Subj: [Sat 9/15] VAPA FIRST ANNUAL
WALK/BIKE-A-THON (fundraiser)
Date: 9/14/01 1:37:07 PM Pacific
Daylight Time
From: PThuang
To: PThuang, khanh_le@avanticorp.com,
hoadav@bea.com
To: cvu@foundrynet.com, tracie.nguyen@kla-tencor.com
To: abao@cisco.com, yen_chi@hotmail.com
To: chi@adaptivesilicon.com, gregory.ishimaru@sun.com
To: yahuiku@hotmail.com, dley2k@hotmail.com
To: loannn@yahoo.com, jimmy_lu@avanticorp.com
To: luongnhi@yahoo.com, bangthu.nguyen@xilinx.com
To: ducsnguyen@yahoo.com, lolapang@yahoo.com
To: huyv@aulacinstitute.com, hmandy1224@yahoo.com
To: tess_chen@i2.com, vickyle99@hotmail.com
To: songthuy@yahoo.com, nadine_wei@yahoo.com
To: tvl@worldnet.att.net, hikitty7@yahoo.com
To: jdoan@hotmail.com, mona_chen@hotmail.com
Dear Friends,
It has been a week of immense
suffering and pain for millions of people all over the US, all of the world.
Many of us, including myself, have close ties to the east coast, in families,
friends, and coworkers. I've lived in NY and Boston for many years,
and have visited the towers many times. Like everyone else, I could
not and still cannot believe that it happened. What else can one
say at a time like this? Certainly we are shocked and angry, but
we must not strike back with more violence. We must try to understand
why this happened, wake up from our zombie-like states that most of us
have been accustomed to. It's time we realized we are more than our
own selves but that it is only with our own selves that we can make changes.
Anyhow, this is an email about hiking so I wont go deeper into the topic,
but I would like to recommend that every one of us do our part in helping
the victims and understanding why things like this happen. Last year
I read a beautiful book called "Healing the Soul of America" by Marianne
Williamson. It not only opened my eyes but also my heart to the dilemmas
Americans and all of humanity faces. She was also the editor of the
book "Imagine" in which 50-some articles by authors and humanitarians from
all over the world wrote about their vision of the world in year 2050.
As chaotic as our world seem to be at this moment, every article was supremely
optimistic
that humans will make a better world in generations to come. I have
both of these books if you want to borrow them, they're also in most libraries
I've been to.
I do not apologize for taking
the opportunity to voice my thoughts and feelings. I hope you did
not mind, but I feel if we can't talk to our friends about these all-important
issues, then who can we? With that, I'd like to invite everyone to
tomorrow's hike. Sorry about not emailing out sooner with information
about the hike. Tomorrow's hike is organized and sponsored by VAPA.
VAPA stands for Vietnamese American Professional Alliance, and is a non-profit
organization that raises money for worthy causes not just for projects
in Vietnam, but also local projects in California and nationwide.
Tomorrow's hike (or bike) is a fundraiser that will help build a library
in Tuy Hoa, a small town in central Vietnam. Where it is built and
who gets to use it is not of central importance, for we all need libraries
to promote education and more importantly, understanding. Understanding
through knowledge, through wisdom, much of which can be supplied by even
a few books.
Let us show our support by
attending the hike tomorrow. The details as shown in the VAPA website
are in this page: http://www.vapaonline.org/vnlibrary/bike_2001.html
It is supposed to be a 6.5
mile hike on paved trails in VERY easy terrains - i.e. flat. The
location is in the east bay, in Fremont/Newark area. Because of the
late notice, I'd like to propose the following. If you want to go
there directly (Beard Staging Area - see the webpage for directions), please
go ahead and do so and get there by 9am. For others that want to
carpool, we'll meet as usual in Bijan at 8am. See a previous hike
info page for directions if you dont know how to get to Bijan. And
please let me know if you are going to Bijan - if possible by 10pm tonight.
As far as registration is
concerned, dont worry about it, unless you want to. What we can do
is to register one or two of us and the rest can sponsor these individuals.
So dont worry about registration fees and so forth. If you want to
sponsor someone, great! If not, we'll have a nice easy hike.
As for lunch, VAPA is going to have BBQ at the end of the hike for registered
hikers. Since most of us may not end up registering, let's bring light
lunches. I do mean light, in both weight and fullness because we
do have the option of going to Milpitas or surrounding areas for lunch
afterwards. The hike seems to be one-way and supposedly transportation
will be provided to take hikers back to the starting point. We can
probably form our own transportation if need be or hike back, in which
case, a light lunch would be very useful! So to sum up:
- Meet at Bijan at 8 am (let
me know if you're coming)
- Meet at the hiking starting
area (see directions taken from the VAPA web page at the end of this email)
at 9 am (please also let me know if you intend to meet us there).
- Bring a light lunch although
VAPA is providing lunch for registered hikers. We might also do our own
lunch in Milpitas or something instead. But bring a light lunch just
in case.
- Bring sunscreen lotion,
hat, two bottles of water, some snacks
- The hike, 6.5 miles (or
possibly 2 times this) should be extremely easy, on more or less flat terrains.
Even the trails are paved!
- Tell/drag friends/family
along!
- More info will be posted
on http://www.signite.com/hiking
a few minutes after this email is sent.
Thanks everyone and hope to see you
all tomorrow!
paul
********************************Directions
to Hiking Area********************
WHERE: Beard Staging Area (in Fremont)
DIRECTION:
From San Jose, take I-880 N toward Fremont.
Exit at Alvarado Blvd/Fremont Blvd, and turn right onto Fremont Blvd.
Make a U-turn at the next Only.
Turn right at Beard Rd.
Alameda Creek Regional Trail/Beard Staging Area is a small park
at the end of Beard Rd. There are free parking available and
plenty of parking on Beard Rd. |
