Roger Costello washed dishes one recent Sunday night for about 250 diners, a small gesture, but one that helps him toward his lofty goal to "give back to the country that I once tried to destroy," said the Mt. Lebanon man, a Vietnam War veteran who fought in the Australian army.
George D'Angelo, of Mount Washington, and Tony Accamando, of Eighty Four, said their participation in the group, Friends of Danang, came after they made a visit in 1998 to Vietnam "to close a [personal] chapter of their Vietnam War service," Mr. D'Angelo said.
When the men saw the dilapidated conditions in which hundreds of children lived and played, "we felt there were things we could do," he said.
"I like what the group stands for," said Mary Lou Vater, of Mount Washington.
They are all committee members of the group that held its third annual homemade Vietnamese dinner benefit at the Bethel Park Community Center on April 15.
The 60-member, nonprofit Friends of Danang is seeking to raise $55,000 for a bridge for motorbikes and pedestrians to use in a hamlet near Danang, Vietnam.
As it is, flooding in the rainy season cuts the village off from the city and schools.
The goal is to dedicate the new bridge next spring.
Friends partnered with the East Meets West Foundation for the project.
Friends' fund raising that began in January has netted more than $13,000, which doesn't include proceeds from the dinner, nor from a walk-a-thon held April 21 at California University of Pennsylvania's Southpointe center in Canonsburg.
Over the past four years, the group joined with World Vision International to raise $170,000 for prosthetic rehabilitation services for children in Vietnam.
All contributions to Friends of Danang are applied to the cost of projects. Members pay their own administrative expenses.
Friends formed after the opening of an elementary school in Danang in 1999.
The 600-pupil school was financed through the Vietnam Children's Fund, inspired by Marine Lt. Lewis B. Puller Jr., who suffered extensive injuries in Vietnam, and group donations, such as the Parent Resources in Drug Education.
Shirley Hruby and Deb Tulak, both of Bethel Park and both Pride members, flew to Danang for the school dedication.
They said they were stunned by the contrast between the beauty of the country and its great poverty.
The women and the other dozen members of Pride decided to do more to help, and Friends was founded.
Their first project was joining with the Bethel Park Rotary Club to build another school. Since then, Friends has helped to raise money for the construction of seven small schools and a medical clinic.
Member Dr. Dai D. Nghiem, of Franklin Park, who was born in Vietnam, said that, when he revisited Hanoi in 2005, he met an 11-year-old who walks 16 miles to school each day and carries sugar cane for energy as his daily meal.
The average family breadwinner in villages earns about 70 cents a day. There is no transportation, such as a school bus.
"There's a very big need for the whole country," he said.
For more information, visit friendsofdanang.org.
First Published: May 24, 2007, 10:30 a.m.
