Imagine children, even entire families, living in a landfill with a job of mining used plastic bags for re-sale.

That is what's happening in Vietnam.

The Catalyst Foundation is helping construct housing and a new school for families who now live in a landfill in the Vietnamese community of Kien Giang near the Cambodian border and the Mekong Delta.

A group of Minnesotans are traveling to Vietnam in March, including a Merrifield family. About 80 people are scheduled to go, including husband and wife Sandra Kaplan and Don Hickman and their two children, Clark, 13 and Ellen, 9.

Like many of the families, Kaplan and Hickman, adopted their daughter from Vietnam. Ellen came to them as an infant in 2000. Now, a decade later, Don Hickman said they are looking forward to returning and helping others.

The Catalyst Foundation is helping construct housing and a school for these families, with the agreement that the local government will acknowledge the citizenship of the families if the children are taught to read and write. With that acknowledgment of citizenship, Hickman said the families will be eligible for assistance. Without it, they are basically considered people who don't exist.

"If they are lucky they earn $1.50 a day," Hickman said of the families in the landfill working to harvest plastic bags. "Nobody goes to school. They work by headlight late at night."

As a minimal standard each family participating in the expedition to Vietnam is expected to contribute $3,000 to go toward school or building supplies. Three years ago the Catalyst Foundation built a school.

	Sandra Kaplan and her husband, Don Hickman of Merrifield, adopted a Vietnamese infant in 2000, and traveled with four other adopting American families to the same orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hickman said his daughter will be in the school and help the children there with English and learn from them. She is taking school supplies with her and plans to spend time with local children. Clark plans to work to renovate the school while Kaplan and Hickman will work on building homes.

Hickman said it's impossible to engage in a project like this without realizing how much people have here and it provides an opportunity to help others while learning and seeing a beautiful country in the process.

"It's such an interesting country," Hickman said, noting there are still restrictions and censorship, "but they are so hungry for capitalist investment and economic opportunity they are very welcoming to Americans."

The family will visit Ellen's birthplace in March. They will be traveling to the Vietnamese community of Kien Gaing near the Cambodian border and the Mekong Delta.

At 9 a.m. Sunday at Crosslake Presbyterian Church an informational session with the family will provide more information about Kien Giang, Vietnam. A chili lunch fundraiser is planned at 11:30 a.m. at the church.

The family is asking for participation and donation to the Vietnam Aid Expedition March 28-April 2. Funds raised will be used to purchase building materials and school supplies. Donations are tax-deductible. Additional fundraisers are expected in the future.

The Catalyst Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to improving the lives of at-risk populations in Vietnam through child trafficking prevention and community capacity building.