Dear HELP volunteers and donors:

We hope this letter finds you enjoying the summer. Here we briefly report to you what HELP has accomplished in the second quarter of 2009. With your generous support, HELP has successfully conducted several projects in the past three months, which are summarized in the following table:

* from HELP operational fund, which are exclusively donated by HELP staff.

In April, the Chinese government called for the deepening of medical reform across the country, in particular pointing out that it was difficult and expensive for villagers to receive medical treatment. Even before this call, HELP made conscious efforts to provide medical aids to the earthquake-inflicted villagers in Sichuan. In the first quarter, doctors invited by HELP examined more than 1200 villagers. In the second quarter, with reconstruction ongoing, many villagers stayed in tent and plank house areas. With rising temperature and increasing rain, the danger of epidemic also climbed. To alleviate such danger, our medical team visited and examined the villagers in June, especially tracking the physically weak; they also distributed medical supplies and spread medical knowledge.

Outside the earthquake region, we continue to support the 28 students from Wenchuan who are studying in Guangzhou. In the first quarter, we set up scholarships and purchased books for them. In the second quarter, on the Dragon Boat Day, the students were invited to visit Sun Yat-sen University. There a professor gave them a seminar on scientific research and let them visit her research lab. The students then had a great party with the student representatives from Sun Yat-sen University. These efforts from HELP were meant to provide the Wenchuan students a warm, supportive environment for both studying and living. Our efforts were very well received.

In May we initiated a campaign of single-book donation in China for the Wenchuan students and received more than four hundred books in a short period. The donors wrote hearty, encouraging words at the beginning of these books they carefully picked, expressing their hope and support for the students. We plan to continue this campaign in the long run and collect books for students at different age and in different areas. By doing so we wish the students will love reading.

When a HELP volunteer visited the villages in Wolong, he found that there were more than 100 kids between age five and seven, but only a small portion were attending newly reopened elementary schools organized by the villages. Following the suggestion by the school teacher from one school (there was only one teacher), we purchased new school backpacks, stationeries, and shoes for the 23 kids attending the school. Our donation, as gifts on the Children’s Day, made that day memorable for the kids.

As you know HELP aims to improve the living conditions for human beings and their surrounding environment. As we strive to improve the living and education standard for the poor, we also advocate the protection of Mother Nature. Lansing, the capital city of Michigan, is the origin of HELP, and has donated generously to the earthquake regions. In May 2009, Wei Liu (co-founder of HELP, PhD candidate specializing in ecological research in Michigan State University) held a seminar for the Lansing Chinese School. Wei introduced the biology of giant pandas, MSU’s past research on mapping panda habitat, the threats that pandas are facing in the wild and the situation of pandas and rural people living in Wolong Nature Reserve after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.  The seminar was a great success.  For more information please visit www.helppanda.org.cn.

Your generous support, either through efforts or donation, has been the main reason why these projects can be conducted. We are humbled by and grateful to the fact that we share similar dreams. We promise to work hard so that every penny donated is well used. We will report to you in every quarter how the donated money is spent through the projects. We hope you keep trusting and supporting us – people in Sichuan need that. You can continue to be a volunteer. You can also donate online at www.helppanda.org and get your tax-deductible receipts; or you can also help us by clicking on the “Shop to Help” link, which leads to Amazon, Buy.com or many other online shopping sites via GoodShop.com.

Similar dreams have brought you to us, and we wish you are always behind us. As an old Chinese saying goes, “Virtue will never be alone since good neighbors always stay with it” (???????). Together, we can HELP more people!

Team HELP