All posts tagged: Sunny Chanthanouvong

A Peek into the People of Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota: A Photo Essay

Published by

This year, the Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota (LACM) celebrates their 30th anniversary. Since 1983, LACM has been helping Minnesota’s Lao community with various services such as housing, health awareness, youth advancement, elder empowerment, and cultural engagement. Their mission is “to enhance the quality of life of Minnesota Lao families”. The Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota is located within the Harrison Neighborhood Recreation Center in North Minneapolis. This short photo essay was shot over the course of a few days at LACM. It is a small glance into what LACM does and the faces that work the machine. In all, LACM is made up of multiple full-time staffers, several part-time consultants, and three interns. They work to better the lives of the Lao community in Minnesota. Sunny chats with a Minnesota State representative at a Minneapolis mayoral candidate forum. First off is Sunny Chanthanouvong, the center’s executive director.  Sunny recently received the Virginia McKnight Binger Human Services Award from the McKnight Foundation. I have found that his enthusiastic greeting, “Hiiiiiii!!” to be his most iconic phrase. …

Sunny Chanthanouvong Receives 2013 Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service

Published by

It has been a big year for the Lao Assistance Center, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary of serving the Lao in Minnesota. This month, their executive director, Sunny Chanthanouvong has been honored for his work with the community with a 2013 Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service, a distinctive honor for the community. The McKnight Foundation recognizes up to six Minnesotans who demonstrated “an exceptional personal commitment to helping others in their communities but who have received little or no public recognition.” The awards were first presented in 1985, and named after Virginia McKnight Binger, who was the Foundation’s first board chair and the daughter of the founders. Mcknight Binger passed away in 2002, but the awards help the community remember her “enduring spirit of compassion, humility, and generosity.” The only other Lao Minnesotan to receive the award in its 28-year history so far was Kouthong Vixayvong in 1991, 22 years ago. The awards are given to recognize anyone “directly involved in providing human services, especially those working to make their communities more responsive to the …