NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT
85
“I still remember looking out the airplane window on my
first trip back to Vietnam, thinking, ‘What am I doing this
for?’ and ‘How will these people treat me?’ ’’ he recalls. “But
everything turned out just great. The country is extremely
young. To them, the Vietnam War is history.” He says he left
the country wondering how we ever waged war against the
hardworking people he met.
When Fred volunteered to lend a hand after the initial
Rotary Club meeting, he only had an inkling of what he
committed to. The organization he co-founded, the D.O.V.E.
Fund, is dedicated to helping people in some of Vietnam’s
most war-ravaged areas, like Quang Tri Province. Quang Tri
is at the northern tip of what was the Republic of Vietnam, so
it was overrun many times by Communists from the north
and Americans to the south trying to hold them back. It was
ground zero for the Tet Offensive of 1968 and the ensuing
six-month battle of Khe Sanh. The group has also worked in
Thua Thien-Hue provinces and Quang Ngai, where Fred and
another D.O.V.E. member were deployed.
EFFORTS ARE TWOFOLD
Just as the effects of the war may linger in Vietnam, they
also continue to plague a generation of Americans sent to fight
there as young men. While some of the veterans who have
contributed to D.O.V.E. Fund initiatives have visited to see the
fulfillment of their pledges, others still can’t bring themselves
to return to the country even decades later, Fred says.
“One veteran wrote us a check for $15,000 but he has never
been back with us and doesn’t want to go,” he says. Another
vet contributed to D.O.V.E. and wrote a thin memoir about it
called Ghost Closet, which Jill says aptly describes the way
many veterans locked away their feelings about Vietnam and
never revisited them.
Fred is pleased that he took the plunge and feels rewarded
many times over for his efforts.
“The biggest thing for us is not that we went one time,” he
says. “We live it and have for 20 years. We’re very proud of it.”
The organization does all of its work through volunteer
efforts and annual fundraising events like a golf tourney at
Harbour Ridge each spring and an auction each summer in
Toledo, although this year’s auction had to be canceled due
to COVID-19. It has one paid employee in Vietnam. Visit
www.dovefund.org for more information.
Alison O’Leary is an author and speaker. www.alisonoleary.com.
“The biggest thing for us
is not that we went one
time. We live it and have
for 20 years. We’re very
proud of it.”
— Fred Grimm
/www.irsc.edu
/www.dovefund.org
/www.alisonoleary.com
/www.irsc.edu
/www.dovefund.org
/www.alisonoleary.com
