Founded 1997 · Vietnam & Beyond

Love has no
borders.

For 29 years, LATO has brought food, education, and hope directly to impoverished families in Vietnam — carried personally by our volunteers, one life at a time.

Donate Now See Our Work
29Years of service
100%Volunteer-run
$0Administrative overhead
10,000+Families helped
100%Funds to recipients
29Years active
$0Paid staff or offices
Our Mission

Small things done with
great love.

LATO helps impoverished children and their families live a better life by providing basic human needs — food, clothing, shelter — and opening doors to education. Every dollar donated goes directly to the people who need it.

We have no offices. We pay no salaries. We print no brochures. Our volunteers — including our founder Leyna Nguyen — personally travel to rural Vietnam to purchase and distribute every gift.

"Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love."
Explore Our Programs
Leyna with children in classroom
Food distribution
Children at school
How You Can Help

Three ways to change a life

🐖

Meaningful Gifts

Give a family a living savings account. Farm animals — pigs, cows, chickens — provide food, income, and self-reliance. Our most popular pig gift has a pay-it-forward model: when families sell a pig for profit, the original cost is returned to LATO so another family can receive one.

Pigs from $65 · Chickens $40 · Cows $100–$600
Give a Gift
📚

Sponsor a Child

For less than $2 a day, you can feed a child three daily meals and send them to school. LATO personally vets every student with home visits and ensures funds go only toward schooling and meals. You'll receive photos and updates from your child.

Tuition only $25/mo · Full sponsorship $55/mo
Sponsor a Child
❤️

Direct Donation

Your tax-deductible donation goes directly to rural areas of Vietnam for the purchase of food and essentials. Our team handles every gift personally, in the field, with full transparency on how funds are used.

Any amount · 100% to recipients · Tax-deductible
Donate Now
Our Founder

Leyna Nguyen

Emmy Award-Winning Journalist · Founder, 1997

Born in Vietnam and raised in the United States, Leyna Nguyen never forgot the land — or the people — she left behind. In 1997, she founded Love Across the Ocean with a simple belief: that Americans with means could reach across the Pacific and lift up those without.

For nearly three decades, Leyna has personally led every distribution trip, sitting with families in their homes, holding the hands of the elderly, and playing with children in the schools LATO helped build. This is not a charity run from a distance.

🏆 Emmy Award-winning journalist — KCAL/KCBS Los Angeles
Leyna with elderly woman Vietnam
Leyna laughing during distribution
In the Field

Love, in action

Large LATO distribution event
Children at school
LATO volunteers in Vietnam
LATO distribution
Leyna in classroom
Food package delivery
School children with Leyna
LATO field work
LATO community outreach
✅501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Nonprofit
💯100% of funds to recipients
👐Volunteer-only — no paid staff
🎗️Founded 1997 · 29 years of service
Make a Difference Today

Your donation changes lives
this week — not next year.

LATO moves fast. Every dollar donated is converted into food, school fees, or livestock on our next trip to Vietnam. No bureaucracy. No delay. Just love in action.

Donate Now Sponsor a Child