My Nonprofit Reviews

Rock-Paper-Scissors provides opportunities for children that build creativity, confidence, and community, inspiring and enabling them to reach new goals for their future.

I am very pleased to support Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund as a truly commendable nonprofit organization. I, and my 17-year-old son, born in Vietnam, had the opportunity to volunteer with Sara Nerone and her family in Vietnam in 2014 and again in 2016. We were able to experience first-hand the incredible work that R-P-S does for the children it serves. The ongoing music and art programs for children provide opportunities for them to learn and express themselves in ways typically unknown in their everyday environments. The programs provide not only opportunities to develop their talents, but also to build camaraderie and long-term deep relationships with their fellow artists. The bicycles that are provided for girls allow them to go to school when they might not otherwise have the opportunity that most of us take for granted. Even the youngest girls in Vietnam are often tasked with taking care of younger siblings and helping at home as a priority over the learning that they yearn to experience. With bicycles, they can get to and from school faster, allowing them to fulfill their family responsibilities and study too. The summer camps put on by R-P-S in minority villages provide a lovely retreat for children of all ages – with games, music, art, and healthy snacks, the kids engage in special times that would otherwise not be possible. The team in Vietnam is extremely capable and dedicated, warm and genuine, connecting with the children they serve and with the volunteers in very special ways. Sara does an incredible job of keeping the organization running smoothly in Vietnam in addition to managing her very full life at home in the US. I am proud to support R-P-S’s valuable and successful programs.

When I first contacted Sara Nerone about the possibility of my son, Zachary, and I helping out at for a week at the Rock, Paper, Scissors violin school in Cam Duc, Vietnam, during summer 2014, I had a feeling that the opportunity would be a very special experience. Little did I know how special it would turn out to be for both of us, especially for Zachary.

From the first night, when we met the volunteer team at our small motel, to five nights later, when we celebrated the completion of a truly special week with the incredible group of Vietnamese children, teachers, director and family members of the wonderful program that Sara has put together, each moment was a gift.

We arrived at the school on Monday morning to meet anxiously waiting violin students, and after a full of warm spirits and joyful sounds, we said our tearful goodbyes at the airport. The school is held in a lovely home with big open spaces and cheerful pale blue and green colors accented by the natural light pouring in from the open porch. When they weren’t practicing their instruments, all the kids were singing and chatting – teaching each other songs and phrases in Vietnamese and English, playing games, doing art projects.

We spent one morning at an ethnic minority village school, with about 60 local children, engaging them in music, art and games. This was a very special day for all.

The end of the week brought a wonderful culmination of the efforts of everyone – a musical performance by the children for the local government officials followed by the giving of bicycles to twenty very shyly grateful girls.

Our last evening was celebrated with a feast of Vietnamese dishes for all the volunteers in addition to the students, about 35 of us in all. The Vietnamese kids all sang a song to Zachary after which one of the girls made a little speech in English and Zachary made a speech to them in Vietnamese. It was the culmination of a deeply meaningful week of learning and sharing cultures through music and art.

Our time in Cam Duc was one of those extraordinary life experiences that are uniquely valuable in a myriad of ways – a genuine gift. We went to volunteer time working with the kids, thinking it would be special, but never imagining the depth of what we would receive in return – such honest warmth, joy, trust and love from these lovely young people.

Rock, Paper, Scissors is an exemplary organization offering exceptional opportunities for the children it serves as well as for volunteers, with Sara Nerone and her family at the helm, steering a steady course to make a difference. We can’t wait to go back!