Today we’d like to introduce you to Thien-An Nguyen.
Thien-An, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Vietnam and moved to the United States in 1992 with my family. I grew up in Massachusetts and owned a few businesses which contributed to my strong entrepreneurial background with experiences in team building, customer service management, operations management, etc. I currently reside in the Houston area and is the City Leader of the UniMatrix Foundation for the Houston and surrounding areas since 2016 to present. My role with the Unimatrix Foundation is to build relations and partnerships in the community. UniMatrix Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with the mission of helping teenagers by providing scholarships and books of wisdom to guide them in making better life decisions, and help younger generations to have better opportunities in life. I work harmoniously with other leaders to assure that the organization and members are being connected efficiently to achieve their mission.
In 2014 I was a Health Awareness and Promotion Program (HAPP) Project Coordinator at Boat People SOS, Inc. (BPSOS), a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting wellness, building communities, and growing leaders. At the same time, I was a Community Team Research Leader for the UCLA research for Breast Cancer. The research had a successful town hall meeting in 2019 which I hosted for the researcher to present research results of the primary study of quality of life conducted in Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This greatly supports Vietnamese breast cancer survivors and their caretakers. In addition, I had helped thousands of uninsured women, mainly Asian minority women to receive free mammogram screenings and ultrasound to help in diagnosing breast cancer. I did many outreach events, hosted workshops, TV talk shows, radio talk shows, health fairs, and support groups to educate and as reinforcement for breast cancer patients and survivors.
Since 2014, I became a certified Community Health Worker. I have a proven track record fully committed to helping others, raising awareness, and coordinating or promoting events with my constant volunteer basis since 1993. As a teenager, I had developed a passion to serve the community thus earning me the volunteer recognition award from the Mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts in 1995 and the Prudential Spirit Community Awards in 1996. I have always gone out of my way to advance creative ideas to assist in fundraising events, networking, and outreaching with various organizations, especially within the Asian-American community since I’m fluent in Vietnamese and English.
I constantly advocate, educate, and helps the uninsured or low-income women get free mammogram screenings under different funding such as the Susan Komen Houston grant, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, Breast Health Collaborative of Texas, etc. I helped those in Houston and surrounding counties as far as Brazoria, Rockport, Montgomery, and Freeport. I hosted and coordinated many community events: different health/resources fairs, mobile clinics, support groups, nutritional workshops, medical services, cancer awareness, and health screenings to help people be educated, have a better understanding of their conditions, and get connected with proper resources. I constantly volunteered in many charitable and humanitarian projects with organizations such as the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinities, Hope Clinic / Asian-American Health Coalition of the Greater Houston Area, Asian American Cancer Council, Vietnamese American Nurses Association, Federation of Vietnamese Au Co Women, Messenger of Love for the Orphanages, Sakya Care Foundation, Houston Royal Oaks Lions Club, World Chamber of Commerce Texas, Thien Tam Charity, and many other charitable organizations.
I decided to become a Lion in 2019. I accepted one of the biggest roles as Co-Chair of the HROLC Lions Community Resources, Vision & Health Awareness Fair last November. I actively participated in all HROLC Club undertakings, found ways and means to get the tasks done. As my mentor stated, “You unselfishly shared your talent, time, and treasure to ensure club mission is done in a more effective and efficient way. You recruited more Lions in the organization and as one of the youngest Lions you were able to organize the Houston Unity Lions Club.”
Under Lions Club International, I had chartered my own club as president of the Houston Unity Lions Club (HULC) in January 2020. Vietnam is currently not an approved country to have a Lions Club but I decided to go beyond the limits and served remotely overseas areas by recruiting members in Vietnam to assist with serving the poor people of rural communities in mountainous regions. I collaborated with nonprofit organizations such as Thien Tam Charity, the Union of Golden Heart, and Nhat Tam Charity to assist in serving the needs of those less fortunate overseas as well as actively helping the needy people in the United States.
As of July 1, 2020, I’m honored and humbled to be appointed as the District 2-S2 Hunger Programs Initiative Chairperson for Lions Year 2020-2021. I’m very grateful to my amazing team to serve alongside me. Together we will continue to serve and ROAR!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Life always comes with obstacles and challenges. Nothing is ever easy, but that is what makes it interesting. Leading a charitable organization is a passion-driven initiative to improve the lives of others. Everything you do is free, yet the needs/demand are endless. There is always the struggle of fundraising, finding donors, different sources, or organizations that will collaborate to get the project done. Without sufficient funding, even the worthiest of organizations with the most devoted personnel cannot succeed. For organizations that are just getting started, the challenge of establishing a reliable source of funding is even greater.
We’d love to hear more about the organization.
Houston Unity Lions Club is dedicated to delivering a variety of humanitarian services in the United States and worldwide. We wanted to provide help and support for those that need it in the United States and overseas through teamwork, leading by example, building relationships, and improving the world through kindness. Our goal is to be a bridge for the communities to get the resources and assistance that they need. All services are provided by volunteers through different projects and collaboration with other Lions and organizations. Our priority will be meeting the needs of those disadvantaged and under-served youths, seniors, and ailing individuals. Other goals/plans are:
-To deliver free health care, awareness, and education to under-served communities in the US and underprivileged countries.
-To provide hunger relief, support impoverished, disabled, orphanages, and poor health children as well as seniors.
-To encourage members to have an interest or participate more actively in the civic, cultural, social, and moral welfare of the community.
-To inspire others to become active servants in the community.
-To be able to provide resources or funding to sustain the club and support other charities.
-The majority of the initial members are Vietnamese. Therefore, we will be serving and connecting with the Vietnamese communities in Texas, due to the language barrier or culture gap in the US and expand overseas to Vietnam. However, Houston Unity will not be limiting its members to just Vietnamese. We welcomed everyone from all different backgrounds and Ethnicities. We will expand our network of volunteers and/or providers who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities locally and globally.
As a Lion Leader, I was able to provide thousands of home-cooked meals to the homeless, provided wheelchairs for the handicaps, donated funds to build bridges for poor children to have a better and safer path to school. In 2019 HULC had provided hundreds of jackets to the poor elementary children in mountainous areas, provided hundreds of blankets to the poor seniors, built wells to provide clean water for the poor and cancerous victims of the rustic countryside, provided nutritious meals with protein and supplement for the poor, and many other acts of kindness.
Despite the busy schedule as a career woman, wife, mother of two young children, and caretaker for my parent. My passion is to serve and set examples for the younger generation. Under my leadership, the Houston Unity Lions Club has been serving nonstop not only in our community here in Houston. But also, those in need in the remote areas in Vietnam, India, and soon Mexico. Houston Unity Lions Club has been serving tirelessly with over 100 activities despite the pandemic to address the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage and strengthen the COVID 19 Disaster Relief Programs Initiatives in hope of slowing the spread of the COVID 19 virus. As of today, HULC had provided over 25,000 free masks to the communities. We also supported the front liners, essential workers, by providing PPE such as N95 masks, KN95 masks, gowns, gloves, hand sanitizers, face shields, surgical masks, and over 5,000 hand-sewn face cloth masks with filter pocket. HULC also provided thousand of hot meals, drinks, and snacks to the frontline workers at the Houston Police Departments, Houston Fire Departments, and many hospitals such as Houston Methodist, CHI St. Luke’s, HCA Healthcare, Memorial Hermann, etc. Within the last 6 months, the Houston Unity Lions Club had served over 45,500 people and still going strong.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
In hindsight what I would have done differently is educate myself so I would have not made all the mistakes I made in life. However, for the most part, I would not change anything, because my experiences have helped me grow. I should have become a Lion sooner though. It would have helped me gain more knowledge, experiences, improved my skills with all the incredibly positive impact that would have on my performance and success in my services.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.houstonunity.com
- Phone: 346-395-9646
- Email: houstonunitylionsclub@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoustonUnityLC
Image Credit:
Ms. Thien-Huong Tran and Vinh PX Ngo’s Studio
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