Paris concert raises funds for Vietnamese students
A concert was held by the Companion Fund at a church in the Louis-le-Grand School’s precinct in Paris, France on May 20 to raise funds to give scholarships for poor Vietnamese students.
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The concert drew participation of Vietnamese artists from the Vietnamese Culture Centre in France and French artists from conservatories across Paris.
It was sponsored by Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Ngoc Son and supported by Professor Odon Vallet from the Sorbonne University, who himself runs the Odon Vallet scholarship fund for excellent young students in France and Vietnam.
Le Hong Thai, the Companion Fund Chairman, said that the concert was first held in 2009, and has become an annual event since 2012.
This year’s concert received EUR4,000 (over VND100 million) which will be divided into 30 scholarships worth VND3.5 million each.
The Companion Fund was established in July 2001 by a group of Vietnamese students in Paris, who wanted to support their less fortunate peers back home. The fund now has a network of 100 members and volunteers operating in France, Singapore and Taiwan.
By fund-raising activities, the fund has to date presented about 3,500 scholarships worth nearly VND7.5 billion (EUR296,000) to poor students in Vietnam. In the 2016-2017 academic year, a total of 320 scholarships were presented.
