Welcome to our Blessing Hands Blog

Thanks for visiting our website and learning about our charity that helps impoverished children stay in school.

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Annual Report


Blessing Hands
Happy New Year 
A Look Back and Forward
    This newsletter is a summary of what Blessing Hands did last year and our plans for next year. It is a kind of an Annual Report. We want to be accountable for what was given to us to bless others. 
Yangshuo 

logo
High school kids got new T-shirts
   We gave tuitions and school aid to students of all ages in Yangshuo China including giving T-shirts to the older kids. We spent $17,586 on students in Yangshuo last school year.  
   This coming July, we hope to have a Friendship Camp in Yangshuo to serve both our Blessing Hands students and other students who want to come from America or China.  We want to include counselors and teachers from both the USA and China. If you want more information about this camp write to this link

Qinzhou 
logo
Qinzhou No. 1 High School Students

We supported tuition for 160 high school students in Qinzhou, China.  $23,496 was our commitment there this past year, and we are planning the same for the present school year. We are looking for sponsors for these students. All of our other students now have sponsors. If you want to be a sponsor of a high school student go to this link. You can see photos to choose from on the same page.  
  
University Scholarships
We gave university and college scholarships worth $23,834 to students in Yangshuo, Qinzhou, and Du'an last year. This school year we have 43 scholarship students. The photo below shows the scholarship students in Nanning, who came for a dinner with Kasey and John Randal Towles in July.  
Scholarship students in Nanning 
  Du'an County
Health Assistant Workshop
Health Assistant Workshop in Longfu Township
    
     We had a health assistant workshop in Longfu Township last summer. Janet Gross, a graduate level nurse, taught health assistants and village doctors using the book Where There is no Doctor.  $10,473 went to various Du'an programs including water purifiers, the health assistant workshop, medical supplies to Longfu Hospital, and matching funds for a medical van for the hospital. 
    We have been asked to return next July and teach a special one day HIV training. We also will be installing at least two more water purifiers in Longfu primary schools. If you would like to give a water purifier go to this link. You can read more about the purifiers there and give any amount you wish.
Library books, Wei Senbao medical fund, An Long tuition program, and college internship program.

An Long High School Students
An Long high school tuition students
Wei Senbao and Leanna Gilliam
Wei Senbao and Leanna Gilliam,
 our summer intern
  
 Last year we started a new program in An Long in Guizhou Province among the Buyi minority.
 We plan to expand in that area in the future by promoting for primary school library books and musical instruments. If you want to give library books, go to this link. There are more pictures of the schools on that page also.
   
   Wei Senbao is still too young to have his operation, but we are still getting funds ready for him.  $3,155 was put into his fund this year.  
 Leanna Gilliam had a wonderful time last summer as a summer intern. We are selecting another intern in January to go in July of 2012. If you would like to apply, send e-mail to this link. Blessing Hands gives interns $500 per trip, but they have to pay the rest of their expenses. 

Yearly Summary     
Where does the money go?  
logo



Sometimes people want to know how much of the money we receive goes to students and programs to benefit others. I am always interested myself to see the percentages. We have finished our 990 EZ form that the government requires for last year and have the figures now.

We did not do any fundraising last year, so there is not a percentage for that. Let me say that sponsor donations are always given to the sponsored students. I am a volunteer, but we have a full time staff member and two part time staff members in China. Our accounting year begins with the school year, so these figures are for the last full school year. 

You can see from the pie chart that 93.72% of our funds go to program services and only 6.27% goes for management and other expenses.  We are determined to spend as much as possible on blessing others.

Thanks for all you do to help Blessing Hands bless others

Betty Cutts, Director of Blessing Hands  

To contact us or send gifts:

Blessing Hands
106 Timber Lane
Morehead, KY 40351
USA