I got to speak to Qin Ling Zhu while I was in Yangshuo. She is the little girl that had the tumor removed twice. The last time was in the fall when a Chinese/American artist gave her money for the operation in Shanghai. She is recovered from that operation. She spoke to me in very good English when I asked her how she was. She answered without hesitating that she was fine. She gave me a little mobile that she had made and a clay figure of a snail. Her face looked much better, but there is still some swelling around the left eye. She has always be so thoughtful with her handmade gifts for me.

These are the teachers and parents of the Parent Teacher Organization at McBrayer Elementary School in Rowan County. I am smiling on the right holding a check that the group gave to Blessing Hands. They gave $350 to support 35 primary students in Yangshuo for one semester. It was such a pleasure to match them up to be a Sister School with Putao Primary School in Yangshuo County, Guangxi, China.

They want their students to be pen pals with our primary students also. I have been making pen pal/sponsor cards to give to folks who want to meet our Blessing Hands children. I can just imagine the faces of the children in China when they get a card or drawing from Morehead's McBrayer Elementary School. I hope some of the classes will collect books for the schools of their pen pals as well. People who love children are all over the world. I am glad to know the ones at McBrayer Elementary. They have several adopted children from China enrolled there. The whole school should be learning more about China first hand.

Blessing Hands' March Newsletter

Blessing Hands March 2007 Newsletter

China Trip:

What a great trip to China Nina Ottinger (from Founding Family charitable Foundation) and I had! We were able to give out about $22,000 in tuitions to the Blessing Hands students in four presentation ceremonies. The largest events were in Yangshuo, Qinzhou, and Pubei. You can see those event photos by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/bdcutts/PubeiIngathering and
http://picasaweb.google.com/bdcutts/QinzhouIngatheringFebruary2007 .

Many of the smaller highpoints are told on our blog at http://blessinghands.blogspot.com. You can see me doing the Hokey Pokey at Nine Mile School there. We came back with many letters, handmade articles, and small gifts from the students. It was exciting to meet the students in Qinzhou for the first time and renew friendships with teachers.

We also visited many schools and saw the two construction projects that Founding Family Charitable foundation has funded at two primary schools. Gloria Wei, Malan Cai, and Anna Liu were excellent hosts and translators, and we even met the Women’s Federation leaders, one of Nanning’s Vice Mayors, Mayor Zhou in Yangshuo, and David Qiu and Mandy Ma, from World Vision in Nanning. We had the help of some of the former Morehead State University visiting scholars in Nanning when we went to Nine Mile School to give out jackets, school supplies, and hats. Qinzhou students got shoes also. The Pubei students showed us how to make New Year Dumplings for lunch.

Summer Eyeglass Clinic:

Nina and her friend Anita, who is a trained worker with the visually impaired, will return to Qinzhou this summer to conduct an eyeglass clinic similar to the one we did last summer in Yangshuo. We met with the head of the hospital in Qinzhou, and they will be giving free exams to the students that Anita and Nina screen in advance. Founding Family Charitable Foundation is financing this project and will pay for any eyeglasses the children might need. It was such a blessing to have Nina along on the trip and to feel her compassion for the students. She enjoyed showing people the pictures of Sarah, her adopted Chinese daughter.

Lexmark Gives 7 Printers:

Lexmark has agreed to ship six E430 office printers to our administrators in Yangshuo and Qinzhou, and they have given one printer to our Blessing Hands Morehead office. Yangshuo will be getting some for their high schools, and Anna Liu in Qinzhou will get one for her office/school use. We thank Lexmark’s Lexington office that has given the free shipping as well.

UPS has Shipped Books:

UPS recently generously gave us free shipment of 24 boxes of books to three locations in Guangxi. Nine boxes of books arrived, after a difficult passage through customs, while I was in China. We had to pay unexpected customs duty, but they arrived in good shape. We especially thank Russ Mead of Crane House in Louisville. KY, who has endured with this shipping project and helped us get them through customs.

Summer Intern Plans:

While in Yangshuo we made plans for Megan Mraz’s summer visit to Yangshuo as our Blessing Hands intern. I met the family that she will be living with and helped plan an Art Event that will be a joint project of Morehead Sister Cites and Blessing Hands this summer. Our Blessing Hands middle school students will join in a half day of art demonstrations and participation.

We plan for each child to send a watercolor painting back to Morehead for a Sister Cities/Blessing Hands Art Show. The public will be invited to vote on the best painting, which will later be entered in an International Sister Cities Youth Art Competition to represent Yangshuo. The student’s photos and comments about their paintings will be included in the show. Dr. Robert Franzini and Megan will host the Art Event in Yangshuo. They are both artists and willing to give demonstrations to the students along with artists in Yangshuo. Blessing Hands will pay for art supplies. Megan is still in need of travel funds if you would like to make a contribution for her summer trip.

Grant Applications:

We are currently working on many grant ideas, but we feel very positive about two of them getting funding. One will be a pen pal grant to establish relationships between our students in China and their sponsors and pen pals in the US. I spoke to two primary classes at Mt. Sterling Elementary School recently, giving them cards matching them with pictures of students in China.

The kids were eager to do drawings and letters to send to primary children in China, but disappointed to learn that the Chinese students would not be able to write back easily because of the high cost of postage. It cost the equivalent of $1US to send a letter from China, but with their income level that is more like $7.50 to them. We solved the problem by sending some Chinese money with the package of drawings and asking the principal to use it for postage to send letters back. We are applying to a new foundation for money to give pen pal grants to schools to allow these exchanges of letters to continue.

The second grant that has good possibilities would give college scholarships to our girls who graduate this spring. Chinese girls have a much harder time with college support than boys. All of our present college scholarship students are girls because of their need. This grant will establish a fund to help more of our graduating girls enter professions someday.

Sponsors and Program Funds Needed:

Even as we plan for new programs and grants, we still need sponsors and program funds for our ongoing tuition programs. Although Founding Family Charitable Foundation is conducting an eyeglass clinic for our students this summer, FFCF is not funding us for matching funds or program funds this year. They are putting money into their own projects and adoption grants. Foundation grants are usually only for one year to stimulate new projects.

We added 180 more high school students last fall in our Qinzhou program. We need to raise money to replace matching funds and keep our students in school this fall. Please forward our newsletter to others that you feel might also want to sponsor a child. This will help us advertise our students’ needs. Unlike grants that come and go, I think sponsors will commit long term to their special child. Checks should be sent to Blessing Hands, 106 Timber Lane, Morehead, KY 40351 or you can give with the button on our blog.

MSU Business Students Help:

Blessing Hands needs a business plan to present with the grants we are seeking. Some of the Business students at MSU have agreed to help us write a business plan. Dr. Rich Criscione has helped us with the IRS forms required, and we hope to get some computer expertise as well from other students.

All this is great news, and we thank you all for your support.

Betty Cutts for Blessing Hands’ students

I had cards made in China to give out to our students to encourage them to try my
e-mail address. It was fun to see all the information in Chinese and English on opposites sides of the cards. I paid $6 for two hundred and gave most of them away.

The mayor of Pubei greeted us with such grace. He spoke very good English since he had gotten a degree in America. He gave Nina and I lovely, expensive, inscribed vases. Pubei had a terrible flood just a year ago, so many more students needed tuition help there. We have thirty students in that area.

2004 Summer English Camp Teachers

These are some of the English teachers that I taught in summer English camp in 2004. Most of them are from Pubei and came together in a reunion while I was in Pubei giving out tuitions. Who would have thought all this would happen back then. They were precious students and some still write to me. I saw other former students and my classroom assistant in Qinzhou. The town has become a city in the three years since I left. Qinzhou is being developed as a port city for the interior provinces.

Yao School Children

Many of the Yao children live at the school from a young age, since their homes are so remote in the mountains. Very few of them go pass the primary level. Many people are hoping to change that.

Yao Minority School

The children at a Yao minority primary school gave us a tour of their school. Their school is supported by another charity, but we were able to give them some money to buy needed desks. It seems that not all the children had desks, and they were rotating them. Nina especially wanted to visit this school that we had heard about last summer.

Qinzhou Ingathering

All the Qinzhou students got new shoes at the Ingathering. Anna Liu had gone to the trouble to ask their shoe sizes and had them all ready for them. The students wanted their picture taken with me and of course the shoes were a key part of this picture. Shoes are about $3 to $4 dollars in China if you get a good price in the right place. Anna is a good shopper.

Qinzhou Students Receive Clothes

Ann Liu, our administrator in Qinzhou had gathered gently used clothes to give to the students. They were thrilled to see the quality of the clothes and the garments were not left behind. We tell the students that we are all one big family and getting clothes from our family is Chinese custom. Most Chinese are hesitant to wear used clothes, but the students didn't seem to mind. We are hoping for more volunteers to help us gather donated clothes in China. Used clothes can't be imported legally into China.

Qinzhou Teachers Receive Books

In Qinzhou, where we have 180 Blessing Hands senior middle school students, most of the students could come right to No. 1 Middle School, since Qinzhou is a city with many senior middle schools. These students are rural children who come to board in the city to get a high school education. They go to school until they are 18 hoping to go on to college after three years. Right after the Ingathering they went home for the New Year Holiday on public buses.

Here one of the volunteer teachers who escorted a group of students to the meeting is receiving books for her students. Many of you have sent used English books by M-Bags at the US Post Office. They can be sent for a $1 a pound up to 60 pounds after the first 6 pounds. It takes three months for them to arrive, but it is the cheapest way to go. They were thrilled to get the books. Keep them coming. I get them as donations or buy them at yard sales.

Pen Pals Finally Meet.

It was a pleasure to meet the students I had been corresponding with by e-mail in Qinzhou. We found them to be fun and interested in learning. The different schools wear different jackets so we could tell some of their schools by just looking.

Nine Mile School Children Doing the Hokey Pokey

After all the excitement of getting gifts, the girls were still eager to play Hokey Pokey with us. It is a good way to teach parts of the body and have fun as well. Here we are putting our left hands into the circle. All were smiling and having a good time, even the teachers.

Nine Mile Students got Jackets and Hats.

The Nine Mile School children in Wuming County greeted us with excitement. We had new coats, hats, and red New Year envelopes with money to give the students. It was like Christmas for them. We also gave a learning toy to the school to help the children learn English. Mandy Ma from World Vision went with us to this school. We really enjoyed talking to her about charities in China and how they operated. She and her colleague David Qiu gave us an interview at World Vision's Nanning branch office.

The Yangshuo students all wanted to give us things.

After the program was over the students stayed to give us little gifts and have pictures taken with us. We were the celebrities of the day. They even made a DVD of the event for us to have. I will place it online later. Gloria Wei, the Blessing Hands Administrator in Yangshuo did a wonderful job of bringing this all together with the help of the principals, teachers, and students.

Yangshuo Ingathering

In Yangshuo we were able to meet many of the high school students at an Ingathering Day. They put on a wonderful show for us complete with singing, playing Chinese instruments, dancing, and speeches. Each senior middle school's Blessing Hands students presented something they must have practiced for sometime. Mr Xu the Vice Mayor of Yangshuo gave a wonderful speech. He used to be head of the Education Department, so he knew most of the students. Malan Cai was a wonderful translator for us and made the small speeches Nina and I gave special for us.

We have 83 senior middle school students in Yangshuo and 73 lower middle school students. I think all of them were there that day at the Yangshuo Experimental Middle School of Foreign Studies to meet and greet us. The primary students number 104, but only the ones in town were able to come.

Pubei Ingathering

Nina Ottinger from Founding Family Charitable Foundation and I gave little speeches for the Pubei Ingathering Event. I also got to show the Chinese PowerPoint that describes Blessing Hands and encourages people to give. Nina and I enjoyed seeing what has been done with the $25,000 grant that FFCF gave to Blessing Hands this time last year. So many lives have been changed. We got to give out tuitions at four presentation ceremonies in Yangshuo, Nine Mile School, Qinzhou, and Pubei.

Pubei County

A ceremony was planned in Pubei County to give out the spring tuitions to the Blessing Hands students. Many teachers that I taught in summer English camp in 2004 also gathered to greet us. Some of them are now Blessing Hands volunteers in their schools and came with their students. The mayor of Pubei gave Nina and I beautifully inscribed ceramic pots that are locally made there.

Best of all we got to meet the Blessing Hands students and give them a personal touch. They gave us thank you letters, drawings, and handmade gifts. Pubei had a terrible flood last spring and many of the student's homes were washed away. After such a loss, many of them would not have been able to return to school without the Blessing Hands tuitions.

Pubei Ingathering

Nina Ottinger and I were invited to help make Chinese New Year dumplings while we were visiting Pubei Middle School for the Ingathering. We really enjoyed getting to interact with the Blessing Hands students in person. They showed us how to fill the dumplings, but I admit they did most of them themselves. The teachers and representative from the Women's Federation are looking over our dumpling efforts.

Matching Pen Pals

I spoke at a two grammar school classes today about China. It was a lot of fun. Those kids were very interested in being pen pals to Nine Mile School and some of the other primary schools. I gave them some of the folded cranes that the Yangshuo student's always give me as thank you gifts. One teacher promised to teach them how to fold the peace cranes later.

I had a slide show of our recent trip, and we all enjoyed it very much, except for the dried dragon eye fruit that I let them try out. It was a little too tart for their taste, and they were all running to the sink to wash out their mouths after the tang hit their tongues. I have to get busy and do some more pen pal cards for a Girl Scout Troop too. I could use an extra hour or two in my day or a computer wizard to help me out.

Jinbao Lower Middle School

Blessing Hands has several students at this school and two of the children had sponsors who had sent money for us to buy their children coats and other special gifts.

Li Zhaochun, who is shown here in his new coat, came an hour on foot and by bus with his grandfather (standing on the right) to meet us. Li brought a small box of fruit to give us that he had picked from his family's land. Li wants to be a teacher.


Mo Yufang’s sponsor gave her a new red coat. The other students in this school do not have special sponsors. Maybe some of you would like to sponsor them.

Gaotian Anding Primary School

One of our first stops was at Anding Primary School. The school had recently received a new bathroom, water tower, and other needed repairs from Founding Family Charitable Foundation, and Nina wanted to see the improvements.

Many of the students had drawn pictures to send to prospective pen pals and to thank us for the improvements to the school. I have included one of the paintings here. We have five children at Anding who are supported by Blessing Hands. We were delighted to see that the roof of the kindergarten was repaired, and they now had electricity in that room.

The Recent China Trip Was Wonderful.

I am getting over jet lag and reading all the thank you letters that the students gave me while I was in China. I was able to give out tuitions to most of our 476 students including the college students who came home for Chinese New Year.

Nina Ottinger from the Founding Family Charitable Foundation and I traveled for two weeks to four presentation ceremonies and got to meet many of the students. They all wanted to give us drawings, letters, and little homemade gifts. You can see some of them in the photo. I went with a suitcase full of gifts to share with them and came back with more gifts than I took. They are so appreciative that sometimes we felt like movie stars.

We visited about 10 schools and celebrated Chinese New Year with dumplings and fireworks. We were entertained with music, dancing, and student and administrator’s speeches. We even got to make some speeches of our own and taught two groups the Hokey Pokey.

We gave out about $2,300 in education grants, dispersed books sent from America, inspected FFCF construction projects at two primary schools, and got to see many of our students. Nina met my Chinese friends and plans to return to Qinzhou this summer to conduct an eyeglass clinic as we did in Yangshuo last summer.

February Newsletter

Blessing Hands February 2007 Newsletter

China Trip: I am ready to leave for China tomorrow. It has been a whirlwind for the last week with many opportunities opening up. Li Xiao Long, Sophia Chen, Walson Li, and I have been working on a Chinese translation of our Blessing Hands PowerPoint and brochure.  I was still putting in larger pictures in the brochure late last night, so the printer in China could get clear pictures in the Chinese brochure.  It should be printed by the time I reach Nanning.  I have printed out some on my home printer to give away in Yangshuo.

A door has opened in Nanning for Blessing Hands to be mentioned to some important people there. I will be able to give the Chinese translation of our literature to a UN staff member that works with the Poverty Reduction Office of the United Nations Development Project. I have also been in contact with a World Vision staff member in Nanning. One Nanning person may go with us to take photo of our children and schools.

Tuition Ingatherings: Nina Ottinger of the Founding Family Charitable Foundation and I will be participating in Tuition Ingatherings in Yangshuo, Qinzhou, Wuming, and Pubei. In Yangshuo, we will have TV coverage and receive banners of thanks for helping the Blessing Hands students there.   I have been gathering small gifts to give to the students and am looking forward to meeting some of the 83 new students that we added in Yangshuo last fall.  

In Qinzhou, we will meet 180 students in our new program in Qinzhou County.  Anna Liu has ordered new shoes for them ($3 each) and coats for the 28 primary students in Wuming. Over 70 of them have been writing me e-mail, and I hope to see some of the teachers that I taught there in the summer English camp in 2004. There are 31 Blessing Hands students in the Pubei area where we will have another public presentation of tuitions.  In Nanning, I will get to see some of the visiting scholars that have been at Morehead State University and other old friends.

Family Founding Charitable Foundation: Nina Ottinger from the Founding Family Charitable Foundation will be inspecting the two bath buildings that FFCF funded in two primary schools. She will also be making arrangements for an eyeglass clinic for our students in Qinzhou this coming summer and perhaps service projects in Yangshuo in cooperation with a Sister Cities group of American high school students. It will be a pleasure to have her help in giving out the tuitions.  FFCF gave us a $25,000 grant to start the Qinzhou fall program.

Book Drive: We sent 24 boxes of books today through charitable arrangements with UPS. They went to three different administrators that will disperse them in our 85 schools. Some of them will be there for us to give out at the Ingatherings.  We will also continue to encourage schools, churches, Girl Scout Troops, youth groups, clubs, and individuals to send books through M-bags at the US Post Office for $1 a pound up to 60 pounds.  

Volunteers: We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to process the new pictures and files I will bring back from China this trip.  Adding 263 new students means that there are many pen pals and sponsors to match and lots of computer files to create.  I thank Ryan Newberry and Suzy Sun for all the hours they put in last semester working on files. We are coming up with a naming system for the pictures that will help us standardize information.

Pen Pal and Sponsor Opportunities: A blessing hands representative has been invited to speak at the McBrayer Elementary PTA in March, and we hope to get open doors for other contacts to develop our pen pal and sponsor matches. If you would like to write a Blessing Hands student or choose one to support, we have many pictures posted now at http://picasaweb.google.com/bdcutts?pli=1.  Just pick one out and e-mail us at blessinghands@gmail.com for their address. Just this week I matched four students at Zhanghuang Middle School with a young pen pal in Fleming County Kentucky. She is going to encourage four more of her friends to write our students also.  She wants to send $10 a month from her allowance to support one high school student’s tuition.  E-mail letters help our students develop their English writing skills and motivate them to learn how to use computers while learning about the USA.  American pen pals learn about life in rural China and have the pleasure of giving of themselves to others.

Betty Cutts for Blessing Hands’ students

Qu Lingzhu's Operation is Successful

I have just received very good news. Someone has contacted me recently to tell me that Qu Lingzhu, one of our primary school Blessing Hands students that we have been trying to get medical help, has had an operation sponsored by a Chinese/American artist from San Francisco. A fund raising effort for her operation on Chinese television in San Francisco had some results. It was this same person who stood with Qu Lingzhu during the operation that Blessing Hands paid for in February 2006, but she moved from Yangshuo, and I did not know that she was still keeping in contact with Lingzhu and like me was still trying to get her help. This is where my lack of knowing Chinese gives me a handicap.

The operation was a success, and Lingzhu should be fine, except she will need another operation when she is 18. It is always good to know that a child has been helped, and I knew that you all would want to know the good news. Blessing Hands did not really have anything to do with this blessing, but what great New Year's news it is.

Welcome a New Board Member

Dr. James (Xiao Long) Li has recently joined our Blessing Hands Board of Directors. Since Dr. Li is a teacher in Industrial Engineering and Technology at Morehead State University, he brings to the board a broad knowledge of computer science and distance learning technology. Xiao Long is from the Zhejiang Province of China, and he and his wife, Duojia Zhu, grew up in rural China. They moved to Morehead in the spring of 2006. They are expecting a baby girl soon. He has been very helpful in translating our material into simplified Chinese and advising us on Chinese culture.

Abby Kenney Gives $100 to Blessing Hands

Abigail Kenney from Girl Scout Troop 552 recently won $300 in the Charity Scavenger Hunt sponsored by Rowan Review. Abigail also earned a Girl Scout “Our Community” badge by completing the charity feats over fourteen days. Best of all she gave $100 of her winnings to Blessing Hands. Thanks so much Abby!

We Have Selected a Blessing Hands Intern.

Megan Mraz, daughter of Chuck and Joni Mraz of Morehead, has been selected as Blessing Hands’ Morehead State University intern for the summer and fall of 2007. Megan is a junior at MSU majoring in Elementary Education. She is interested in photography, art, theatre, science, languages, reading, tutoring, and being with people. All these hobbies and abilities will serve Megan well when she travels to Yangshuo, China for two and one half weeks next summer to represent Blessing Hands.

Megan will be visiting schools and meeting the children that Blessing Hands supports in Yangshuo. She will also meet the college students that Blessing Hands pays tuition for at Guangxi Normal University. Megan will be participating in a service project, living with a Chinese family, and perhaps teach an English class or two.

When Megan returns to the USA, she will advocate for the Blessing Hands students on the MSU campus and assist Blessing Hands with various projects and duties as a fall intern. She will be getting a grade for her service under the supervision of the Morehead State University School of Education and Blessing Hands.

A fund to help pay for Megan’s summer travel expenses has been established at the MSU Foundation, and supporters are encouraged to make tax deductible contributions by mailing their donations to the Blessing Hands Internship Fund at the MSU Foundation, Palmer Development House, Morehead, Ky 40351.

Blessing Hands is Selecting a Summer/Fall Intern

Blessing Hands has recently created a Blessing Hands Internship in cooperation with Morehead State University. The intern will be selected through an application and interview process to be completed in December, 2006. The internship will include a two and a half summer trip to Yangshuo, China where they will stay with a Chinese family and interact with Blessing Hands students and teachers. We expect class credit to be a part of this internship through the MSU Department of Education.

In the fall semester the intern will advocate for the needs of Blessing Hands children on the campus of Morehead State University and assist Blessing Hands with computer records, pen pal and sponsorship records, PowerPoint presentations, website maintenance, and fund raising depending on their special abilities. Blessing Hands has already funded $500 toward this internship and is in the process of raising more money for the intern’s travel expenses. You can contribute to this intern fund by sending a check or money order to the Blessing Hands Internship, MSU Foundation, Palmer Development House, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY 40351

Students are Receiving Their Glasses!

Dear Blessing Hands,
I am very glad to receive your e-mail letters. I am so busy that I have no time to sent you a letter for a long time. I have received the glasses which given by you. I like it very much because it so beautiful and useful. It gives me a great of helps. Thank you very much.
Recently I have some difficulty in my study, but I believe I can overcome them. Thank for your help again.
Best wiches.
Yours,
Lu Xiuyun

I put in some periods and spaces, but it is essentially Lu's letter. I hope she will send me a photo with her wearing her new glasses. She goes to the high school that prepares teachers to teach in their public schools. Some teachers start teaching at 18 years of age.

Qinzhou No. 1 Middle School

Some of the Blessing Hands students from Qinzhou No. 1 Middle School are starting to write me thank you notes. I hope to find them pen pals. Maybe your youth group would like such a project. This is King who is 16. He wants to improve his English by writing to an American pen pal. Sun Ling Yun would also like to write someone. She is in the freshman class at Qinzhou No. 1 Middle School.

They have to go to their teacher's office to use a computer, since the computer lab's computers are verrrrry slow and old. I would love to get a computer grant for these schools. Does anyone want to help with that? These kids have never had e-mail addresses before, so we are introducing them to a whole new experience. Write blessinghands@gmail.com to connect to get a pen pal.

A Thank You Letter from China

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am so glad that I can express myself. My name is Fengmin, I’m from No. 2 Middle School of Pubei. Now my family is in trouble and need help. I don’t mean to say how poor my family is and how much I really need money, but I really appreciate the help that you offered to me.

I do realize that the world is full of love. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. At one time, I thought I couldn’t realize my dream, and I thought I had to leave school, at that time I lived in darkness. But now, you give me courage, hope and sunlight, and now my life is full of love and happiness again. The most importance is that I realize there are many warm-hearted men in the world.

In a word, I think I will realize my dream with your help and encouragement. Thank you very much.

Yours,
Fengmin