain of events to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the planning and investment sector.

In addition, kind-hearted people in the community have responded to encouragement from the Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI) in the form of donations to support those in the central region suffering through recent consecutive storms. For this reason, the organising board of tournament decided to spend VND1 billion ($43,500) from this year’s fund for students in this region.

“Even though the tournament was postponed, the enthusiasm and kindness of businesses and sponsors to provide life-changing scholarships to talented but disadvantaged students are always available. Thus, I believe that kindness will supplement motivation for disadvantaged students across the country in general and in the central region in particular,” said Le Trong Minh, VIR’s editor-in-chief and head of the tournament’s organising board.

Swing for the Kids 2020 is organised by VIR in collaboration with SeaBank and BRG Group, under the guidance and sponsorship of the MPI and the Vietnam Learning Promotion Fund.

The event enjoys continuing enthusiastic support from long-standing sponsors with Samsung Electronics Vietnam as Diamond Sponsor, Vingroup as Platinum Sponsor, and KinderWorld as Gold Sponsor. Most notably, since 2018, American entrepreneur Bob Parsons has been supporting the event as Silver Sponsor.

The credibility of the tournament has even reached beyond borders, with the participation of Banpu Group (Thailand) and Exness (Malaysia) in the role of Bronze Sponsors.

Tran Kim Nga, chief executive of Vietnam Beverage, a Vietnamese unit of ThaiBev and representative of the Sliver Sponsors, decided to support VND50 million ($2,170) of private money for the fund for students in the central region. Besides that, she also represented a professor couple in Germany who wished to donate VND100 million ($4,300) for the fund.

The approval and participation of MPI ministers also contributed to creating success for the tournament.

“I want to thank former minister Vo Hong Phuc, who approved to organise this annual event from 2007, and who keeps the role of honorary chairman of the tournament. Besides that, thanks must go to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung for accompanying the event for the past four seasons in the position of chairman,” Minh said.

At the announcement of the tournament schedule, the organising board granted two scholarships worth VND10 million ($435) each for two talented students – Do Thi Tham from the Academy of Journalism and Communication and Nguyen Le Huong from Hanoi National University of Education.

Five other scholarships worth VND6 million ($280) each were handed out to students at the Hanoi National University of Education. Despite the hardships they have endured, the students have overcome them to achieve good study results.

Since Swing for the Kids was created, the organising board has mobilised more than VND17.5 billion ($760,000) to provide 16,000 scholarships for disadvantaged students, build IT classrooms with new computers, and upgrade numerous schools in over 40 cities and provinces across the country.