Donated artwork auction raises funds for poor children’s smiles

      Paintings, photos and other artworks donated by renowned Vietnamese artists will be auctioned at a charity event tomorrow at the Park Hyatt Hotel.
The annual event, titled Dem Cua Nhung Nu Cuoi (An Evening of Smiles), is one of several events lined up by Operation Smile Viet Nam (OSV), a charity organisation, to raise funds for providing free surgeries to poor people with congenital facial deformities.
More than 400 distinguished guests will attend the auction.
Julia Robins, OSV’s development director, expected this year’s event to raise money to help at least 800 children with cleft palates, thanks to 59 paintings and photos received from artists like Tran Mau Dung, Ton That Bang, Nguyen Thi Kim Chi, Nguyen Tao Duc, Do Thu Huong, Nguyen Dam Thuy and galleries like Ben Thanh Art&Frame Gallery, Duc Gallery and Zen Gallery.
Around 19 of the artworks will be sold during the main auction programme, the other works will sold as silent auction at the night.
Huynh Ngoc Dan and other members of the BreathingEyes photography club in HCM City are also contributing their works to the silent auction.
Painter Duc, who also donated a work last year, decided to gift two of his favourite pieces this year.
He was very excited to support the event again: "I know it is crisis time for everyone, so I decided to give two paintings, instead of one, in the hope more poor children will get help."
Dan said he had been touched last year after asking Robins how much money was needed to help a child and she had said $150.
He would be very happy if one or two smiles are saved because of his contribution, he said.
This year, the auction will feature dancing and music shows.
Robins said with the money raised, 2,000 children with facial deformities would get free surgery at 20 sites throughout the country during November.
Twenty local and international surgeons would take part in the week-long campaign, she said.
The auction will be conducted by Rob Blain, Asia-Pacific director of CBRE, who has done the job since the first event in 2002.
About 3,000 children are born with facial deformities in Viet Nam has each year, adding to a large backlog of 13,000 living throughout the country. OSV plans to help 3,500-4,000 children this year.