At the end of each nursing home performance, Trang Pham hands out chocolate.
Trang moves through the room, offering candy, asking residents about their favorite music and listening to the stories they carry with them. The small gesture keeps the moment from ending too quickly, the 16-year-old Fort Worth musician, artist and author said.
“It’s not about the chocolate itself,” Trang said. “It just gives me a reason to talk to the residents after the performance.”
Those conversations are at the center of Kind-Acts, the service organization Trang started after the pandemic. Through the group, she performs at nursing homes, shares her children’s books with students and uses art, music and writing to bring people together.
The work earned Trang a nomination for 52 Faces of Community, the Fort Worth Report’s weekly series highlighting unsung local heroes.
“What you see in her is her heart and her brain. She’s wanting to contribute and give to her community.”
David Orona, nominator
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The work started with Trang’s grandmother.
After the pandemic, Trang began singing traditional Vietnamese songs to her. She watched her grandmother soften as the familiar melodies filled the room. It was the first time she remembers seeing her grandmother teary-eyed.
“I saw how much joy that it brought her and how many memories stirred from it,” Trang said.
That moment stayed with her. If music could comfort her grandmother, she wondered if it could do the same for nursing home residents who had spent parts of the pandemic isolated from visitors.
One moment this past February showed her that it could.
Trang was performing early on a Saturday morning. Because the facility was short-staffed, many residents were still in their rooms while she sang at the piano. The last song on her program was “Over the Rainbow,” the ballad written for the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”
When she finished, there was no applause. Later, a receptionist told Trang that one elderly man had instead started crying. The song was the lullaby he used to sing to his daughter.
Music is only part of her work.
Trang Pham poses with copies of her children’s books. The 16-year-old Fort Worth author, artist and musician has used her books to encourage younger students to see themselves as writers, too. (Courtesy | Trang Pham)
Trang, a homeschooled student and lifelong Fort Worth resident, has written four books. One of the most personal is “All the Little Things,” a poem she wrote for her mother and illustrated herself.
The book reflects her relationship with her mom, along with her Vietnamese heritage. Trang said she grew up reading children’s books but did not often see Asian or Vietnamese culture reflected in them.
“I wanted to make this more unique and to appeal to people like me,” Trang said. “And it has strong family values inside the book that I wanted to share as well.”
An illustration from one of Trang Pham’s children’s books, “All the Little Things,” shows a mother and daughter together. Trang said she wanted her books to reflect her Vietnamese heritage and family values. (Courtesy | Trang Pham)
That message has reached younger students.
David Orona, an art teacher at Fort Worth ISD’s Manuel Jara Elementary, has used her books in class. Students were inspired not only by the stories, but by the fact that the author was close to their age.
Some began writing about their own mothers, grandmothers and families. Others started to see themselves differently, he said.
“Most people don’t realize that you can actually light that fire in elementary school, and it stays with them,” Orona said.
Trang has also visited school community events, including the Local Women of Courage Celebration, where she offered face painting and talked with children and families. Those conversations can shift how students talk about their own futures, Orona said.
A young writer can see that publishing a book does not have to wait until adulthood.
“What you see in her is her heart and her brain,” Orona said. “She’s wanting to contribute and give to her community.”
Trang said she saw that impact when she donated one of her books to Orona’s students. She noticed the children were surprised to learn the author was a teenager.
“They began saying things like, ‘Maybe I can write a book too,’” Trang said.
Her family taught her that talent is something to share, she said.
“If you have a talent and you’re able to use it, you should give back to the community,” Trang said.
Young people do not need to wait until they are 25 or 30 to do something meaningful, she said. Anything is possible, Trang said, if you have the initiative to take the first step.
In her words: “It’s like the Nike slogan, ‘Just Do It.’”
Years from now, Trang hopes she can look back and know she made people feel cared for.
The performances, the books, the art — and even the chocolate — all point toward the same goal.
“I really want them to remember me as someone who brought them joy,” Trang said.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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