MARYSVILLE — When Barbara Gregg made her first trip to Vietnam, she actually didn’t know where she was going.
Gregg said she watched a presentation on an overseas clinic at a meeting of the Seattle Rotary.
“I heard kids and two weeks, and it was something I could afford,” she said.
Gregg ended up spending time at the Nga Center for Poor and Disabled Children in Qui Nhon, Vietnam. She has been back several times, and with partner Carol Noe, now operates an official non-profit charity supporting the Nga Center.
On Aug. 23, “A Summer Picnic Benefit” is planned for 3-6 p.m. at the Noe home, 5712 138th St. NE, Marysville.
At $25 per adult and $10 for children 10 and up, the event includes a spaghetti dinner supplied by Olive Garden and a silent auction. Gregg will speak on previous trips to Vietnam. Noe said the last such event attracted about 50 people and raised some $6,000.
Noe first became involved with the Nga Center after hearing about an organization call Kids First.
“God said to me plain as day, you reread this,” she said, referring to a flier about the organization she found at her church.
Gregg especially likes to tell the story of a young girl she was playing with during a 2006 trip to the Nga Center.
Supposedly completely blind, the five-year-old grabbed a set of highly colored stickers and held them close to her face. Gregg began to wonder if the girl actually was totally sightless.
Cutting to the end of the story, the girl wasn’t blind and had her vision completely restored through an operation funded by Gregg.
Currently, Gregg and Noe are working to help fund treatments for two Vietnamese young adults, both suffering possible birth defects.
At 19, Si has a large lump, or osteochondroma, on his left arm. At 21, Tu has never seen a doctor, but has an apparent birth defect that left one of her legs considerably longer than the other. A Seattle physician has agreed to operate on both patients at no cost. But Gregg and Noe need to cover travel and other hospital expenses.
For further information or for tickets to the summer benefit, call 360-651-1378.
