Author/TV personality/community leader Kilong Ung, a Cambodian refugee and survivor of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields, will speak at the Rotary Club of Greater Bend weekly lunch on his journey from the Khmer Rouge concentration camps to becoming a community leader in Oregon and starting the Golden Leaf Education Foundation.
WHAT
Kilong Ung is a survivor of the genocide in Cambodia. He escaped with about half his family when he was a young teenager, and came to the US as a refugee. He went to Reed College, then grad school in mathematics, then worked as a consultant for Arthur Anderson and STEP Technology in Portland, before leaving the tech world to start his own insurance agency in Portland.
He’s been in the documentary film The Bombhunters (director Skye Fitzgerald was named a Filbright Scholar to research and produce that film), TV shows Deadliest Warrior and Deadliest Warrior Aftermath, and the documentary Risking Light.
He published a book about his journey:
https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Khmer-Rouge-Genocide-Survivor/dp/0982350201
He started Golden Leaf Foundation, which so far has raised money for and completed building 5 schools in Cambodia.
http://goldenleafeducationfoundation.org/people/kilong-ung/
In a time where there’s so much negative news about immigrants and refugees, Kilong’s story of coming from nothing to make a meaningful difference in our world is an incredible inspiration.
WHEN
Tuesday, July 17
Noon-1:15pm
Public and press are invited to attend. Tickets are $19.75, and includes lunch.
Tickets are available online at http://www.greaterbendrotary.org/blog/tickets/
Kilong is available for interviews in Bend on Monday, July 16th.
WHERE
The Riverhouse, 3075 N Hwy 97, Bend, OR 97703
ABOUT THE ROTARY CLUB OF GREATER BEND
Rotary International is the largest service club in the world – with over 1.2 million members in 34,000 clubs. The Rotary Club of Greater Bend was chartered in 1976 by a group of dedicated and resourceful business leaders who saw Rotary as a way to effect a positive change for people – with a focus on youth – around our region and around the world.
Our club meets every Tuesday at 12 noon at the Riverhouse, 3075 N. Business Hwy 97. Each week, we have an engaging program featuring speakers on a wide range of social, political and economic topics, and our members and guests always come away more knowledgeable than when they arrived.
For more information, please visit http://greaterbendrotary.org/.
