August News - New Video on Youtube

Good News for the Zhang Family

Lufei Will Live On

So many of you have been concerned for Lufei's family. I have good news. The Chinese government has given the family a sizable settlement much like the earthquake victims are getting. It cannot replace Lufei, but it does help her family in this time of loss and grief.

More good news - We have launched the Lufei Children's Fund to help other children in Yangshuo. Johnathan Thornsberry, our film student intern for the fall, has made a professional Public Service Announcement to play on TV stations. You can see and download it at this address. Maybe you can even get your group to watch it and respond.

Send it to your friends with a recommendation for action. It shows the place where Lufei was washed away in the sudden flood that caught her as she was playing on a road construction site. We also plan to have a radio public service announcement ready soon. We may even participate with another nonprofit in a information program about Chinese education.


Scholarship Applications are Being Checked

This is the time of year that graduating students find out if they will be accepted into the colleges of their dreams or have to go find work in Chinese cities. Blessing Hands has our 5 person scholarship committee rating the 92 scholarship applications we have received from our students. Over half of them will not be accepted into colleges.

I received a letter today from one of our students who has taken a summer job in a factory near Hong Kong. I wish with her that she could go to college.

Yes,the work in factory is very hard. I have to work about 13 hours a day. I have a little time to rest, and the free time is not enough. I have to work from 8 to 12 in the morning, 13:30 to 17:30 in the afternoon and work from 18:30 to 23:30. The work time is so long ! .... My parents hope that I can go to college, but my family is poor. They don't have ability to support my study. So I just only can wish that I can get the scholarship, and I hope my work can have helpness to me...Huang

We want to give students like her scholarships. That is really up to you, however. All our present funds have to be budgeted for the beginning August school year. (By the way if you have not sent in your money for your sponsored child, please do so now. We will be sending out e-mail reminding you and asking on behalf of your student.) The dollar has dropped 9.4% against the yuan in a year, so our charity dollar does not go as far in China now.

As soon as we get the results of the scholarship committee and know which students have been accepted in college, we will start featuring them in our newsletter and ask for sponsors for them. We can only give scholarships to those students who sponsors pick.

Good News 13 of our girls who got scholarship grants from a foundation last year have excelled and made excellent grades. They are reapplying for their grants for the coming year. Many of our 7 male scholarship students from last year made outstanding grades too. We are proud of them all.

Several of our students will be going to college with the help of their long time sponsors. We always try to match up sponsors with students so that they will grow together over the years. They get to know one another well, and when college needs arise, sponsors are often eager to help their special student. Lilly, one of our third year scholarship girls recently got a sponsor, who is helping her with her tuition this year.

Anna Liang, who is one of our first students to go to college, still does not have a sponsor. She is studying management and makes excellent grades. Usually we ask sponsors for $500 scholarships, but Anna has a more expensive tuition. Hers is 4,500 yuan or $655 US. We are hoping that a sponsor will select her or perhaps share her sponsorship with another sponsor. We are featuring her in this newsletter with her scholarship essay from 2006.

I'm Anna. I come from a poor but happy family in Yangshuo County. My father and mother are both farmers, and I have a younger sister and a younger brother. My sister is studying in school, and my brother is a student also.

My parents work hard day after day to bring us up and afford the cost of our studies. As we have only a little field and my mother has never been taught in school, it is impossible for my parents to make enough money for the expenses of the whole family. In some months of the year, we even can't have any income.

Now, I am enrolled in Chongqing Jiao Tong University. The great deal of cost makes the situation worse. I'm so urged to catch the chance to get further teaching that there is no way for me to give up. So I apply for the Blessing Hands scholarship and hope it can help me make my dream come true.

I'm always a hardworking and outgoing girl and have been the monitor of my classes during almost all my past student lifetime. On holidays I work as a receptionist in a hotel and have won praise from my boss. So I believe that I can be an excellent student in the university and even in my future work.

I'm so thankful that I have been one of the Blessing Hands students. I will remember its spirit every minute and hope I can get the chance to help others. That's all my story and determination. I extremely hope that I can be one of your good friends.

Wish you a nice day.

Yours,

Anna Liang

Become Anna's Sponsor for $655. You can use the Google Checkout button to the right of this entry. If you can share in Anna's sponsorship but can't afford the whole amount, write to BlessingHands@gmail.com


You can make a difference in the life of a student.

The $500 that we ask for our students is like $4,000 US in China. What a wonderful gift that keeps on giving. Be a great blessing to a college student. There is a Google Checkout button on the top right of this page. You can give any amount there and all the money with no service charge will go to Blessing Hands.

Sponsor a student for a semester $250

Sponsor a student for a year $500

Call for more information: 606 784 4785

Write blessinghands@gmail.com to find out how to give if you are in another country.


David Shuster, who bought our donated car, and Betty Cutts were at the courthouse recently transferring the title of the car. Remember us when you have a car to donate.

Also remember the yard sale this weekend if you live in Morehead. It is in the parking lot of Adkin's Florists from 8-4 0'clock. Donate an item or come shopping. We can put you to work as a volunteer too.