** "Chinese character Image" version was attached if you cannot read in English version.
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Hello All,
Often times, we were sadden by the stories and news of people who ended their lives and wondered why they did not seek for help. Maybe if we could be a little more thoughtful and understanding of the people around us and to care about our friends and neighbors…
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your generosity and compassion. We sold 127 boxes of Asian pears with the help from more than 100 families. Most people told me that the pears are a little wrinkly, but they taste really good. The truth is that the pears were supposed to become the fertilizer for this year's new pears. With everyone's help, we were able to turn trash into gold and help many people in the process.
I would like to share a store about this and hope you’ll find that is heart-warming.
The story started with a very kind art teacher (let’s call her Ms. Goodheart) who knows a very hard-working girl. This girl and her family came from China and they actually now live and work in the orchard for years. The girl has been taking classes at the near-by college after she had some money saved up. She wants to earn a college degree so she can have a better life for her family and herself. Despite with all the saving and hard working, she still needs $500 to go back to school this year. Ms. Goodheart knew about this and wants to help her to return to school. So, Ms. Goodheart bought a lot of pears from the girl and gave them to friends and neighbors, and she helps the girl to sell.
At the same time, a Northern Virginia family lost their house last summer. The mother, who earned the major portion of the household income, lost her job at the beginning of this year. The company she worked for filed bankruptcy and closed the door without any warning. The family not only faced immediate financial difficulties, they also lost the medical insurance. The mother has a chronic disorder that needs long term medical care.
With all the unfortunate events happening one after the other, you can imagine the stress she is under. She applied for low-income financial, medical and housing aid from the county. All the paper work and interviewing with the social worker was nerve wrecking. The biggest fear is that she had no idea how she can take care of her children. With all the stress, her health condition has worsened. After months of struggle, she was frustrated and felt helpless. I have learned that she was in a very difficult situation for a while, but I was still very shocked when she told me she wanted to just give up completely. After talking to her for sometimes, she finally opened up and tried to seek additional help. She decided to try again, if not for herself but at least for her two young children and they deserved a chance to live.
With your helps, the hard-working girl, the struggling mother and the soon-to-be-fertilizer Asian pear created a touching story. Here is the outcome of everyone's hard work:
We sold a total of 127 boxes of pears. The girl was supposed to receive $8 for each box sold, which came to $1016 for her share of work. She is a very honest and sensible person. She said she only needed to earn $500, so she only accepted $635 and donated $381 to charity to help others who are in need. Wow! What an admirable thing to do for a 20-year old girl.
The Northern Virginia family was supposed to get $812 (the number is not exactly matched with the number of boxes sold, since many people paid more than $12 for a box of pear). The hard-working girl and the struggling mother met during the delivery of the Asian pears. The mother is very impressed and encouraged by the young girl, who is so positive and enthusiastic. She pulled out $300 from the money I passed onto her and told me "Please thank everyone for me for their helps. I will work hard to get through this. Please use this money to help other people who need it more than me."
Something else good happened - the mother told me that the social worker already delivered the food stamps to her house. Her children can receive free medical care and school lunches. Before she is able to move to the government-sponsored housing for low-income families, her landlord is willing to lower the rent. The worse for her is over. She was able to meet new people and make new friends through selling the pears. Not only she was able to sell some pears, people are helping her to edit her resume and finding a new job. She is grateful for everyone's help and glad that she didn't just "give up" and gave herself a second chance.
This is a happy ending in my book. We were able to help two families and it is wonderful to see them become independent and confident with their lives' outlook.
We now have $681 ($381 from the girl and $300 from the mother) to help others. Since the government is cutting budgets and families and individual cutting back on spending (and thus donations), the Booth house (family Emergency shelter) of Baltimore have some immediate needs for the following items:
baby items (bottles, cups, tissues, wipes, diapers, powder and so on);baby rash cream;tooth paste;tooth brushes;bath soaps;lotion, shampoo;white linens (wash clothes, towels, fitted sheets, twin size flat sheets, pillow cases). The linens need can be used or now, but they need to be white so they can be bleached.
We will put aside $400 until this summer, just in case the Northern Virginia family would need it. If they don't need it, we will use the money for the Back-To-School program. We will use the rest of the money to purchase the items listed above to help the families in the Booth house.
The donation receipts will be issued to Dr. Cheo M Jean by the Evergreen Home Care. Dr. Jean passed away on last Wednesday, 4/15, and was a volunteer doctor for free clinic for needy in the DC Area. He helped a lot of needy when he was alive. To pay our respect for what he’s done, I think this is the best way to say “good-bye” to the beloved Dr. Jean. By the way, if anyone is thinking about buying flowers for Dr. Cheo M Jean , Mrs. Jean asked that the money to be donated to either Doctors Without Borders, Medecins Sans Frontiers – MSF, http://www.msf.org/ or local shelter.
I hope you all enjoy the pears. If the pears don't look as pretty as the ones from the Korean stores, I hope you would not mind after reading the story. Thank you for your understanding and continuous support. With everyone's help, maybe we can prevent some tragedies from happening.
Thanks again
--ada :)
** English version provided by Carol Quach and Mei-ling Flanders
How we use $281?
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