Malissa Lach, 17, of Lowell, looks out from the dining room at her father's restaurant, Pai Lin City. Lach raised more than $1,000 through a car wash she orchestrated last year to install a water pump and water-filtration equipment at a small village in Cambodia. Sun/ Meghan JonesBy MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff (Lowell, Mass., USA)
LOWELL -- Malissa Lach said she first began learning the art of fundraising at her high school, where she has been a member of the student council for the past four years.
But the 17-year-old Lowell resident and senior at the Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro wanted to expand her horizons to include her parents' homeland of Cambodia.
Lach, the youngest of four children, said she had always been encouraged to make charitable donations by her father, local entrepreneur Bunrith Lach, a former member of the board of directors for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell and owner of the Pai Lin Market and Pai Lin City restaurant in the city's Lower Highlands.
So after watching a documentary last year on the poor conditions present in contemporary Cambodia, Lach decided to do something about it.
"My parents had discussed a lot with me about their past, about the things that happened," during the communist Khmer Rouge's genocidal reign in Cambodia from 1975-79, she said.
Lach and about 30 friends from school decided to hold a one-day car wash outside her family's business last August, which netted $1,000.
Her father also donated about $600 of his own, which was used by Cambodian government officials to purchase a water pump for a small village in Kampong Speu province that was installed in February.
"It just came to mind that that was the best thing to do, just because summer's coming and it's something the teens who helped out could see with their own eyes what they did," said Lach, who added that village was chosen by Cambodian government officials.
There is now a plaque located nearby noting the pump was "donated by Malissa Lach and friends of Massachusetts and the Academy of Notre Dame."
Malissa Lach's generosity also prompted a stop at her father's restaurant in November by Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Lu Lay Sreng and Ambassador to the United States Sereywath Ek.
"They just thought it was really neat that there were Cambodians in America who wanted to reach out," she said. "Most of the kids (second-generation Cambodian-Americans) probably don't know what's going on in Cambodia right now and the situation they'd be in if they were still in Cambodia."
Lach plans to attend Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill in the fall, where she intends to study business management.
She also hopes to continue raising money for charitable causes in the Cambodian-American community.
Michael Lafleur's e-mail address is mlafleur@lowellsun.com.
But the 17-year-old Lowell resident and senior at the Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro wanted to expand her horizons to include her parents' homeland of Cambodia.
Lach, the youngest of four children, said she had always been encouraged to make charitable donations by her father, local entrepreneur Bunrith Lach, a former member of the board of directors for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell and owner of the Pai Lin Market and Pai Lin City restaurant in the city's Lower Highlands.
So after watching a documentary last year on the poor conditions present in contemporary Cambodia, Lach decided to do something about it.
"My parents had discussed a lot with me about their past, about the things that happened," during the communist Khmer Rouge's genocidal reign in Cambodia from 1975-79, she said.
Lach and about 30 friends from school decided to hold a one-day car wash outside her family's business last August, which netted $1,000.
Her father also donated about $600 of his own, which was used by Cambodian government officials to purchase a water pump for a small village in Kampong Speu province that was installed in February.
"It just came to mind that that was the best thing to do, just because summer's coming and it's something the teens who helped out could see with their own eyes what they did," said Lach, who added that village was chosen by Cambodian government officials.
There is now a plaque located nearby noting the pump was "donated by Malissa Lach and friends of Massachusetts and the Academy of Notre Dame."
Malissa Lach's generosity also prompted a stop at her father's restaurant in November by Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Lu Lay Sreng and Ambassador to the United States Sereywath Ek.
"They just thought it was really neat that there were Cambodians in America who wanted to reach out," she said. "Most of the kids (second-generation Cambodian-Americans) probably don't know what's going on in Cambodia right now and the situation they'd be in if they were still in Cambodia."
Lach plans to attend Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill in the fall, where she intends to study business management.
She also hopes to continue raising money for charitable causes in the Cambodian-American community.
Michael Lafleur's e-mail address is mlafleur@lowellsun.com.
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