About Leyna – Love Across the Ocean

The Story Behind LATO

She never forgot
where she came from.

Born in Vietnam and raised in the United States, Leyna Nguyen built a distinguished career as an Emmy Award-winning journalist at KCAL/KCBS in Los Angeles. But success never dimmed her memory of the people she left behind.

In 1997, Leyna founded Love Across the Ocean with a simple, powerful conviction: that those of us fortunate enough to live in abundance have a responsibility to reach back across the ocean and lift others up. Not through bureaucracy. Not through institutions. Through personal, direct, human love.

For nearly three decades, Leyna has personally led every distribution mission — flying to Vietnam, purchasing food and goods herself, sitting in the homes of the families LATO serves, and looking into the eyes of every child whose education LATO makes possible.

"Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love."

LATO is not run from an office. It has no paid staff. Every dollar donated becomes food, medicine, school fees, or a farm animal — delivered by hand, with love, across the ocean.

Our History

29 years of love across the ocean

1997

LATO is founded

Emmy Award-winning journalist Leyna Nguyen establishes Love Across the Ocean, making her first personal trip to rural Vietnam to deliver food and supplies to impoverished families.

Early 2000s

Meaningful Gifts program launches

Board member John Brobst and his wife Jeannette create the Meaningful Gifts program, giving families farm animals as living savings accounts. The pig program becomes LATO's most popular initiative.

2005+

Sponsor a Child program expands

LATO begins pairing individual donors with sponsored children, covering school fees and meals. The program grows to support hundreds of students across rural Vietnam.

Ongoing

Schools built, disasters answered

LATO renovates and builds schools across Vietnam, and mobilizes quickly during natural disasters to provide emergency humanitarian relief — both in Vietnam and to refugee families in California.

Today

Tens of thousands helped

With no offices, no paid staff, and zero administrative overhead, LATO continues to deliver 100% of every donated dollar directly to the families who need it most — one life at a time.