LYNNWOOD — Casual passersby could be forgiven for thinking the warm weather was to blame for the takeover of Wilcox Park Saturday by dozens of volleyball players.
It was actually a planned event by the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement, holding an all-day tournament to raise money for victims of the Nepal earthquake.
Ton Nguyen, the president of the group, said the tournament raised more than $2,000 in donations and registration fees, with 36 teams competing over several rounds of play. Nearly 300 people, players and spectators, were there.
It was about twice as many as were expected, Nguyen said, and the tournament lasted from 11 a.m. to about 8 p.m.
“We probably had about 225 sunburns,” Nguyen said.
But volleyball is just a means to an end. The youth group, which is affiliated with the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in Everett, takes service projects seriously.
“We’re supposed to serve, we’re supposed to be like Jesus, and we take him as our role model,” Nguyen said.
There are about 120 middle-schoolers and high-schoolers in the group, most of whom are children or grandchildren of immigrants. A few international students from Everett Community College sometimes join up for a short time, Nguyen said.
“We never say no to someone who wants to serve,” he said.
The youth group also runs a Vietnamese language program, and the group draws kids from all over Snohomish County.
Last year, after the Oso mudslide, Nguyen said he challenged the group to find some way to be of service.
The kids came up with the idea of a volleyball tournament, which ended up raising $560 for relief efforts, which was donated to the United Way of Snohomish County.
“When the Nepal earthquake happened, the secretary of our group said, ‘You know, people really want another volleyball tournament,’ ” Nguyen said.
The youth group is raising money for other projects, as well.
A group of the kids is working with the Interfaith Association of Washington to build a playground at its shelter for homeless families later this summer. And a smaller group of about eight youth and college students is planning on a mission trip to build houses in Haiti in late July.
For projects such as those, the group holds events such as benefit dinners that combine good works with Vietnamese culture.
“It’s a cultural experience for those not in the Vietnamese community, and for the elder generation its a refreshing thing to see them keeping our culture alive,” Nguyen said.
At Saturday’s tournament, many of the kids in the youth group formed their own teams, but the large crowd also included several people who just showed up to pay the registration fee and play.
Solo players were assigned a team more or less randomly, and one of those random teams went on to win one of the tournaments.
As it turned out, those players were from Nepal. They’d heard about the fundraiser and came by to show their appreciation, as well as play some volleyball.
“We thought they were just random guys,” Nguyen said. “That was a very cool moment, to hear them say thank you.”
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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