Charity's CEO stuck in Vietnam waiting for drill that may never arrive

By Brian Barker KATU News and KATU.com Staff
Video  -http://www.katu.com/news/local/49309957.html

PORTLAND, Ore. - Ron Gough sits helpless in his office, wondering about his friend, Francis Betz, who is an ocean away in Vietnam.

Betz runs a charity called the Vietnam Children's Assistance Program, which helps villagers drill fresh water wells.  He traveled to Vietnam, where he was supposed to receive a new drill he had ordered from Rockmaster Drills based in Troutdale.

"They kept putting him off and they said they need this one part or they don't have it quite set up," said Gough, whose friend is now stuck in Vietnam with no drill.

Gough has an invoice showing the charity paid for the drill months ago.  But every time he calls Rockmaster Drills, he is told it's almost ready to go.

"Yeah, they're working hard on it.  They've got it on the pallet and there's just one thing they're waiting for and it'll ship," said Gough.

We dropped by the company's offices in Troutdale to see if we could figure out what the holdup was.  No one was there and no one returned our phone calls.

"They haven't closed their doors," said Gough.  "They've got multiple company names, multiple phone numbers and stuff like that."

Meanwhile, the charity is out more than $5,000 for a drill it does not have and the charity's CEO is stuck in Vietnam with thousands of people to help and no way to do it.

Betz doesn't know what he's going to do.  He's been barely getting by while waiting for the drill to ship.  He was told it would be there months ago.

Rockmaster Drills appears to be a legitimate company, we just have not been able to reach them.  And the charity has had difficulty reaching them as well.

Betz runs a charity called the Vietnam Children's Assistance Program, which helps villagers drill fresh water wells.  He traveled to Vietnam, where he was supposed to receive a new drill he had ordered from Rockmaster Drills based in Troutdale.

The next phase of this project will be purchasing U.S. made drill equipment that will be easier to operate and decrease the cost per well. Go To the linked page and see what this equipment will be and how it will operate.

 | VNCAP Home | Well Home | Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Open Letter | Included | Basic Operation | How it works |

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VNCAP
Viet Nam Children Assistance Programs
7620 SW Sage Place Beaverton, OR  97008 USA Tel- 011-503-526-1726 fax - 011-419-793-6399
http://www/vncap.org
OR reg. # 501099-93 EIN: 91-1796800 Tax-exempt 501(c)(3) Organization

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• In Vietnam more than 25 million people, including about 80 percent of the country’s poorest populations, still cannot access safe water.
• About 1.8 million children die every year due to diarrhea diseases.
• More children die from diarrhea illnesses like cholera and dysentery than from HIV/AIDS or malaria combined.

Get involved with the work we are doing with charitable organizations and educational programs that support this effort to bring clean water to people in need.

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