 A Note From Our President
We are incredibly excited about hosting the 5th Anniversary celebration of Vietnamese American National Gala (“VANG™”) in Southern California, from May 22-24, 2009 at the incomparable Beverly Hilton – Home of the Golden Globe Awards!
Since the last VANG, we have agreed to host VANG once every two years due to the complexity of the event. We believe this new format will allow us greater time to bring you an even more spectacular celebration.
VANG 2009 is proud to have Mr. John Tran, an accomplished Intellectual Property attorney and founding partner of the law firm Buus Kim Kuo & Tran LLP ("BKKT") as the Executive Director. John will be leading a national team to put this one-of-a-kind celebration together.
VANG provides us an opportunity to gather together and honor the on-going contributions and successes of Vietnamese Americans all across the nation. We look forward to seeing you all at VANG 2009!
Ryan Nguyen Hubris
President & Co-Founder
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VANG 2009
The 2009 National Gala will be held at the Prestigious Beverly Hills Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Memorial Day Weekend. Please visit www.vangusa.org for more information
This VANG Newsletter is proudly sponsored by
NNN Foundation
Become a VANG Newsletter Sponsor
Please contact: Kim P. Ngo at pkim.ngo@vangusa.org
VANG 2009 CORE TEAM
John Tran
Executive Director
Rosalind Ong
Deputy Executive Director
Ryan Hubris
President/Sponsorship Chair
Monique Phan
Finance Director
Alexander Hubris
Volunteer Coordinator
Chau Nguyen
Director of Operations East Coast
Kim Ngo
VIP Chair
Tim Nguyen
Director of Operations West Coast
Joseph Vu
Lead Graphic Designer/Webmaster.
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Letter from the Executive Director
Dear All:
 I would first like to thank you for your continued support of VANG, the Vietnamese American National Gala. As this year's Executive Director, I am honored with the opportunity to be a part of such a unique and distinguished organization, an organization that strives to highlight the many accomplishments and successes of fellow Vietnamese Americans residing worldwide. It is my pleasure to announce several new developments within the VANG community this past year.
First, the annual VANG event was recently voted to hereinafter be recognized as a biennial event. This unanimous decision by the VANG Executive Board was largely based on the fact that VANG has grown into such a large and nationally recognized affair, with the number of VANG participants increasing substantially each year. Therefore, it was clear that electing VANG to become a biennial event would ensure each gathering to be as memorable and illustrious as the preceding Gala event.
We are also excited to announce that the Vietnamese American National Gala 2009 will be held for the first time ever in Southern California, at the prestigious Beverly Hills Hilton from May 22-24, 2009. Southern California is considered home to the largest Vietnamese American community within the world and was clearly a great choice for the fifth biennial VANG event.
Furthermore, as you may have already noticed, we have launched our first ever VANG Quarterly E-Magazine, Vol I. Currently, preparations for VANG 2009 are in full swing, but the achievements of the Vietnamese American Community will never cease. Thus, the VANG Quarterly E-Magazine will provide up-to-date VANG news and events, as well as informative articles and highlights of past VANG sponsors, awardees, and luminaries.
We appreciate your continued support of VANG and our vision to build a stronger community. Until next time...
Best Wishes,
John D. Tran | Executive Director, VANG 2009
The Beverly Hills Hilton, May 22-24, 2009
WWW.VANGUSA.COM
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An Inspiration to the Vietnamese American Community
The Lee's Sandwiches Story
VANG is proud to feature one its most loyal supporters, Lee's Sandwiches, in it's first newsletter
The Lee family's story of how a modest catering truck became a national franchise is inspiration to all Vietnamese Americans.
The Le family left Viet Nam and immigrated to San Jose in 1980. While studying English as a second language, Chieu, the eldest son of the family often purchased items from a catering truck before and after class and eventually worked as a helper on a catering truck. In 1981, Chieu bought their first catering truck. Then in 1982, with younger brother Henry Le established Lee Bros. Foodservices, Inc. The family chose the name "Lee Bros." instead of "Le Bros." because it would be more easily understood in America.
From these modest beginnings, they created the largest industrial catering company in Northern California, serving more than 500 independently owned and operated catering trucks.
In 1983, Chieu's parents, Ba Van Le and Hanh Nguyen, started to serve Vietnamese type sandwiches on the catering truck to the community. At that time, the truck was parked on a street corner in the Downtown area, then into their first store on 6th and Santa Clara Streets. With the increasing demands, they outgrew the modest store, they relocated to King Road in San Jose.
In 2001, Chieu, his late eldest son, Minh Le, along with Chieu's in-laws, the Quach family, created a new concept - a mixture of bright, energetic restaurant sandwich environment, entertainment café and Asian-American cuisine. In addition to the traditional Vietnamese "banh mi" sandwiches, there are traditional American sandwiches such as ham and cheese served on baguettes or croissants.
Lee's attracts a diverse crowd from traditional Vietnamese-Americans to a younger crowd that is wowed by computer monitors suspended from the ceiling flashing special deals, full-color bilingual menu signs and chances to win free meals based on the number given to customers for their order.
The new Lee's Sandwiches concept has proved to be so successful that Lee's Sandwiches has become one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the West. By 2007, there are 35 Lee's Sandwiches in operation and development in California, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma. The company projects that it will add another dozen stores in 2008, which will include the states of Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and will double the numbers every subsequent years.
Future plans for Lee's Sandwiches include Lee's Sandwiches International, Inc. which is focused on being one of the leading franchises throughout the world. Through franchising, our success can be shared with individuals who wish to own a business. Each franchisee is not just considered a business partner, but as an addition to our family as well. Currently, there are seven franchisees in four states: California, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Lee's Sandwiches supports VANG because of similarities of our Vision. Not only being proud of being Vietnamese-born Americans, or American-born Vietnamese, but Asian Americans, as a whole, can celebrate their history and success through VANG. In addition to honoring our Asian heritage, promoting education, leadership, and volunteerism is just as important. We hope that our support for many student and community organizations, and VANG, can help strengthen our communities.
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