Paul's Kids Fast Facts
- Mission: We help needy children in Vietnam. Our projects focus on improving living conditions, medical care, educational opportunities, and overall quality of life.
- Certified as a 501(c)3 charity in the U.S. and as an non-governmental organization (NGO) in Vietnam.
- Paul’s Kids’ diverse board and staff carefully researches and carries out projects so as to get the greatest good from our donors’ investments.
Paul Pinkerton (the Paul in Paul's Kids) Fast Facts
- Paul is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.
- As a rogue POW/MIA activist, Paul self-financed a mission to Vietnam during which he covertly located the remains of five fellow soldiers killed in action.
- On a subsequent trip to Vietnam, Paul and his wife, Sandy, visited a hospital where they saw a sick infant, learned he was an orphan, and decided to adopt him. They have since adopted two other Vietnamese children. Paul describes his children as his “salvation.”
- Paul and Sandy have facilitated adoptions in Vietnam for over 300 families, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
- In 2004, Paul and Sandy decided to launch a charity that would help children in Vietnamese orphanages who are unlikely to be adopted.
- Shortly thereafter, doctors diagnosed Paul with prostate cancer, likely a result of his exposure to Agent Orange during the War. Instead of dropping the plans for the charity, Paul committed to push forward…as a means of focusing his energy and attention toward something positive.
- Paul resisted the name Paul’s Kids, because he felt it focused the spotlight on him instead of his wife, Sandy. The other two co-founders of Paul’s Kids, one of whom was Sandy, noted his objections and outvoted him.
- Paul is well-known and respected in Vietnam as a result of Paul’s Kids’ work and positive press in Vietnamese newspapers and on television.