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Greensboro-based Montagnard Group Receives $100,000 Grant

KERI BROWN/WFDD

A Greensboro-based nonprofit is set to receive a grant to help Asian American refugee communities impacted by COVID-19. 

The Montagnard Dega Association will collect $100,000 from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

The group and its partners serve as important resources for the Montagnards, which are indigenous tribes hailing from the Central Regions of Vietnam, many of whom served as frontline fighters during the Vietnam War. 

Guilford County is home to the largest community of Montagnard refugees outside of Southeast Asia.

According to a news release, the grant money will be used to connect several different Asian American communities and provide leadership training within those groups. The agency will also hire part-time caseworkers to offer assistance with housing, employment, and health issues.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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