Calling All Champions
- Legacies of War Admin
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
From the desk of Sera Koulabdara, CEO, Legacies of War
Dear Friends,
When I was a child, my dad used to buy a single bag of Mee Mama or Mee Wai Wai noodles. By itself, it was just a simple, cheap snack—barely enough to fill a stomach. My dad would add vegetables from our garden, bits of edible scraps, and leftovers from a stir-fry he had made at the start of the week, stretching it out for his lunch and our meals after school. Little by little, he transformed one tiny pack of noodles into a gourmet meal fit for his little “Nang Fah” (Princess; that’s me!) and Baby Mickey.
My dad could turn anything into a feast, even if we only had leftover rice and salt. Most days, that was all we had, yet I never felt poor.
When we first arrived in the US, we lived wherever we could afford. We were a family of six squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment on the south side of Chicago. We shared a trailer with another family of six in Nebraska. In the most painful moment of all, my parents were forced to leave my brother and me with our aunts and uncles until they were financially stable enough to care for us again.
Today, I draw immense strength from the creativity and profound sacrifices of my parents. I find myself putting those very same lessons to use here at Legacies of War.
Like the refugee and immigrant communities who came before us, we are a scrappy minority group that refuses to give up. Even against impossible odds, we believe in this tiny little engine, because the story of Laos deserves to be told. The legacies of war in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam must be resolved. Legacies of War not only deserves to exist; it deserves to thrive.
We have done everything in our power to sustain ourselves. To ensure we didn't have to sacrifice a single piece of our programming, and to keep Legacies' doors open, I made the decision to step down to part-time. We have been holding on with only 1.5 staff members, trying our absolute best to make do with what we have.
Now, dear friends, we have reached the limit of what we can stretch on our own. We are at a point where we simply will not make it without your financial support.
Like that single pack of noodles, we are just the base ingredient in what makes Legacies work. We need all of our champions, volunteers, grant partners, and stakeholders to add their pieces to create a meal that fuels our precious mission.
This does not work without you. Please consider making a gift today, and share this message with at least three friends to invite them into our movement.
Help us continue to feed the flames of hope.
With gratitude,
Sera
