On August 17th & 18th, 2012, the Laotian American National Alliance (LANA) will hold its third Laotian National Conference at the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis North Hotel. The theme of the conference is Leaders: Building the Future.

The purpose of the conference is to provide the community a place where they can network, share resources, and unite for a better future for all generations. There will be a variety of workshops, panels, and discussions centering on the concept of building and uniting leaders for a better community. The conference will also offer a free film screening of Sentenced Home, the story about immigration and deportation followed by an in-depth discussion of crime and punishment that affects the Laotian community. The audience is welcomed to join in during the question and answer session.

Third Laotian National Conference > Conference Letter (Lao version) > Conference Program, including Registration > Conference Sponsorship > Presenter Submission Form > Sponsorship/Advertisement/Donation Form > Vendor Information

Other exciting topics and workshops will be offered such as: EMPLOYMENT AND OPPORTUNITY , DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION, LEADING FROM ANY CHAIR, SPECIAL HEP B PRESENTATION BY GILEAD SCIENCES, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, STATUS OF LAO AMERICANS: LOCALLY AND NATIONAL, VETERANS AND HEALTHCARE and DOORWAY TO YOUR DREAM. These workshops promises engaging presentations, relevant information and networking opportunities for the Laotian community.

There will be a delicious lunch served on Saturday to the first hundred registered attendees courtesy of Gilead Sciences.

Space is limited so early registration is highly encouraged. All interested individuals or groups can visit lana-usa.org to register beginning July 25th, 2012.

To further provide opportunities for attendees, speakers, special guests, and community leaders to socialize and network; an evening gala is also planned on Friday at the Buasavanh Banquet Hall. The fee for the evening event is $10. Guests can buy their own food and drink.

LANA is the oldest and only national nonprofit advocacy 501c3 organization in the United States. The mission of the Laotian American National Alliance, Inc.(LANA) as a national organization, is dedicated to advancing the social, and economic well-being of Laotian Americans in the United States through civic participation and public policy advocacy.

If you would like more information or have any questions about the conference, please call Anasone Silivongxay, Conference Chair, at (928) 388-8661 or email her at: Anasone@lana-usa.org.

Participants are asked to submit a video describing unique experiences that have shaped who they are in less than three minutes.

Entries are accepted in any form, including music video, public service announcement, short film, video blog or in an interview format. Essays will also be accepted in the place of video entries. All entries should showcase someone’s work around a specific issue facing the AAPI community in under three minutes or with fewer than 1,000 words.

Entries should be submitted online at www.whitehouse.gov/whatsyourstory by Tuesday, November 1st, 2011.

A select number of entries will be posted on the White House website and a group of exceptional leaders highlighted will be selected to attend a White House briefing this fall and given the opportunity to share their stories in-person.

Today, the White House announced We the People, a new online engagement feature.

On this innovative WhiteHouse.gov platform, individuals will be able to create and sign petitions seeking action from the federal government on a range of issues. If a petition gathers enough signatures, White House staff will review it, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.

Visitors to WhiteHouse.gov can begin submitting petitions later this month. To sign up for an alert when it launches and preview the feature, visit http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/WeThePeople.

“When I ran for this office, I pledged to make government more open and accountable to its citizens. That’s what the new We the People feature on WhiteHouse.gov is all about – giving Americans a direct line to the White House on the issues and concerns that matter most to them,” said President Obama.

To create and build support for a petition, WhiteHouse.gov visitors will simply need to create an account and gather signatures by reaching out to friends, family and coworkers. If a petition reaches a certain threshold – the initial level will be 5,000 signatures within 30 days – it will be sent to the appropriate policy makers throughout the Administration, reviewed, and an official response will be published to WhiteHouse.gov and emailed to all signers of the petition.

Saturday, September 10, 2011 11am-5pm at the Tenderloin Recreation Center/Children’s Playground

Family friendly, children activities, food, ethnic fashion show, educational exhibit. Ethnic attire encouraged.

Mother: Sengchanh Douangdara

Donations of support for John’s family, please make check payable for: John Douangdara Memorial Fund

Mail to:
Siouxland Federal Credit Union
3000 Plaza Drive
South Sioux City, NE 68776

Two simultaneous Lao traditional funerals for John Douangdara was held at his home in Virginia Beach, VA and at his mother, Sengchanh Douangdara’s home in South Sioux City, NE. His final resting place will be at the Arlington National Cemetery.

We have been informed that there will be a funeral next week at the Arlington National Cemetery for our 30 fallen American heroes. At the request of the Navy, we’ve been asked to not disclose the date and time. The Navy will announce the exact date and time, and also requested that no members of the media be present to respect the wishes for privacy and intimacy of the families of our fallen heroes, during this time of grief. LANA would like to express our deepest condolences to all the families and their love ones.

On the eve of embracing the 10 year anniversary of September 11th, and as America celebrates its 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, our nation continues to mourn and is reminded again about the tragedies of war, when on Saturday, August 6, 2011 30 American heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

The Special Forces unit responsible for the capture and death of Bin Laden recent operation, Seal Team Six – known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group – has around 300 members, of whom 120 are commandos. The rest are communications and specialist support troops. ~ (Daily Mail UK, August 10, 2011) The badly-damaged remains of the 30 brave American troops Killed In Action were brought back to the U.S. on August 10, 2011 embraced by the families and President Obama. Twenty-two of the dead soldiers were from elite SEAL Team Six. Master-at-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) John Douangdara, 26, of South Sioux City, Nebraska was the lead dog handler for the elite SEAL Team Six and may well be the first Laotian American to die as SEAL Team Six.

We have obtained information from the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) from their Department of Defense liaison, “The total number of Asian/Pacific Islander Military Personnel (Active Duty, Guard & Reservists) as of February 2011 = 124,474 (4.50% of total Military Personnel).

Sengchanh Douangdara, shares with LANA, “It’s natural we are sad, but I’m proud and happy that John gave his life to this country in doing what he enjoyed. He is a son of the Lao people, from a refugee family, but he was born and raised in America as a Lao-American.” She shares that John’s initial goals after graduating from high school was to enter the military to pursue higher education. It was his choice, and she didn’t discourage his decision. He joined the U.S. military in 2003 for five years, but then decided to extend his service for another four more years till 2012. He told his mom before leaving for Afghanistan, that he will conclude his military duties within a year to pursue his passion of helping people in his civilian life.

John Douangdara told his family very little about his duties in the military. They didn’t even know he took part in operations with the Navy SEALs.

But his mother, Sengchanh Douangdara, recalled her son as “the middle child, very quiet, was committed to the military and proud to serve the country that adopted his Laotian family decades ago. “I know that he loved his job. It was a job he chose,” she told the Sioux City Journal.

Douangdara’s parents fled communist forces in their native Laos in 1979, then immigrated to the United States after the birth of their first child. John was born four years later, the third of five children his parents would raise in South Sioux City, a Missouri River town along the border with Iowa.

The oldest child, Chan Follen, said her family’s sadness is tempered by pride in Douangdara’s service to the U.S. “We are proud Johnny fought for the country that embraced our family and gave us the opportunity to reach for the American dream,” Follen said. ~ (ABC 12 Associated Press)

“We are proud and honor your ultimate sacrifice for this great nation which has accepted our people as refugees after the conclusion of the U.S. Secret War in Laos during the Vietnam War era…we thank you for bringing unity and pride to the Laotian American community” ~ Sirch Chanthyasack, CEO of LANA.