Eye Glass Dedication Ceremony in Yangshuo

While I was in Yangshuo China for an eye glass clinic many teachers also received glasses.These tachers in Yangshuo County received new eye glasses through the sponsorship of Morehead Sister Cities, Blessing Hands, Founding Family Charitable Foundation, and the Yangshuo's People's Hospital. Mayor Brad Collins of Morehead (in the beard on the back row) traveled with us to Yangshuo to present the glasses and arrange for other joint Sister Cities projects with Yangshuo in the future. Perhaps there will be other medical exchanges in the future. 

Yangshuo Middle School

The Blessing Hands/Sister Cities Delegation that went to Yangshuo August 1-14th got a lot done. We did a three day eyeglass clinic for the Blessing Hands children, visited schools, visited with government leaders, and toured Yangshuo.

Yangshuo Middle School was one of the most outstanding schools I have seen in Yangshuo County. Blessing Hands is presently giving tuition for the 23 students show here. Their campus is spacious, well maintained, and large.

I was delighted to share this trip with my daughter-in-law Cindy Cutts and her mother Jan Weeks. Jan is a third grade teacher and could understand the Yangshuo schools and teacher's needs and problems. Cindy was touched by the children that she met and wants to correspond with some of them. Cindy is pictured here on my right while Jan is on my left.

Thank You Gifts from the Students in Yangshuo

On this trip to Yangshuo I got to personally see a lot of the students at our eye clinic. They were eager to see us also and brought thank you cards and gifts. The gifts were creative, inexpensive, and home made.


One of the girls from the Teacher Training Middle School, Lu Xiu Yun, sewed a little colorful purse and put paper cranes inside with a personal note wishing luck and everything to go well. She is wearing the red shirt in the picture shown here.

Qin Min put folded cranes inside a glass jar with a little note. I was touched by the handmade cards they brought personally. The girl pictured here with me stayed up all night to make paper cranes to glue into the word "Thanks". Qin Ling Zhu, who had the operation in February, made a little basket from a plastic water bottle and filled it with folded paper shapes.

Lynn Chen Jianhua

While I was in Yangshuo recently, I got to see Lynn, our scholarship student from Guangxi Normal University. She needed new glasses, so I invited her to the eyeglass clinic we were having at the Yangshuo Hospital this August. We all had a great dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken after the clinic was over for the day.

She comes from a large rural family and sets an example for her village concerning hard work and preserverance.

Starfish

When I was in Xi'an Nina Ottinger and I got to visit the fostor home of Amanda de Lange. Amanda is from South Africa and speaks Chinese.

She has been entrusted with 13 special needs babies and is doing a wonderful job. She gets them needed corrective surgeries and sees them through to adoption. She calls the ministry Starfish after the story of a man picking up starfish stranded on the beach and throwing them back into the ocean. Someone asked him why he bothered, and he said that at least those starfish would have life.

She has her own blog at http://www.chinesestarfish.blogspot.com. Several Chinese nannie help her along with volunteers from many countries. What a difference a life of compassion can make. I really think compassion is a gift and gives ability beyond our own to reach out to others.

The Blessing Hands Board recently voted to support this worthy ministry to handicapped children with a small grant each semester. You can also give money directly on her website.

Eyeglass Clinic

Blessing Hands was a partner with Sister Cities of Morehead in a eyeglass clinic serving Blessing Hands children and teachers from Yangshuo.




It was wonderful to see some of the students in person after having seen their pictures and read their thank you letters.

Carolyn Franzini and Tami Kaskulski were trained to use a refractor to exam the children. It made the exams go much faster.

The children came with their teachers on the local buses and stayed for a simple noodle or rice lunch. 350 teachers had their eyeglass clinic earlier in July.

Blessing Hands cooperated with the Yangshuo Hospital and Kendall Optometry Ministry, Inc. to conduct this clinic. The hospital contributed $4.50 for the price of each pair of glasses while Blessing Hands gave $7.50 per pair. With the hospital joining together with us, the teachers and students got better quality of glasses. Kendall Optometry Ministry supplied equipment and training to our clinic team.

Nina Ottinger Gave Physicals

Nina Ottinger from the Founding Family Charitable Foundation was able to use her nursing ability to give the Blessing Hands children physicals after their eye exam. The students were also invited to select a small gift like a beanie baby or baseball hat. Nina was a great addition to the group of eight people who went to Yangshuo as a Sister Cities Delegation.

Chinese Eye Doctor

The Chinese eye doctor at Yangshuo Hospital

Qin Ling Zhu Report

Unfortunately Qin Ling Zhu's tumor has grown back worse in six months since her operation. Sadly Dr. He, her doctor, sent word that her case could not treated in China and was beyond his skill.

Through a series of coincidences, while I was in China I was able to get her medical records to the Chinese Agape Foundation, a medical ministry that helps Chinese children receive medical care from American doctors who come to China. They also send children to America to get treatment. They are evaluating her case now to see if she can be helped in America.

Delta Airline allows donations of skymiles to help with the transportation of such children. If you want to donate spare skymiles, you can get more information at: http://www.china-mission.org.

Gaotian Anding Primary School

While we were in Yangshuo, we visited Gaotian Anding Primary School. It is a rural school with many needs and dedicated teachers. Blessing Hands has 6 students receiving textbook and school supplies there. The children had drawn us pictures to greet us.

School Needs

We were all touched by their stories and the needs of the school. They had constructed a new bathroom building, but they lacked enough money to finish the necessary water tower to flush the waste.

Nina Ottinger offered the assistance of Founding Family Charitable Foundation to finish that project and make other needed repairs to floors, electrical fixtures, and the classrooms. The new stalls in the bathroom are pictured.

Mr. Liu's Room

Later we saw the Anding children at the eye clinic with their teacher Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu lives at the school during the week and goes home on weekends. He let me take a picture of him in his room at the school. Many teachers live at their schools. Mr. Liu was recently named one of the outstanding teachers of Yangshuo County.

Eighteen teachers serve as volunteers for Blessing Hands among 39 schools. They maintain contact with the Blessing Hands children in their area and keep track of their status, grades, families, and needs.

Blessing Hands Administrators

Malan Cai (left) was with us in Yangshuo as a translator and co-administrator. Anna Liu (center), administrator in Qinzhou, also came to Yangshuo with her family. I was glad for my two good friends to meet for the first time. They are both dedicated to children as teachers and have my heart for the children.

Gloria Wei (right) is the excellent Blessing Hands administrator in Yangshuo. She managed the plans for the eyeglass clinic making everything run beautifully. She and her family gave us a lovely supper this time.

Three Scholarships Awarded

Anna top and Jenny bottom

We also got the pleasure of interviewing students for college scholarships while we were in Yangshuo. We were able to give three $500 freshmen scholarships to three girls, Liu Raodong (Lilly), Zhang Ji Yun (Jenny), and Liang Fudi (Anna).

All three girls did well on their national exams and have been accepted into various colleges. Jenny wants to be an architect, and Anna is going to a transportation college. Lilly will go to the Guangxi Ethnic College. Blessing Hands will help them for the first year until they can take the test to qualify for government scholarships. They will continue to receive aid in proportion to their need even after they get a government scholarship until they graduate.

Great News- The IRS letter came.

Good news!  Today I received our official letter from the Internal Revenue Service, granting Blessing Hands 501 (c) (3) status with an advanced ruling date of June 30, 2010.  That means that everyone who has given to Blessing Hands can now retroactively count it as a tax deduction.  It also means that we are officially a public charity with exemption from income taxes.  It came really quick.  I was expecting a 120-day wait.  We must have done everything right with great advice.  My thanks goes to accountant Jonathan Stiles, Cindy and Matt Cutts who let me in on their nonprofit advice, and especially to Founding Family Foundation that believed in Blessing Hands before the government ever did. 
 
I am leaving for Yangshuo China in six days.  I am part of a Sister Cities Tour that is conducting an eyeglass clinic with Blessing Hands' support.  We are paying for part of the cost for eyeglasses for the Blessing Hands students and many teachers in Yangshuo.  I will get to meet each student personally when they come for their eye exam.  Nina Ottinger from Founding Family Foundation is going with us and will conduct physicals for each child.  She is a pediatric nurse among other things.  Mostly she likes to be Mom to her adopted Chinese daughter Sarah Helena. Cindy Cutts, my daughter-in-law, and her mother Janice Weeks are also going.  Janice, a third grade teacher, is going to take pictures of all the children to encourage sponsors to select children and pen pals to be matched. 
 
Anna Liu, the Blessing Hands administrator from Qinzhou, will bring her family and join us in Yangshuo for the eye clinic. Her parents direct a medical clinic that was flooded from a typhoon just last week.  Yangshuo also had two towns flooded, but no lives were lost.  Malan Cai, the administrator in Yangshuo, will be our translator and stay with us the whole trip.  Tami Jaskulski from Lexington, KY is also going to be helping with the eye clinic.  I expect to meet with the Chinese doctor who plans another operation on Qu Ling Zhu to correct the facial deformity cause by the removed tumor. I also hope to see many of my former ESL students who have returned to China. 
 
Another piece of good news is the free offer of Patti Cormican, a social worker with Lutheran Charities, to investigate writing some grants for Blessing Hands.  We hope to get money for more medical help for the children, computers for the schools, and perhaps basketball courts or playground equipment for a few schools. Now that we have our 501(c)(3) status that will be easier. There are so many needs in rural China.  I would like to see some water purification projects for the remote schools be funded.  Even Qinzhou No 1 Middle School, which is in a large city, has to boil their drinking water. The upper classmen get the boiled water first and some of the lower grade students go thirsty.
 
My final good news is that money has been coming in for the fall semester.  Two vacation Bible schools have given their mission offerings to Blessing Hands this summer. With the matching funds that Founding Family Foundation has pledged Blessing Hands will receive at least $1,200 from the American Bible School children.  I now have a power point presentation that I can easily send out to people willing to help us with fund raising, and we have engaged a webpage designer, John Fisher of Seek Ye First Computing.  If you haven't sent your donation for the fall semester, now is the time.   
 

Application for Nonprofit Completed

Blessing Hands, Inc. Newsletter - June 30, 2006

I am so glad to announce that Blessing Hands’ application to become a nonprofit charity has been sent to the US Government. It was a complicated, hard application that required the help of professionals, but it was mailed Tuesday just in time to avoid the raise in fees that was coming in July. The application process made us get all of our records in order and project a budget for two years in advance. I feel really good about the direction that we have taken and know that it will help the children.

Becoming officially a nonprofit charity allows donors to be able to deduct their donations from their income tax and that even applies to donations in 2005 when we were only a fund. When the application is approved, we will let the original donors know that they can now deduct those first donations. Being nonprofit will also allow us to apply for more grants and give us status in the eyes of possible donors, governments, and partners.

We now have a board of directors for Blessing Hands, bylaws, and a financial structure that we can build on. Our first board meeting was June 18th. We passed lots of resolutions that first meeting and set the foundation for Blessing Hands for the future. I was chosen as president of the board, Phyllis Nickel is vice president, Steve Chen, a teacher at Morehead State University, is secretary, and David Cutts is treasurer. Jeff Fannin is also on the board but not an officer for now. This charity will not die with me or be founder dependent. With an involved board the children will continue to receive help even after I am no longer personally guiding it.

The next big project for Blessing Hands is an eyeglass clinic in Yangshuo in August in cooperation with Sister Cities of Morehead. We are furnishing funds for 400 teachers to have new eyeglasses at $7.50 a pair. Most of the Blessing Hands Children in Yangshuo will also have a chance to be examined for glasses and receive them free if they are needed. This is our way of rewarding the teachers for the volunteer work they do with our Blessing Hands children. The teachers confirm the status of the children and make home visits to check on their progress and income. Many of these teachers don’t make enough money to buy themselves glasses, since the income of rural teachers can be as low at $20 a month. When I was teaching last summer I noticed that some of my teacher/students could not read the blackboard. The teacher’s medical support from the government does not cover glasses.

While we are in Yangshuo with the eyeglass clinic, Nina Ottinger from Founding Family Foundation will give all the children physicals. She is a nurse practitioner. She is bringing little gifts that the children can chose from after their physicals. We will get to meet children whose schools are too distant for us to usually visit. Children from different outlying towns will come with their teachers to the three-day eye clinic. We will pay for bus fare and a simple noodle or rice lunch for the children. While they are in China, the Blessing Hands group will also be interviewing students applying for a college scholarship that will be awarded to a graduating senior in Yangshuo.

Another exciting thing is the beginning of another tuition program for higher middle school students in Qinzhou, Guangxi, China. Anna Liu is the administrator of this tuition only program. It will fund one student in each of the 120 outlying rural schools and 60 low-income children at Qinzhou No. 1 Middle School. The government does not pay for the tuition of higher middle school students, and many are forced to drop out. While Anna was a visiting scholar at Morehead State University, she was able to fully participate in the proposal for this new program before she returned home. She is an outstanding educator respected in her county. We are blessed to have her administrative experience and skill working for the children.

I want to ask for some pressing needs. I would like to take a laptop computer to Malan Cai, Blessing Hands’ representative in China, to assist us in communicating by voice over the Internet. If anyone has a used laptop in good condition, we would really like to have it. I would also like to have some digital cameras to give to those who photograph the students and send in reports by e-mail. If you have a camera to donate please let me know. It doesn’t have to be new- just in good working order.

Of course we can always use money, especially since the fall semester is coming up. If you donated for the spring semester, it is now time to donate for the fall semester. With the matching funds that Founding Family is now offering, your donation will be doubled this time. Imagine a donation of $50 becoming $100. Their matching funds offer extends until December 31, 2006. Send your donation to Founding Family Foundation, 1004 Rodney Dr. Nashville, Tennesee, 37205-1008. Be sure and and put Founding Family Foundation on the check instead of Blessing hands, but attach a note saying it is for Blessing Hands.

There is now a paypal button on our blog where you can donate online.

Blessing Hands also needs expertise with making a webpage and brochure. If you are gifted in any of these areas and want to donate your time and experience we would be overjoyed.

Blessings, Betty Cutts

I recently received this thank you note from a Blessing Hands child. It really encouraged me to keep up the good work. I edited her English a little, but not her content.

June 10, 2006

Dear Betty

Thank you every much for giving me a hand when I was in trouble. My name is Zheng Xiao Mei, and Shirley is my English name. I come from a very poor family. Most of people are peasants In my family. I have a grandmother who is sixty years old and a brother who is studying at the high school. He will graduate from high school and go to the university this year. My mother`s leg was hurt, and she can't walk well. My father who is in bad health can`t do hard work. Now I`m studying at Yangshuo Experimental Middle school of Foreign Studies. I'm in class 8 senior 1 of 1. I like studying very much, and at school my favorite subject is English. To study in the university is my dream, but my family can`t afford my studying at school. So I would have to give up my studies and make money next term.

Having known something about me, you tried your best to help me. With your help, I can go back to school again and continue studying. In my opinion you are a very kind and warm-hearted person, just like my parent. I am very thankful to you, and made up my mind to study hard, so that I can get better results to studies to thanks for your help.
Thanks again, and I wish you all the best.

Yours respectfully,

Zheng Xiao Mei.

Blessing Hands Quarterly Report

I got to meet many new Yangshuo Blessing Hands children during my trip to China in March and see old ones again. I was there during the last part of March with a Sister Cities Group and of course visited the schools.

The children had letters and drawings to give and the older ones had self-introduction speeches to recite. I was delighted to give them Beanie Babies, candy, and other small gifts. The school principals and teachers also got small gifts like tapes and CDs. Some of the older students were able to speak and write English. At some schools we had time to have them write introductions about themselves to share with pen pals or sponsors, but at other schools we barely had time to give them English names, if they wanted one., and take pictures.

Some of the primary children we helped in the fall don't need support now, since the government is paying their tuition. We have kept 50 of our original 185 supported primary students. The support for these younger students is now $10 a semester rather than $25 as before, since they will only need help with books and school supplies not tuition. This semester we will be supporting 40 junior middle school students, which is an increase from last semester. Their $25 support will include room and board, books, and school supplies but not tuition since the government is now paying that. You can see pictures of children from Zhonghe Middle School on my blog.

Thanks to the Founding Family Grant we will be able to add 55 higher middle school children to Blessing Hands in Yangshuo this semester. We had a few before, who had special circumstances like the death of a parent, but now we will be supporting many. Being over 15 they don't receive government school tuition and are tempted to drop out of school rather than go on to high school. We can really make a difference by offering tuition and room and board to those who need our help. In mostly rural Yangshuo this will only cost $63 a semester.

Beginning with the fall semester any Yangshuo County Blessing Hands student who graduates in the spring of 2006 and is accepted into a Chinese college may apply to Blessing Hands before August 1st for a partial college scholarship during the 2006-07 school year. Scholarships will be awarded based on need, test scores, college tuition expenses, number of students applying, and availability of scholarship money for that purpose in the Blessing Hands treasury. I am hoping that you sponsors will want to support these individual scholarships. We already have awarded two $250 spring semester college scholarships at Guangxi Normal University to rural students studying to be teachers. That covers half of their tuition.

Blessing Hands branched out this semester to assist a primary school in Wuming, a Zhuang minority area near Nanning. Mr. Lu, who was a visiting scholar in Morehead, comes from the Zhuang people. He took us to his home town and Nine Mile School where 28 children needed help paying for their school books. We gave the school $175 to pay off a textbook bill. The principal there is an old classmate of Mr. Lu, and the children were delightful. We also attended a Zhuang Song Festival in Wuming.

Beginning with the fall semester Blessing Hands will be using grant money from Founding Families and your matching contributions to support higher middle school children in the Qinzhou, Guangxi area of China. Anna Liu, who is a visiting scholar at MSU, has helped to secure this grant and will administer the program in her area. 60 rural higher middle schools will receive tuition help for students while 30% of the proposal will cover children in No.1 Middle School, which serves many rural children from the area. The higher middle school tuitions in Qinzhou are $75 a semester, since it is a more prosperous area. The proposal calls for tuition help for about 280 students.

Founding Family is sending me to a course on how to start a non-profit charity. Blessing Hands has grown so much that it is now necessary to be incorporated and become an official charity. Donors will then be able to get tax receipts from Blessing Hands, but for now any donations should be given to Founding Family Foundation,1004 Rodney Dr, Nashville, TN 37205-1018. They have promised to match any donations (except donations from my relatives) to Blessing Hands up to $25,000 before December 31, 2006. The checks need to be written to Founding Family Foundation. You can see their web page at http://foundingfamily.org.

Recent Trip to Yangshuo County, China

In late March several people from Morehead went to Yangshuo to dedicate 93 Sister Cities Wheelchairs that Morehead gave to Yangshuo's handicapped citizens. While I was there as a Sister Cities tour member, I was able to visit several schools and meet our Blessing Hands children and their teachers and principals. I gave flags to each school and other small gifts such a Christmas CDs and candy. The Education Department opened their resouces to us to make our visit a success. Seeing the children in person was so much better than seeing their pictures. I could match their faces with thank you letters and even got to bless some of them with English names. Seeing their schools and homes also helped me understand their lives. We were given a royal welcome everywhere.

Qu Ling Zhu

Sister Thelma Oney, my minister, went with us on the trip to observe the Blessing Hands work. Here she is pictured with Qu Ling Zhu and her grandmother. Ling's tumor has been removed, but fluid has filled the void leaving her looking about the same as before the operation. She will have a second plastic surgery operation six months after the first one to correct her facial features and make her look normal again.

She wrote us a very good thank you letter, saying that she could talk much better now. Her grandmother gave us oranges and locally made sweets. She and Ling came to our hotel later bringing more harvest gifts to say thank you. Ling had just been to the doctor for a check up and was excited to meet us personally and entertain us in her small home near the Xingping school.

Loving Hearts Forever

The principal of Xingping Primary School made this lovely poster for us. It can be translated roughly as "the loving hearts of the world's people go hand in hand forever." We have it posted on the wall at church now. I had to iron it after it had a rough trip in my suitcase.

Xingping Primary School

We were delighted to find Qu Ling Zhu back in her regular school class. She is wearing a red hat to hide her shaved head. These children gave me drawings, and we gave them Beanie Babies and candy. Sister Cities also gave this school a computer that we got to present. I am also chairman of the Yangshuo Committee of Morehead Sister Cities, and we often work together to bless the children in Yangshuo.

Sally

Sally was reciting her self introduction when she started to cry. She was telling me the problems in her family that made it necessary for her to have Blessing Hands' support and how much she needed the tuition support. Her struggle to stay in school must have been very hard. She was doing very well with her English up till then. I couldn't help but cry with her.

Children Need More Than Tuition

I couldn't resist holding Sally in my arms when she burst out crying. She was so grateful for our help, and pressure can be very strong in China's competive testing system. She needs more than the money that helps her know that she can succeed. Being able to be there to hug her was a very special moment. I hope to find her a pen pal who she can share her hopes, sorrows, and dreams with. Amy, her teacher, was given stamps, so the children can afford to write letters to America.

Yangshuo Experimental Middle School of Foreign Studies

These are the Blessing Hands students at Yangshuo Experimental Middle School of Foreign Studies. This middle school has over 3,000 students and employs native born English speakers. Anyone wanting to teach in Yangshuo for 6 months or a year would be welcomed at this school. The school has recently added new air conditioned apartments for foreign English teachers.

These students study hard to pass college entrance exams and seek to do excellent work. Several of them said that English was their favorite subject. They can write English very well. Without our help it would be difficult for these students to remain in school after age 15 when government tuition stops. Blessing Hands will pay their tuitions in higher middle school, so they can continue to advance toward their college goals.

Jacky

This is Jacky. His mother worked hard to keep him in school after his father died. Now his sponsor will be covering his room and board and other living expenses. His sponsor will get to meet him in August during the eyeglass clinic that Sister Cities of Morehead is conducting in Yangshuo. Blessing Hands children will get free eyeglasses during that clinic, and free glasses will also be given by Blessing Hands to up to 400 teachers who cannot afford to pay for their glasses. A rural school teacher's pay is very low by town standards.

Higher Middle School Children added to Blessing Hands

Eleven students at this upper middle school in Yangshuo are enrolled in Blessing Hands this semester. They are part of the new students added this spring semester. Their school, called the Teacher Training School, has internet access, and the children are excited about getting e-mail pen pals. They each had self introductions and spoke English to us. The $75 a semester tuition for these students includes room and board since they have to leave their village to attend school. This also includes their books and supplies.

Zhonghe Middle School

These are the Blessing Hands children at Zhonghe Middle School. They had a red welcome sign out for us printed in English. Sister Cities had a computer to give the school, and we got to present it to the principal. Two of the teachers who I taught this summer teach at this school. It was nice to see them again.

Lower middle school children like these need $25 in order to afford books, supplies, and room and board each semester even after their tuition is paid by the government.

Yangdi Primary School

Yangdi welcomed us with a red banner saying thanks to Blessing Hands. 11 children there are receiving books and supplies this semester. Primary children need only $10 a semester for books and supplies, since their tuition is now being paid by the government. Six of these children are orphans. We had the pleasure of naming them English names.

Left to right- first row. Tang Yu-ping (Elizabeth), Mo Xiu-juan (Mary), Tang Yu-feng (Hannah), Mo Renjiao (Sarah), Mo Gui-yu (Rachel), Mo Bi-Xing (Martha),Mo Jian-fu(Mark) (Sarah’s brother). Back row left to right children only. Zhou Pin-Zhong, Tang Cun Jian (Nathan), Dong Xian Fang (Phillip), and Tang Ji-ming (Samuel).

Blessing Hands Scholarships

Jeff Fannin and I are standing with the two students who have been selected to receive Blessing Hands scholarships for half of their tuition at Guangxi Normal University. They were so excited to meet the Morehead group and asked many good questions in the class we taught. Amenda (Zu Wen) is on the left. She has written me e-mail asking to write American students. Any one who would like to write her can send e-mail to amendachina@126.com .

Chen Jian Hua is the other student receiving help. She is wearing the pink coat. She often missed lunch to save money and really needed help with her funds to stay in school. Both of these students come from countryside areas where living is very hard.

Zu Wen Receives Scholarship

This is Xu Wen (Amenda is her English name). She is one of the two students who have received a Blessing Hands scholarship for half of her tuition at Guangxi Normal University. She is studying to be a teacher. She doesn't get any support from her parents with her tuition and needs help to stay in school. A committee under Malan Cai's leadership selected the two scholarship recipients.

Xu Wen wrote a lovely thank you letter thanking all the Blessing Hands members for their support.

Nine Mile Primary School (Jiu Li)

The last school we visited was not in Yangshuo County but in the Zhuang Minority area.
We arrived at Nine Mile School while the children were on their midday break from 12:00 to 2:00. The whole school turned out to get a look at us strangers. The kids loved posing for pictures and seeing the results.

This is a very rural school way out in the country of Muming County. We came to tour the school and give aid from Blessing Hands so the school could pay off a debt for school books for 28 children. We added more money to the requested amount to allow the children to buy school supplies. The English teacher and Principal Zeng hosted us on short notice by graciously giving us bottled water.

The Presentation of a Red Envelope Gift

We presented a red envelope with $175 in it for the needs of 28 children in the school. Each child's name was called, and you should have heard them cheer as they ran back into the school enclosure. It was a muddy day so they all had boots on. They were delightful children interested in us strange foreigners. We were probably big news around there for several days since not many Americans had ventured that far to Nine Mile School. Gifts are often given in red envelopes in China especially on formal occasions. We had to make one from paper the principal had, since we forgot to bring our red envelopes with us.

School Gate with Morehead Tour Members

These are the children at Nine Mile Primary School who received money from Blessing Hands to pay for their books and supplies. Only 18 of the 28 children served are shown here, since it was the noon lunch/nap break and many had gone home.

The four Morehead folks who visited the school with me are on the back row. Left to right you will see me, Jeff Fannin, Thelma T. Oney, Danny Fannin, and Megan Frey. They each gave a hundred Yuan ($12.50) on the spot to help the children when they saw how needy the school was and knew that I was a little short of the needed amount. Megan is a student at Morehead State University and really responded to the children's love. She would be a natural teacher. Jeff Fannin has adopted Chinese twin girls from the Wuming area, and he could see what the life of his daughters would have been like if they had not been abandoned in China and adopted into his family. He wants to help the school get a playground. Danny Fannin is Jeff's brother. Thelma T. Oney has a heart for children and wanted to help also.

Zeng Xun Cheng Receives $175 for the Children

The principal and I signed a receipt for the money given for the 28 children who needed money for books and supplies for this semester. Nine Mile Primary School is in a very rural area that serves the Zhuang minority. There are 8 teachers and 81 students there. Principal Zeng Xun Cheng was a classmate of one of my friends, Lu Hanbin, who came to be a visiting scholar at Morehead State University in our town. Lu took us to the school and introduced us to Mr. Zeng. It is truly nine miles from anywhere. We hope to continue to fund the children's books in the fall. The government now pays tuition for all children under 15 in the Western part of China, so tuition support is no longer needed for these children.

Qu Ling Zhu's Progress

Some of you might be wondering about Qu Ling Zhu. She is back in school, and I hope to see her when I visit on March 24th. Her teacher, Andy Liang, reports that her face is still swollen. I have been assured that this is normal considering the surgery and treatment that she is receiving. She has been taken to Guilin for a follow up check up, and she is scheduled for another operation in 6 months that will be cosmetic surgery to help her appearance. Right now she is wearing a hat until her hair grows out.

I am looking forward to visiting with several of the Blessing Hands students while I am in Yangshuo on a Sister City's trip to dedicate the 93 wheelchairs that the people of Morehead are giving to handicapped citizens of Yangshuo. The government officials will take us to visit many of the schools where Blessing Hands Children are studying, and I will get to meet the childen in person. I also hope to get lots of pictures to post on this site. While I am in Yangshuo, I will also be arranging for a eyeglass clinic in August that will benefit all the citizens of Yangshuo, especially the school children.

Qinzhou Grant

Blessing Hands is now expanding into another area of China besides Yangshuo. We will now be giving 100 students tuition help in the area of Qinzhou, Guangxi, China. Qinzhou is a port city near Viet Nam and seven hours by bus from Yangshuo. I taught teachers there for four weeks in a summer English camp in 2004. I became fond of my students there and wanted to help their schools and students with tuition help as well as those in Yangshuo. My good friend Anna Liu was in charge of that English camp and is now a visiting scholar in Morehead, KY where I live. She was able to advise me on setting up this expanded outreach and help me present a grant proposal to FFCF. I am looking forward to working with her for the good of the children in her area for many years to come.

Qinzhou is a small city by Chinese standards being about the size Ashland, Kentucky. It has a teacher's college nearby. Qinzhou No. One Middle School is one of the best middle schools in the city. They have 6,500 students in lower and upper middle school. Their school is like a college campus, since most of the students are boarding students who come from the outlying countryside. The students above the age of 15, who need tuition help, number about four in a classroom of 70. You can see how they fit in all those students in the photo above. The picture shows a physics class at Putao Middle School near Qinzhou.

The student's homeroom teachers will select the students who show promise in areas of responsibility, effort, leadership, and scholarship. Around Qinzhou there are 60 higher middle schools like Putao that also have children who cannot afford tuitions. Yearly tuition in US dollars, not including boarding expenses, runs $150 in the city schools and $140 in the country middle schools. These farmers might make $400 a year from their leased land, so they have to borrow money to support their children in the higher grades. For $75 a semester a child's life can be changed.

Blessing Hands proposes to help 100 children in the Qinzhou area during the 2006-07 school year. $8,500 of the FFCF grant is set aside for the fall semester. The grant will also include some extras like school supplies and maybe book bags. Anna Liu hopes to gather local support to provide the children with used clothes and other needs. If you are interested in contributing to the Qinzhou project, your donation can be matched by FFCF, and you will receive a tax deduction. Send donations to Founding Family Charitable Foundation, 1004 Rodney Drive, Nashville, Tennessee, 37205-1018. You can even donate by Paypal at http://foundingfamily.org/. That would be especially easy for people in other nations to use.

Qinzhou Grant

This is Anna Yunna Liu who is going to be in charge of the Qinzhou grant for Blessing Hands.
She is the head of the English Department at her Higher Middle school. She has many teachers under her care and has presented the Blessing Hands proposal to the Education Department's superintendant over her area of China.

The superintendent is very enthusiastic about working with Blessing Hands for tuition support for the children over 15 who do not receive government tuition. Anna helped to write and present the grant application to FFCT and will have their support to fund 100 children from the Qinzhou area schools. This grant will aid students from the countryside and Qinzhou No. One Middle School where Anna works. Anna is currently a visiting scholar at Morehead State University in my hometown. She will return to Qinzhou in June and take up her duties again at her school, while also administering the Blessing Hands grant.

Unexpected Good News

Unexpected Good News


I have recently found out that China has announced that countryside children under 15 will have free tuition from now on. This is great news. All of our primary Blessing Hands Children will now receive free tuition from the government, but we will still be supplementing their textbooks at $10 a child and providing special help in Yao minority areas where children need food and clothing in order to stay in boarding school.

I am offering money back to any spring semester supporters who were only interested in younger students. Otherwise I will apply the tuition help to older poor high school students in Yangshuo and Qinzhou, China. This new tuition policy of the Chinese government only applies to countryside children.  Big city children will still have to pay tuition as before. Blessing Hands will now turn to the needs of countryside children in Yangshuo and Qinzhou who are over the age for lower middle school and will receive no tuition help from the government under the new policy.  There are five higher Middle schools in Yangshuo and some of those students will still need tuition help.  At 15 many of them are tempted to drop out and go to work to support their families, since they no longer receive any help from the government. The Qinzhou area has many higher middle schools in both the country and the city areas.

Great News

Great News

A grant of $25,000 has be given to Blessing hands for the spring and fall semesters of 2006. Founding Family Charitable Foundation located in Nashville, Tennessee is partnering with us. They are also offering to match any funds sent to their address by Blessing Hands donors. I am quoting their letter below so that I will tell it exactly right.

“Also, beyond the initial $25,000: We will match another set of funds you receive from your donors, who know your work and want to help, up to $12,500. That is, if you can get contributions for up to $12,500,we will match $12,500 for another $25,000, making a grand total of $50,000. This needs to be from other donors, and does not include your personal contributions, or your family members' contributions,to the work. It does not have to be new donors, however; existing donors can be informed of the matching funds, and if they write their checks to Founding Family Foundation, and mail to 1004 Rodney Dr, Nashville, TN 37205-1018, we will match their funds. …. For instance, if you have a donor who writes a check to Founding Family Foundation for $250, we will send them an acknowledgement/ appreciation letter for tax reporting purposes noting their contribution of $250, then we will write a check to Blessing Hands for $500. This applies to any donations received through December 31, 2006. Incidentally, they should probably put a sticky note on their check, or tell us in an attached note, that their contribution is for Blessing Hands. We all have a mutual love for China and its people, and we are excited to be able to work with you and benefit from your knowledge and experience.”

You can read more about the mission statement of Founding Family Charitable Foundation at www.foundingfamily.org. They give grants to people who want to adopt Chinese children and cannot afford the fees. They also want to help children all over the world. Blessing Hands is blessed to be partnered with them.

You can see Sara Rummage (center) and Nina Ottinger listening to the presentation Anna Liu and I prepared for FFCF. Anna had prepared a powerpoint presentation about Chinese schools for an eariler meeting, and it was easy to merge her information with pictures from Yangshuo and Qinzhou. Anna is the head English teacher at Number One Middle School in Qinzhou, China. She administered a summer English camp I taught in in 2004. She and I prepared the Qinzhou proposal together, and her school and the rural middle schools around Qinzhou will receive some of the grant for the poor countryside children there. Blessing Hands is already growing beyond one area of China. Someday we hope to be in Taiwan and Honduras helping children there.

Foundation Presentation

In this picture you can see Nina Ottinger's lovely Chinese daughter. John Rummage had joined the group by the time this picture was taken. He is married to Sara and is their chief fundraiser. He worked for other foundations before starting the Founding Family Charitable Foundation. The foundation has offered to help Blessing Hands with a brochure to explain our mission, and my son, Ross Cutts, has offered to help us with a web page. I also intend to get incorporated in Kentucky in the near future. Incorporation as a charity is also in our plans. 

Proposals presented

Sara Rummage, Nina Ottinger, and Helen Derryberry are listening to our Blessing Hands proposals. Helen is my old college roomate from my days at David Lipscomb College in Nashville. It was Helen who forwarded Blessing Hands information to Sara Rummage. Sara wrote and asked me questions about Blessing Hands which I delightedly answered.

Only later did I realize that she was from a foundation and had a reason to be asking questions in such detail. When she told me her board was meeting and would consider funding Blessing Hands, I said to myself, "What board is she talking about. " I looked at the information at the end of her e-mail, and only then did I find that she was from Founding Family Charitable Foundation (FFCF). I was going to see my father in two weeks and would pass through Nashville, so I made arrangements to stop by and give them our proposals for helping the children in Yangshuo and Qinzhou with tuition.

I taught middle school teachers in a summer English camp in Qinzhou in 2004 for four weeks. Many of the teachers there give from their meager salaries to help the countryside children at their schools who need money for tuition. The children there need tuition help in the higher grades just like they do in Yangshuo. Ann Liu, who was the director of that summer camp, came to Morehead State University to be a visiting scholar in the fall of 2005. I asked her to help me include the countryside children of Qinzhou, Guangxi, China in the proposal as well as the Yangshuo children. Her wisdom, knowledge, and friendship was invaluable in drawing up the Founding Family proposal.