Một Dấu Nối: Young Renton volunteers prosper at Helping Link

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 1, 2026

The Renton nonprofit Helping Link is helping students build confidence and achieve their goals through volunteer work.

Six student volunteers of Helping Link, or Một Dấu Nối, an organization offering free support services and community programs to the Vietnamese population, graduated this year from either high school or college and will be using the skills they developed volunteering with the organization to prosper in the future.

Executive Director Minh-Duc Nguyen said the student volunteers have been helping her in a wide range of needs, from graphic design and social media to administrative work. Many of the bilingual volunteers, such as Lindbergh High School graduate Khiem Tu, started out volunteering in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.

“He sits in class, helps the instructor, just to help translate as well as bridge the gap of the language barrier,” said Nguyen. “He also supported the technology program with the iPad and iPhone program. He also translated lesson plans for ESL.”

Tu came to the United States from Vietnam in 2019 as a 6th grader and did not know any English at that time. After only a few months at Risdon Middle School, COVID hit and learning switched to online.

“At that point I didn’t know about online classes, so I skipped all of the classes and technically I didn’t learn anything,” Tu said. “I just sat at home for two years.”

Tu began getting involved with Helping Link in 8th grade, learning English and getting help catching up to his classmates through the tutoring program. With the help of the tutors, Tu passed all his classes in middle school and started the first trimester of high school with straight A’s.

“That gave me a boost for me to continue on. I trusted myself that I can do it all,” Tu said. “I can pass all the classes and I can continue studying.”

After learning English through Helping Link, Tu began volunteering as his mother was a client there as well.

Helping Link introduced Tu to the Civil Air Patrol, a program where he learned about leadership, aerospace and emergency services, where he will be promoted to Cadet First Lieutenant and a Cadet Deputy Commander for Operations this July after four years in the program. He will then be teaching other cadets the skills he has learned.

Tu’s academic excellence, and his other extracurricular achievements, earned him acceptance into the University of Washington to study engineering. However, being from a low-income family, Tu was worried about the finances. On top of his already busy schedule he began working at Starbucks and applying for scholarships.

After the Seattle Seahawks’ 38-37 overtime win on Dec. 18, 2025, Tu attended the 2025 Seahawks Community Awards at Lumen Field. He was told one of the five applicants there would receive the $10,000 Seahawks Community Scholarship. However, the team surprised them by giving each of the five a scholarship check.

“All the audience, they were laughing, they were clapping, and then finally they surprised us that all of us were going to get the award,” Tu said.

Tu also received scholarships from Renton Regional Community Foundation, Renton Rotary Club and UW Costco. In total, Tu has received a total of $59,000 in scholarships, enough to cover all four years of college without dorm.

“In Khiem, what I see is determination of survival. He came right before the pandemic and was really lost for two years,” Nguyen said. “He was able to overcome that challenge and work really hard knowing that unless he has the language skill, he’s not gonna make it.”

Tu has more than 800 volunteer hours at Helping Link and Nguyen said Tu recruited some of his friends from Lindbergh High School to volunteer as well. Daniel Bui and Rowan Chien, joined Tu in graduating from the high school this year. Hazen High School graduate Angelica Nguyen also volunteered with Helping Link. Volunteers Khoa To and Tuan Lo graduated from the University of Washington and Seattle University, respectively.

“We have different volunteers at Helping Link. We have young adults, we have professionals, we have seniors, so he’s able to work with all and being able to interact and especially being able to learn how the American society works,” Nguyen said.

Helping Link has been in Renton for two years now after moving from Seattle. Nguyen said they are always in need of more volunteers to help out in any way possible, especially for the board of directors.

“Our team of volunteers, they’re so committed and so dedicated,” Nguyen said. “So all of [Tu’s] awards, all his achievements, he has been supported by our village here at Helping Link.”

To learn more, visit helpinglink.org.