Spreading the wealth and goodwill

[Bodhisattva]

So, in the last couple of weeks, my wife and I have been able to do targeted assistance that has done some good. While the charity is small, we continue to do what we can to improve our corner of the world. I've previously talked about some of the ongoing charity work my wife and I do. These new things were unplanned and impulsive charity.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a post on my community's FB page. A couple of kids down the street were having a lemonade stand. Lily and I walked down and found out the boy and girl (both elementary school-aged) were raising money to buy school supplies for underprivileged kids. $1 for a cup of lemonade. After getting some more information from the kids' Mom, Lily and I each had one cup. I gave the kids $100. Other neighbors started arriving, and a friendly competition started. By the time Lily and I left to walk back home, more than $1000 had been raised. I love my neighborhood.

Several of our friends have been following our lead and moving to various parts of Florida. One family stayed with us a few weeks ago and are looking to buy nearby. The wife and kids want to move now before school starts. The husband will have to stay in Virginia for maybe six months until he can work out a transfer. This scenario leaves them short on the down payment. My wife and I offered to cover their shortfall. One of the most difficult things we've had to do is convince them to take the money. They finally agreed and they are closing on their house tomorrow.

Earlier this year I convinced my wife to hire a housekeeper to come by every few weeks. The young lady works at one of my wife's hospitals and cleans houses on the side. Emina is from Bosnia and is a very nice and genuine person. We found out that her father had died a couple of years ago and her mother was not doing well currently. Her goal is to save up enough money to fly back to Bosnia for an extended visit. After a quick conversation, my wife and figured it would take quite a while to fund this endeavor. So, my wife bought Emina a plane ticket to Bosnia and added a nice tip on to the usual fee for some spending money. Emina is with her Mom and extended family as we speak. I don't know if covid will lead to a delay in her ability to come back, but we'll provide additional monetary assistance if needed. I'm glad we can help; Emina needs to be with her Mom now.

Just want to encourage everyone to do what they can to help their neighbors. It's good for the soul.

 

[Padreruf]

So, in the last couple of weeks, my wife and I have been able to do targeted assistance that has done some good. While the charity is small, we continue to do what we can to improve our corner of the world. I've previously talked about some of the ongoing charity work my wife and I do. These new things were unplanned and impulsive charity.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a post on my community's FB page. A couple of kids down the street were having a lemonade stand. Lily and I walked down and found out the boy and girl (both elementary school-aged) were raising money to buy school supplies for underprivileged kids. $1 for a cup of lemonade. After getting some more information from the kids' Mom, Lily and I each had one cup. I gave the kids $100. Other neighbors started arriving, and a friendly competition started. By the time Lily and I left to walk back home, more than $1000 had been raised. I love my neighborhood.

Several of our friends have been following our lead and moving to various parts of Florida. One family stayed with us a few weeks ago and are looking to buy nearby. The wife and kids want to move now before school starts. The husband will have to stay in Virginia for maybe six months until he can work out a transfer. This scenario leaves them short on the down payment. My wife and I offered to cover their shortfall. One of the most difficult things we've had to do is convince them to take the money. They finally agreed and they are closing on their house tomorrow.

Earlier this year I convinced my wife to hire a housekeeper to come by every few weeks. The young lady works at one of my wife's hospitals and cleans houses on the side. Emina is from Bosnia and is a very nice and genuine person. We found out that her father had died a couple of years ago and her mother was not doing well currently. Her goal is to save up enough money to fly back to Bosnia for an extended visit. After a quick conversation, my wife and figured it would take quite a while to fund this endeavor. So, my wife bought Emina a plane ticket to Bosnia and added a nice tip on to the usual fee for some spending money. Emina is with her Mom and extended family as we speak. I don't know if covid will lead to a delay in her ability to come back, but we'll provide additional monetary assistance if needed. I'm glad we can help; Emina needs to be with her Mom now.

Just want to encourage everyone to do what they can to help their neighbors. It's good for the soul.

Thanks for sharing...if we all would/could do this there would be a lot more love and good will all around. I like that you took time to know the particular situations...

 

[Bazza]

Proud of you, Florida man!!!

 

[Bodhisattva]

Several of our friends have been following our lead and moving to various parts of Florida. One family stayed with us a few weeks ago and are looking to buy nearby. The wife and kids want to move now before school starts. The husband will have to stay in Virginia for maybe six months until he can work out a transfer. This scenario leaves them short on the down payment. My wife and I offered to cover their shortfall. One of the most difficult things we've had to do is convince them to take the money. They finally agreed and they are closing on their house tomorrow.

My wife and I helped our friends move in last weekend. We mostly assembled Ikea furniture. I think this effort should be added to the next Olympics: speed furniture assembly (individual and team). More practical than race walking! First round could be a bookshelf. Later it is a computer desk. For the medal round, it could be be one of those bed/dresser combinations that we just did this weekend. Dang those things have a lot of components. What's the recovery time from an Allen wrench injury?

 

[DzynKingRTR]

My wife and I helped our friends move in last weekend. We mostly assembled Ikea furniture. I think this effort should be added to the next Olympics: speed furniture assembly (individual and team). More practical than race walking! First round could be a bookshelf. Later it is a computer desk. For the medal round, it could be be one of those bed/dresser combinations that we just did this weekend. Dang those things have a lot of components. What's the recovery time from an Allen wrench injury?

Sweden would win gold every time.

 

[gman4tide]

I'm kinda on the other side of the scope, but will most definitely reciprocate the goodwill passed to me. Myself and 2 other families (all have a player on baseball team) recently rented a house in martin, tn. We "took over" 8/1. It's 4 hours from all of our houses. The boys don't have to report for another 10 days. The grass needed cut when we were up 8/1, but i didn't take a mower. I reached out to a couple folks on an internet forum a lot like this one. Looking for a teenager that would like to make a few bucks before summer was out. Both said "give me the address and i'll take care of it". One has a high school aged son and said he'd check with him about getting it done around football practice. He shot me a pic yesterday afternoon of the mowed yard. Now to find his address so's i can pay them...
We do have a "serve day" in Hartselle and it gives everyone an opportunity to spread goodwill.

 

[B1GTide]

Boy Raises $700,000 For Hospice By Camping Out For 500 Nights After Dying Man Gives Him a Tent

11-yo Max Woosey turned into a hero raising $770k for hospice, by camping for 500 consecutive nights after a dying man gave him a tent.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

 

[Bodhisattva]

Following up on the 2021 Good/Bad/Ugly thread, I mentioned that my wife and I are doing more charity than ever. Since what we are currently doing doesn't fall in 2021, I figured this is the best place for it.

The lunar new year (Tet) falls on February 1 this year. My wife has been sending money back to do charity work in two areas: the neighborhood in Saigon (won't call it Ho Chi Minh City) where her Mom still lives and the village near Hue where her grandmother lived. My wife is trying to help the urban and rural poor alike.

Since we have made a small fortune with our investments, we have been able to do more than ever before. We have sent about $30k back. The challenge is to keep the money out of the hands of the VN government, who will steal it like they do most foreign aid and investment. The money has been delivered to people my wife has known her entire life for them to put the money into the hands of people in need (and who won't squander it). This money has provided food for about 1000 people for one month. This money has also gone to put roofs over the heads of several families and to pay for the vocational education of several kids so they can support themselves in the near future. I'm very proud of my wife for wanting to do this. We can't change the world, but we're trying to make some corners of it better.

 

[Bazza]

-snip- We can't change the world, but we're trying to make some corners of it better.

Amen brother - and well done!

 

[Bodhisattva]

So, this is an interesting unintended consequence. My wife's efforts have been noticed by a couple of celebrities in VN. One is an author and poet; the other is an artist (primarily painter). They contacted my wife via Facebook and added their efforts to increase charity for Tet.

Tet is like all our major holidays rolled into one. It's the lunar New Year, but it also has the gift giving and year-long anticipation of Christmas, the fireworks and patriotism of the 4th of July, and also some elements like Halloween. It's a time to be with family, and the county is basically on vacation for two weeks before and two weeks after new year's day.

Anyway, these two gentlemen asked Lan what they could do for her to acknowledge her endeavors. My wife said she didn't need anything but instead asked if they could pay a visit to her Mom, since she is alone for Tet while still waiting for permission to immigrate. The visit occurred yesterday, and my MIL was like a teenager at a boy band concert. The guys posted pictures and videos to their FB pages, accompanied by the thousands of comments.

To add to the awesomeness of the visit, the guys each gave my MIL a gift. The artist gave her an original painting created specifically for her. The writer wrote a poem about my MIL and FIL. As I've mentioned before, my FIL was an ARVN officer (colonel, I think) who stayed in the fight until the end (1975). He spent 12 years in a communist "re-education" (torture) camp and was a man broken physically and by severe PTSD when released. He died shortly before Lily was born. The older generation, including the writer and artist, know about my wife's father. My wife translated the poem for me, and it is very touching. Quite the event at my MIL's house.

 

[Bodhisattva]

The lunar New Year for 2023 recently ended, and my wife and I were able to do some more charity. We've been sending money is small increments back to some of wife's lifelong friends, who put the money to good use. The reason for the drawn-out process is that the Vietnamese government will seize the money and supplies if they catch on to it. And unfortunately, even though we sent money back over several months, much of the charity was discovered and stolen. A local government official (effective a mafia thug) discovered tons of food stacked in one my wife's friend's house. It was quickly confiscated. I guess we were lucky my wife's friend wasn't arrested (yet).

The food bundles - rice, meat, soy sauce, fish sauce, cooking oil, etc. - that escaped the thieving hands are enough to feed a couple hundred people for a month. (It should have been a lot more. ) The people helped were the elderly, amputees, mothers with small children, etc. - all of whom barely survive. The pictures and videos that were sent back to us are heartbreaking.

One woman that was helped has a young daughter that wears leg braces and can't really walk. My wife and I are trying to find out if there is a surgical procedure that can help. If so, we will do what we can to make it happen. Also, this girl and her older sister don't attend school. (As I understand it, school is technically free, but the family has to buy the books, school uniforms, and pay assorted fees (bribes) to school/government administrators. The cost of "free" leaves many children outside of the school system, condemning them to poverty.) We are trying to pay for the girls' schooling.

As in previous efforts, what we are trying to do is find more permanent solutions where available. We've found able-bodied adults who just need a little help so they can care for themselves and their families. An example is a woman who can run a stall at a food market, but the family finances were destroyed when her husband died. We provided some money for some supplies and initial rent. Another example is a guy that can repair bicycles and scooters. We provided money for tools and rent for a little shop. A year later, both of these people (and several others) are able to provide for themselves and their families. We are continuing to have my wife's friends look for people who have the ability to be self-sufficient with a little initial help. So far, so good. But, it's just the smallest drop in the largest of buckets.

 

[Bodhisattva]

Also, after more medical missions canceled than seen to fruition, it looks like my wife and daughter are going to the Dominican Republic over Spring Break. The original trip was scheduled for Honduras, but it was cancelled - like several others over the last couple of years due to COVID or security concerns. Lily is now old enough to go and will be assisting in the operating room.

Lily has shadowed my wife and other nurses at the hospital this past year. She is fascinated by the skill and technology and the ability to improve people's lives.

We are still planning to go to the DR as a family for the first time (after cancelations the last two summers) in July. Fingers crossed.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Thank you, keep spreading the love!

 

[Bodhisattva]

I drove my wife and daughter to the Orlando airport yesterday for their medical mission flight to the Dominican Republic. Lily and the other kids on this trip will be helping with running supplies, checking in patients, directing them to the right doctor, and babysitting the children of the patients. In addition to the several crates of medical equipment and supplies they brought with them, Lily also brought a suitcase full of toys and candy for the children.

They spent the day/night in Santo Domingo waiting on the rest of the team to arrive. Volunteers are coming from all over the US and Canada, some making three connections to get to the DR. This morning, they are traveling by bus for four hours today to Las Matas de Farfan, near the Haiti border. Internet there is likely non-existent, so I may not hear from them until they are on their way back next Sunday. I can't help feeling very proud of my wife and her colleagues. Volunteering for medical missions is expensive and time-consuming. This is certainly a calling. I'm looking forward to getting Lily's feedback on her first mission.

 

[Bazza]

Fantastic, Bodhi!

 

[Bodhisattva]

Been out of pocket for a week ... The girls got back from the DR last Sunday night. It was an exciting and exhausting experience. The facility did not have running water or air conditioning. Lan said it felt like they were performing surgeries in a sauna. The team saw 485 patients (adults and children). Treatment ranged from administering medication to dental care to surgeries. Lan was with the surgical team that did ob-gyn cases. Overall, they performed 82 major and 63 minor surgeries.

Lily and the other teens on the mission alternated between staying at the medical site and tending to the patients' children or traveling to a nearby village to teach the local children dental hygiene and pass out supplies. The Americanos were very popular amongst the kids, and several teamed up to braid Lily's hair.

The girls did not get a good night's sleep until they got back to Santo Domingo. With no running water or air conditioning, a sponge bath and a portable fan is what you had to keep clean and somewhat cool. But, that tends to be part of the deal on these trips.

Lan and Lily both raved about the experience of working with like-minded people. Team members are of various races, and it doesn't matter. Team members are of various religious beliefs, and it doesn't matter. Some team members are lesbian/gay, and it doesn't matter. All that matters is purpose of the mission: to selflessly give of your time and skills to help others. It's beautiful.

Looking forward to the next mission in July.

 

[Bazza]

Once again - fantastic, @Bodhisattva ! This is the best thread we've ever had on this side!

Love you guys!!!

 

[Bazza]

My Mom is still in her home, where she wants to stay but needs extra care giving. I am working on getting more help but so far has just been me and one other person, who is fantastic. I have been going over both mornings and evenings plus other times during the day. The other night on my way home (usually around 9pm by then) I saw a little black kitty in the middle of the east bound lane. I pulled over and checked on him and he had expired. Must have just happened. Blow to one side of his head. I put him in the back of my Volvo and brought him home for burial.

Yesterday I did the honors on a site overlooking the ocean. May he find peace in the hereafter and perhaps we'll see each other again one day....

 

[Bodhisattva]

Once again - fantastic, @Bodhisattva ! This is the best thread we've ever had on this side!

Love you guys!!!

Thanks, Bazza. My wife has an awesome career that allows her to do so much help in person. We are really looking forward to doing this more as a family multiple times a year.

 

[Bodhisattva]

The lunar New Year for 2023 recently ended, and my wife and I were able to do some more charity. We've been sending money is small increments back to some of wife's lifelong friends, who put the money to good use. The reason for the drawn-out process is that the Vietnamese government will seize the money and supplies if they catch on to it. And unfortunately, even though we sent money back over several months, much of the charity was discovered and stolen. A local government official (effective a mafia thug) discovered tons of food stacked in one my wife's friend's house. It was quickly confiscated. I guess we were lucky my wife's friend wasn't arrested (yet).

The food bundles - rice, meat, soy sauce, fish sauce, cooking oil, etc. - that escaped the thieving hands are enough to feed a couple hundred people for a month. (It should have been a lot more. ) The people helped were the elderly, amputees, mothers with small children, etc. - all of whom barely survive. The pictures and videos that were sent back to us are heartbreaking.

One woman that was helped has a young daughter that wears leg braces and can't really walk. My wife and I are trying to find out if there is a surgical procedure that can help. If so, we will do what we can to make it happen. Also, this girl and her older sister don't attend school. (As I understand it, school is technically free, but the family has to buy the books, school uniforms, and pay assorted fees (bribes) to school/government administrators. The cost of "free" leaves many children outside of the school system, condemning them to poverty.) We are trying to pay for the girls' schooling.

As in previous efforts, what we are trying to do is find more permanent solutions where available. We've found able-bodied adults who just need a little help so they can care for themselves and their families. An example is a woman who can run a stall at a food market, but the family finances were destroyed when her husband died. We provided some money for some supplies and initial rent. Another example is a guy that can repair bicycles and scooters. We provided money for tools and rent for a little shop. A year later, both of these people (and several others) are able to provide for themselves and their families. We are continuing to have my wife's friends look for people who have the ability to be self-sufficient with a little initial help. So far, so good. But, it's just the smallest drop in the largest of buckets.

Well, this is very frustrating. After several month's effort, my wife and I found a doctor in Saigon that could help the girl walk, and would accept payment from us. We also have been in contact with the local school to pay for the two girls' tuition. That is acceptable to the school official. The mother has rejected that strategy and only wants to receive the money directly. This we will not do. Via my wife's friend who lives in the neighborhood, this mother uses her kids as props for her panhandling. Having one daughter's legs fixed and having both kids in school would deprive her of the sympathy factor. There is no doubt that any money we would give the mother would not be spent on a doctor's services or schooling. So we are stuck, unable to effectively help. It is very upsetting.