Vietnam Charity Doesn

If you’ve ever thrown out food, there’s a good chance you have felt guilty knowing that millions go hungry every day.

A charity in Vietnam is doing something to tackle the problem.

It called 6789, meets every week to cook meals for Vietnamese in need.

Recently, they’ve been partnering with Geoffrey Deetz, the owner of the Black Cat restaurant.

Deetz now donates leftovers to 6789 whenever he has a big catering event.

“What happened over the years is, I would come home and I would have coolers full of food. I’d have no refrigeration to keep it, no safe place to store it. So I had this abundance of food being wasted.”

Instead of throwing away the food, Deetz hands it over to the charity.

The charity then recooks the western cuisine to suite Vietnamese tastes.

Charity adviser Nguyen Hong Ngoc says it’s important to uphold the dignity of people receiving the meals.

“No one wants to feel like they’re eating food that other people have used already. So in order to make sure people aren’t offended or sad when they eat the food we bring, we are courteous and give the food respectfully and cheerfully, the same way a family would give each other food.”

6789 doesn’t only provide meals for the homeless... but also for hospital patients and their families, as most Vietnamese hospitals don’t serve food.

People like Truong Thi Ngoc Anh have no place to cook and can’t afford to eat out.

“When my mother is sick, we come to the hospital. And every week, this charity group volunteers to give out meals to people like us. For patients who get the food, it’s really good and filling. Plus, the volunteers are so enthusiastic, they come to the hospital beds and give patients vouchers for the food.”

Deetz said he wants to recruit hotels and buffet restaurants to join the charity because they throw out literally tons of food.

“They have to understand the need and kind of the absurdity of serving something so opulent and something so over the top in a country that’s so poor and has so many hungry people.”

Dang Quoc Binh is the founder of 6789.

He says he felt compelled to help those that are less fortunate.

He learned the value of social responsibility from his late father, a military officer.

“How to live my life, how to treat other people well, these are the biggest influences my father had on me. And secondly, when it comes to charity, I focus on helping people who are in difficult circumstances.”