Trip to Northern Neck Free Clinic
June 2020
Letter from Ms. Isabelle Maricar:
During March of this year, I volunteered at the Northern Neck-Middlesex Free Clinic through William and Mary’s Branch Out Alternative Breaks program. The program focuses on fostering active citizenship in students during school breaks, where students have a chance to volunteer in a community and learn about the social issues at hand. While Covid-19 sadly cut my break short, I was able to give back and return to the clinic in June with my mom and Cô Huyền from Thăng Long Vietnamese School. When I told my mom about the clinic’s shortage in face masks, she reached out to Cô Huyền who was kind enough to collect and donate masks from the Từ Bi Foundation and the Compassionate Service Society East. Returning to the clinic to see Ms. Jeanie Nelson, the founder of the clinic, and the rest of the staff had a profound effect on me and my outlook on equitable and affordable healthcare. I highly encourage youth to seek volunteer opportunities where they can give back to the community. Volunteering should not be done as a “resume booster”, but should be done to practice compassion and to learn more about their own communities. Volunteer opportunities should be sustainable (i.e. recurring activities that promote long-term relationships with the community) and encourage reflection (i.e. asking questions such as “What is the social issue/bigger picture at hand?” “What are my own biases as a volunteer?” “Aside from volunteering, how else can I positively contribute to this social issue?”). With those things in mind, effective volunteering can guide youth toward active citizenship and promote positive changes in their communities.
Isabelle Maricar
Gifts for the blind in Vinh Chau village, Soc Trang
January 4, 2020
Dear benefactors,
This is one of the programs that TBF continues to help every year with Venerable Thich Thien Hue. TBF’s contribution could only help 200 people with 1000 portions gifts for the blind in Soc Trang, Vinh Chau commune.
https://zingnews.vn/su-that-ve-hang-tram-nguoi-mu-o-vinh-chau-post592050.html
Each trolley trip contain gifts for 5 people.
We greatly appreciate the love and support for the suffering and disadvantages given by the nearly 40 volunteers who were present … Europe, USA, Canada and Vietnam. It was truly ‘Compassion Without Borders’.
Tu Bi Foundation
New Year gifts for heavily flooded area in Dien Bien, 2019.01.14-20
250 packaged items, each worth $400,000 VND:
1 warm blanket, 1 tulle curtain, 10kg of rice, 1 kg of instant noodles, and 10 spices.
Program in Quang Ngai:
- January 20, 2018: Give presents in Nghia Hanh.
- January 21, 1818: Retreat of Buddhists at Trung Hoà Temple. Then distributed gifts to 13 communes in Mộ Đức district at the temple. The delegates distributed 1,000 gifts in Mộ Đức and 165 gifts in Nghĩa Hành, each gift valued at 300,000 VND.
The 25 delegates were from Europe, America, Canada and Vietnam – we flew in from Saigon Quang Ngai for the event.
Gifts in Typhoon Relief in Phu Yen 2017.12.09 and
Gifts for leper colony in Quy Nhon 2017.12.08
Charity delegation have distributed 485 gifts for the village of Quy Nhon and for poor people affected by typhoons and floods in Phu Yen.
Donated 1500 gifts to the victims of the storm such as illness: blindness, leprosy, disease caused by Agent Orange.
February 01, 2017
When I was born mother did not want me to be like everyone
And I was born not seeing anyone in the world
The love for me is more precious than anything
My eyes can not see my mother and father.
Who loves me like my parents in this life
Who loves me like my teachers have taught in those days
The love for me is longer than the longest river
My eyes can not see my teachers.
Oh! My eyes.
Why can’t my eyes see my parents
Cannot see my teachers
No light, only the dark night.
Who loves me like my parents in this life
Who loves me like my parents have care for me in those days
Their love for me is longer than the longest river
Right now my eyes can not see my friends.
(trying to be as accurate as possible, please forgive the English translation)
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