SAN JOSE, Calif. - On May 13th, 2006, Vietnamese youths from many groups all over Northern California are walking at the Human Race of Silicon Valley as part of a national campaign to raise awareness and funds about the issue of human trafficking. Funds raised through the events held across the nation will be donated to the Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking (VietACT) to help the cause of eradicating human trafficking through public awareness, collaboration and advocacy.

“We hope to bring out all the VSAs (Vietnamese Student Associations) and youth organizations in Northern California to participate in this event”, says Bao T. Ngo, an active member of the United Vietnamese Student Associations of Northern California who is helping out with organizing this campaign.

“Human trafficking hurts women and children; it not only happens in Southeast Asia, but also here at home,” says Quynh Ha, a student of San Jose State University.

VietACT (Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking) was selected as this year’s beneficiary organization as part of the Collective Philanthropy Project of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (uNAVSA), an umbrella of Vietnamese Student Associations across the continent. The campaign kicked off in Minnesota in late March, continued with several fundraising events across the nation, and ends on May 13th, with two fundraising walkathons in both Northern and Southern California.

The Human Race of Silicon Valley is organized by the Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley. Started 27 years ago, the Human Race events are held throughout California, where walk/race participants fundraise money through individual pledges and then choose a registered non-profit organization they want to dedicate their funds to.

Interested participants should register with the Human Race of Silicon Valley at their website http://vcsv.us/humanrace/. Participants are encouraged to choose VietACT as the beneficiary of the race by indicating “VietACT, PO Box 218, Westminster, CA 92684” under the “Community Based Organization Receiving Pledges” heading on the registration form.

Prior to the actual race day, participants should ask for donations/pledges from family, friends, companies and other sponsors to support this cause. Checks should be made payable to “Human Race – Volunteer Center” and all donations are tax-deductible.

On the day of the event, participants should arrive by 7AM to allow for heavy traffic and parking at the event location at Charleston/Shoreline Parks/Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View (adjacent to the Google Campus). Plenty of parking will be available at 1450 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA. Participants should first visit the registration tables to provide last-minute checks, pledge forms, pick up official Human Race t-shirts and race tags, and then should go to the VietACT booth, where all VietACT supporters will receive an additional VietACT t-shirt and will walk together as team on the 5K course.

For more registration/logistics information on VietACT’s participation in the Human Race, please visit http://www.vietact.org.