...Phong's Personal Story...

Bidong. R to L: Phong, Binh, Thuy, Phung and Loan.
Phong Tran is a Vietnamese immigrant who left his home when he was just 6 years old. He escaped, with his entire family (father, mother & 7 siblings) in the cloak of darkness, on a boat, destined for salvation away from the war torn Vietnam. They were on the small fisherman's boat with about 80 other refugees. Together, they braced 4 months on the violent open seas and they were robbed 4 different times by Thai-Pirates. Most of all of their valuable possessions were stolen at gun point. Then they were stranded on a deserted island where they lived off the land for 3 months until they were picked up by a US battleship. "The island was a tropical paradise", says Phong as he remembers about his short stay on the island called, 'July'.
They were transported to a refugee island called 'Bidong', where, under the US protection, they stayed for a year until their paperwork was finalized. Then they were granted asylum in the USA. Under the government's housing program, they lived in Hawaii for about a year. Then, a cousin in California sponsored them over to start anew.
Upon coming to California, Phong's parents enrolled all their kids into public schools and started doing recycling as a way to make money. They would wake up at 3am every morning and drive their beat up van up and down alleys to look through trash cans for anything that they could sell: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers, cardboards, aluminum materials, etc. Phong would help get these recyclable goods, before and after schools, by pushing a shopping cart up and down the alleys behind where they lived. "I saw how hard my parents were working and I wanted to help. I would 'dumpster-dive' and fill up my cart with all the recyclables that we could sell to the recycling centers", says Phong as he retold about how he did this from the time he was 9 years old. He stopped at 14 because he got a worker's permit to work at a pizza store, '2-for1 Pizza Co'. After 2 weeks, Phong became the store manager. He continued to do well both in school and work and eventually graduated from UCLA with a B.S.
Phong is a conscientious person when it comes to issues of recycling and healing mother earth. He is also very aware of the immense opportunities that this great land has given him and thus, he is constantly looking for ways to give back. Phong noted that, "America has given so much to me and my family and for that, I am forever in gratitude of our salvation. This globe planter project is very dear to me because it allows for me an opportunity to pay it forward to the students, schools and non-profit organizations. The Plantable Planet will recycle old papers, plant more trees and help out so many people. I am humbled to be able to give back to this great nation which saved me".
They were transported to a refugee island called 'Bidong', where, under the US protection, they stayed for a year until their paperwork was finalized. Then they were granted asylum in the USA. Under the government's housing program, they lived in Hawaii for about a year. Then, a cousin in California sponsored them over to start anew.
Upon coming to California, Phong's parents enrolled all their kids into public schools and started doing recycling as a way to make money. They would wake up at 3am every morning and drive their beat up van up and down alleys to look through trash cans for anything that they could sell: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers, cardboards, aluminum materials, etc. Phong would help get these recyclable goods, before and after schools, by pushing a shopping cart up and down the alleys behind where they lived. "I saw how hard my parents were working and I wanted to help. I would 'dumpster-dive' and fill up my cart with all the recyclables that we could sell to the recycling centers", says Phong as he retold about how he did this from the time he was 9 years old. He stopped at 14 because he got a worker's permit to work at a pizza store, '2-for1 Pizza Co'. After 2 weeks, Phong became the store manager. He continued to do well both in school and work and eventually graduated from UCLA with a B.S.
Phong is a conscientious person when it comes to issues of recycling and healing mother earth. He is also very aware of the immense opportunities that this great land has given him and thus, he is constantly looking for ways to give back. Phong noted that, "America has given so much to me and my family and for that, I am forever in gratitude of our salvation. This globe planter project is very dear to me because it allows for me an opportunity to pay it forward to the students, schools and non-profit organizations. The Plantable Planet will recycle old papers, plant more trees and help out so many people. I am humbled to be able to give back to this great nation which saved me".