Cathy Nguyen – Miss Vietnam of Northern California Intercollegiate

March Community Service: Curry Senior Center

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015Cathy NguyenLeave a comment

On Sunday, March 22, 2015, Crystal, Cindy, and I spent our afternoon serving lunch to seniors at the Curry Senior Center, located in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. Upon our arrival, we checked in with Laura, the coordinator of the meal program at the center. She gave us a quick overview of the program and the lunch service schedule. The center provides essential social services to low-income seniors which includes healthcare, housing, and meals, to name a few. There was a good turnout of about a dozen total volunteers that day. In the kitchen, we met “Vergi”, the head cook, who...

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January Community Service pt. II: SF Blanket Project

January 25, 2015January 25, 2015Cathy NguyenLeave a comment

On Sunday, January 25, 2015, Crystal, Cindy, and I volunteered to help pass out blankets to the homeless in San Francisco. The project was spearheaded by our very own MVNCI Advisor, Jessica Do, who is committed to completing service projects like this every year. This year, she started a donation drive and raised enough money to purchase ~150 blankets for the homeless! This project marks her second year of giving back to the less fortunate; the year prior, she raised money to pass out sleeping bags. Jessica’s friends Eric, Khoi, Christine, Cong, and Triet also joined in to help out...

January Community Service: Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen

January 24, 2015January 24, 2015Cathy NguyenLeave a comment

On Saturday morning, January 24, 2015, Cindy and I had the pleasure of volunteering at the Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, located at The Lodge in Morgan Hill. The Lodge is an apartment community dedicated to helping senior citizens lead independent lives. It is one of the dining room locations that the Loaves & Fishes organization services. Their mission is to serve meals to low-income families and seniors across the Santa Clara county. We arrived on Saturday morning to help out during the breakfast service and were greeted by the two lead cooks, Albert and Ethan, as well as another volunteer,...

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Norcal UVSA Leadership Summit 2014

November 9, 2014November 9, 2014Cathy NguyenLeave a comment

What a weekend!!! Crystal, Mandy, and I spent the weekend of November 7-9, 2014 in Merced to attend Norcal UVSA’s 8th Summit Leadership Conference on behalf of MVNCI. The annual event is hosted at a different NorCal university each year, and students from all Norcal VSA chapters are invited to attend. This year, it was hosted at UC Merced and the theme was “Purpose, Passion, and Progress”. Students attend to socialize with other VSA chapters, have the opportunity to listen to inspiring keynote speakers, attend informative workshops/funshops of their choice, and celebrate at the fancy Gala hosted on Saturday evening. MVNCI was invited...

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MVNCI Inter-Pageant Picnic

September 27, 2014September 27, 2014Cathy NguyenLeave a comment

On Saturday, September 27, 2014, MVNCI hosted our first ever Inter-pageant picnic at Almaden Lake Park – Peppertree in San Jose. It was an opportunity for NorCal pageants to get together and socialize, outside of only seeing each other at pageant events. Luckily, Cindy brought her bright pink canopy to set-up so that guests will be able to easily locate us in the park, and it gave us additional shade as well. Representatives from Miss & Mrs Vietnam USA and Miss Asian Global were in attendance, as well as friends of friends, and even one of our emcees during Pageant,...