A
Beautiful Act of Solidarity
Monique
Giroux, Reporter for La Nouvelle et L’Union newspaper
August 15, 2003
An
American philanthropist recently brought help to flood victims in Chesterville,
Tingwick and Warwick. The gathering with the victims of Chesterville
took place on Thursday, August 14 at the office of the municipal secretary,
Lise Côté.
|
Each
family received a dehumidifier, one box of essential goods and sweets,
and a monetary gift CA$200. |
Five families from Chesterville that were victimized
by the flooding benefited from the generosity of this philanthropist,
Supreme Master Ching Hai, who is originally from Au Lac, and whose name
means “pure ocean.”
“Our spiritual master Supreme Master Ching
Hai, who resides in Florida, learned about what happened in Bois-Francs
while listening to the news. We are twelve disciples from Montreal,
Quebec and Victoriaville, who responded to Her request to visit the
victims, comfort them and bring them help to alleviate their situation
while they await the government’s aid,” explained Hugues
Rivard, a disciple from Montreal.
Another disciple from Montreal, Nghia Nguyen, added
that it is important for us to help each other in order to share our
unconditional love: “We should bring hope and assistance to make
suffering people’s lives easier.”
Nghia Nguyen, Marie-Yvonne Desilets and Lise Cote, the municipal secretary
(third from the left), are pictured with five of the Chesterville flood
victims.
|
Nghia
Nguyen, Marie-Yvonne Desilets and Lise Cote, the municipal secretary
(third from the left), are pictured with five of the Chesterville
flood victims. |
Hung Nguyen, the main organizer of the humanitarian
activity, gave CA$200, a dehumidifier and one box of essential goods
to each family.
Madame Ching Hai creates artwork as well as elegant
clothing designs, and uses the revenue to help the less fortunate and
disaster victims around the world. This is the second time She has been
involved in helping the people of Quebec; during the ice storm in 1998,
She offered CA$70,000 to the victims.
Being very surprised to witness such an initiative,
the gift recipients of Chesterville enthusiastically expressed their
gratitude in acknowledging this beautiful act of solidarity from these
unknown visitors. It’s a pure coincidence that this act was noted
and made public here.
|
On
September 10, 2003, the Canadian weekly magazine Thoi Moi and the
monthly magazine Tham My (September edition, p. 72) presented reports
on the flood relief activities in Quebec conducted by The Supreme
Master Ching Hai International Association. (Originally in Aulacese) |
Media
Reports: Korea
Love
in Action: Report from Quebec, Canada