Foundation mends Vietnamese hearts that may have been stricken by wartime use of Agent Orange

Foundation mends Vietnamese hearts that may have been stricken by wartime use of Agent Orange

As she so often does, Marichia Simcik Arese will host one of her unusual crafts boutiques this weekend at her Pacific Palisades home.

And two days after that she will head for Vietnam to encourage the disabled young artists who create chic water bottle carriers, tote bags and eye-catching picture frames to keep producing their stylish goods from discarded plastic bottles, old bicycle tires and recycled aluminum cans.

Since 1998, Arese's do-it-yourself Spiral Foundation has raised more than $1.6 million selling the handmade items to finance heart operations for Vietnamese suffering from congenital heart diseases and other genetic conditions believed to be tied to the spraying of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.