Nikki Tran hasn’t seen her homeland of Vietnam since she was an 8-year-old child. When she returns next month, she’ll be taking a gift for needy children who remain.

Tran, now a 21-year-old nail technician at Nail Citi in Lawrence, has raised more than $1,000 in tips this week to give to a Vietnamese orphanage. She’s done so with the help of her mother, Tracy Lee, Nail Citi’s owner.

Nikki Tran, a 21-year-old nail technician, works with a client at Nail Citi, 2540 Iowa. Tran raised more than ,000 in tips this week that she will donate to an orphanage in Vietnam when she visits there July 9.

“This will be my first time back to where I was born,” Tran said Thursday. “I just wanted to do something for someone over there.”

Tran will go to Vietnam July 9 with her mother and sister, Yen Tran. She came up with the idea to raise money from tips earlier this week after hearing her mother and friends talk about poverty in that country.

“I know my country is really poor,” Lee said. “This is the first time my kids have been back over there. I want them to know how lucky they are.”

Lee’s husband, Lan Tran, fought for South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. In 1989, the family came to the United States, settling in California then following Nikki Tran to Lawrence two years ago when she decided to attend pharmacy school at Kansas University.

The family will visit Vietnam because Lee’s mother still lives there, in the village of Ghuoc Long.

Nikki Tran, now an American citizen and still a pharmacy student, decided this week to use her tips as a donation to an orphanage in Dong Nai province. Customers who have found out about her decision have been generous, she said normally she makes $15 to $25 in tips a day.

“I usually tip well, but I about tripled it,” said Cindy Hurst, who had her nails done by Nikki Tran this week. “I think it’s a neat thing.”

Nikki Tran said she was grateful for the customer response. And she’s looking forward to her trip.

“You’ve got to return to your roots,” she said.

She can be reached at Nail Citi, 2540 Iowa, or by phone at 331-0011.