CURRENT: 100% of all Mask + Hat sales will go to local organizers in Binh Duong province, working directly with those most vulnerable during the fourth wave of Covid-19 in Vietnam. In August 2021, we raised $1800 together! Let's reach out goal of an additional $2000 for September!

Visit @quekaarem and @kaaremvn for more ways to help with the Covid-19 relief in Vietnam.

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Thank you for joining our collective efforts! Together, we've donated $1676 in April 2021 to #StopAsianHate - Support the AAPI Community Fund through Go Fund Me. We've also raised over $2500 through various auctions, raffles, giveaways like with Create To Stop Hate and Design for Atlanta. We support the effort to fight hate towards Asian Americans and advocate for racial justice. You can also donate directly (link). With your help, we've also donated $3710 in June 2020 to Juxtaposition Arts and The Loveland Foundation. 

💓👉 For the month of May, 100% of hat sales will be donating to The Southeast Asian Student Coalition Summer Institute.💓 It is something we believe strongly in - empowering and building up our youth. SASC SI is a week-long summer program at the UC Berkeley where Southeast Asian/American high school students are invited and provided the opportunity to explore college opportunities as well as learning more about their Southeast Asian cultural identity. This program was formed in 2002 when these organizers (including Kaarem co-founder Kathy Minh Bach) wanted to step beyond the needs at Berkeley to incorporate the communities they come from. With the support from faculty members at UCB (much love to Professor Khatharya Um), SI became an all-expense paid five-day program where high school students, college students and community members from all over the country come together to share and learn about their culture, hxstory, and identity as well as receive resources about higher education.

Each year, the theme for SASC SI changes, which influences the curriculum for the program. Acceptance into the program is not based on academic merit, but through diverse experiences and openness. We hope that Southeast Asian youth will understand the growing issues within the Southeast Asian communities and bring these conversations into their space. *Note: Due to Covid-19, SASC SI has been transformed into a two-week program of workshops and events planned for the students and community this year. Follow SASC at @ucbsasc for more information.

As children of refugees from Vietnam, we stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and condemn hate against Asian Americans. Our families came to the U.S. driven by hopes, fears and dreams. They came seeking something beyond what they knew in Vietnam and they found it -- for better, worse and everything in between. In the space, distance and time between New York, California and Vietnam, we continue to find some of the same. Kaarem's future is not guaranteed, but we will continue to work, love and grow while seeking the beyond.

Here are a few resources we would like to share with you:

- Important Vietnamese Terms to Know When Addressing Anti-Blackness via @aphamphotos
- The Southeast Asian Anti-Racism Toolkit
- The Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit
- Black and Asian American Feminist Solidarities: A Reading List
- A Growing List of Resources for the Movement for Black Lives
- Designing for Dignity and Practices of Care via Deem Journal x MOLD Magazine
- Resources for talking to your children about racism via @theconsciouskid

#vietnameseforblacklives #stopasianhate

♡,
Chuong Pham & Kathy Minh Bach