2013 Lunar New Year Celebrations: From Los Angeles to New York

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Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Friends,

On behalf of the PLUS Charitable Trust, I would like to wish good health, joy, prosperity, and success to all those celebrating the arrival of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Snake on February 10.

The snake occupies the 6th position in the Chinese Zodiac and symbolizes traits like intelligence, gracefulness and materialism. Snakes are said to be analytical and effective at getting what they want, enjoying luxurious things and seeking the peace they need to thrive in the world. In particular, 2013 is the year of the water snake, which is said to be highly motivated, insightful and influential.

For your convenience, I have compiled a non-comprehensive list of New Year events taking place in close proximity to some of our chapter locations. To view a full list with event names, dates, times, and locations, please click here or follow the link below:

Link to full list of events, dates, times, and locations

Boston Chapter
•  Annual Chinatown Lion Dance Parade
•  Chinese New Year Festival
•  Mohegan Sun Chinese New Year Flower Market

Houston Chapter
•  2013 Lunar New Year Festival
•  Lunar New Year Houston Celebration

Las Vegas Chapter
•  Desert Festival for Chinese New Year
•  New Year Celebration and Asian Food Festival

Los Angeles Chapter
•  Alhambra Lunar New Year Celebration
•  Chinese New Year Festival and Parade
•  New Year at Thien Hau Temple
•  Undiscovered China Walking Tour
•  Year of the Snake Celebration

New Jersey Chapter
•  New Year with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
•  Lunar New Year Parade and Cultural Festival

San Diego Chapter
•  Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Festival

Washington D.C. Chapter
•  Chinese New Year Parade and Festival

PLCT Urgently Needs $9,700 of Public Support Donations

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Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Friends:

It is nail-biting time again!

With less than 30 days to go to the year end, PLCT is still in need of $9,700 of
public support donations in order for us to pass the IRS “1/3 public support
test”. This includes all the donation receipts and pledges we have on this date
of 12/4/2012.

To qualify as public support, the total donations to PLCT from an individual over
the last 5 years must be less than $6,800. As an example: for someone who made a PLCT donation of $4,000 in 2011, the maximum this individual could donate to PLCT this year, and still qualifies as public support, is $2,800. If this individual donates $2,800 this year, his donation in any amount may not be qualified as public support until 2016.

For a member of PLUS community, the best way to give us a sustainable support is
by making a pledge to be a Patron, who is willing to contribute $1,000 to PLCT
every year. If we can recruit a group of 25 to 30 Patrons, we can then use this
support to leverage additional $50,000 to $60,000 of donations in larger sums.

But in the years behind us, our situation has been in the reverse, namely, we would
receive in earlier part of the year some large donations (that would not
qualify as public support), then we would spend the rest of year trying to
raise “qualified supports” in order to pass the public support test.

Once again, I hope you could pass this message on to your friends, and
acquaintances. If you know of some who wishes to make a contribution to PLCT,
please have the check entitled to “PLUS Charitable Trust” and mail it to:

PLUS Charitable Trust

c/o Gordon Cheng

222 Stoney Gate

Carlisle, MA 01741

Happy holidays,

Gordon Cheng

Treasurer

PLCT

PLCT Call for Qualified Public Supports (10/31/2012)

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PLCT Call for Qualified Public Supports (10/31/2012)

As reported at the July PLUS convention in New York, PLCT would need to mount a fund drive for qualified donations to pass the public support test. This year’s situation is no different from the one we faced last year in that we would need to raise approximately $20,000 of qualified public support.

Since then and more so in recent weeks, PLCT have received approximately $8,500 of donations that included contributions from family and friends of Brother Robert Woo in memory of his mother, Mrs. Lillian Woo, friends of Dawson Lu, V T Loh Memorial Fund (in memory of Brother William Lowe’s father) and Brother John Liu & Family. All of these donations were qualified support. The remaining need for qualified donations stands at $10,000.

The PLCT 2012 threshold for qualified donation is $6,800 for individual donor on a 5-year aggregated basis (current and past 4 years).

The donation from a new donor in any amount less than $6,800 is qualified as public support; but for repeat donors, the maximum amount of qualified donation will be the difference between $6,800 and your total donated amount since 2008. (Please check with PLCT treasurer, Gordon Cheng – gcheng@chemicalogic.com or 978-505-1218, to determine your own status).

Donation check should be titled to “PLUS Charitable Trust” and mailed to:

PLUS Charitable Trust

c/o Gordon Cheng

222 Stoney Gate, Carlisle, MA 01741

PLCT’s ability to execute greater and more meaningful charitable deeds is actually limited by our ability to raise donations that qualifies as public support.

For sustainability, it would be most desirable for us to set a target of receiving, say, $30,000 of qualified donations by recruiting a group of 25 patrons, who are able and willing to pledge a donation to PLCT of $1,200 every year.  With this level of commitment, we could be more aggressively seeking for $60,000 of donations in larger sums and have a corresponding annual disbursement plan for $100,000.  If we wish to raise our annual disbursement beyond $100,000, we must first recruit additional patrons. Please raise your hand to be a PLUS Charitable Trust Patron.

Phi Lambda History on Display at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)

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Founded in 1980, the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history, heritage, culture and diverse experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States. The Museum promotes dialogue and understanding among people of all cultural backgrounds, bringing 160 years of Chinese American history to vivid life through its innovative exhibitions, educational and cultural programs.

Please click on the image below to take a look our MOCA display:

A Brief Introduction to the PLUS Charitable Trust Website: PLCT.US

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We are pleased to announce the inception of the PLUS Charitable Trust website: PLCT.US. This site provides PLCT with a new platform to publicly promote its mission, and to keep members updated on recent developments, current projects, and upcoming events.

While the original plan was to incorporate PLCT into the PLUS website, a recent PLCT board meeting discussion raised two concerns:

  1. As a public charitable organization with fundraising programs open to the general public, PLCT should utilize its website to promote awareness of its mission. Unfortunately, this objective conflicts with that of the PLUS website.
  2. To date, PLCT’s completed and ongoing projects comprise of more than 10 schools, along with some additional charitable activities. The PLUS website does not afford PLCT with adequate space to provide progress reports, updates, and photos of activities and events.

With these concerns in mind, PLCT decided to create its own website. Fortuitously, we were able to secure the domain: http://PLCT.US. We welcome you to follow the link (or manually type in the address), and take a look at the site!

(*For most internet browsers, you only need to type PLCT.US to enter the site. Alternatively, you can access PLUSCT.org, which will automatically redirect you to our homepage.)

While the new website addresses our two primary concerns, we recognize the need to maintain confidentiality for our PLUS activities. Therefore, PLCT.US contains a PLUS Members Area, where you will be able to access the PLUS website, as well as confidential documents and reports. To enter the PLUS Members Area, click here and type in the following password: plusbrothers

PLCT.US has been running on a trial basis since August 2011. Originally, we had only one brother (Br. Dawson Lu) working on the PLCT website.  Now, luckily, Br. Justin Hsu has joined as a co-webmaster and editior.  However, we are still in need of additional PLUS volunteers—including web designer or creative director, editors, reporters, correspondents, and commentators—to join together and improve the site.

Completion of the Fong So Hai School in Shaanxi, China

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We are happy to report that the construction project for the Fong So Hai School in Shaanxi, China—donated by Sister Lillian Ho in memory of her late father—has been completed.  On April 25, 2012, the new building was inspected and approved by our PLCT staff contractor, Ms. Wang Aizhen.

Furthermore, Sister Lillian has generously committed to donate an additional $20,000 this year for future school improvements. The school’s major building will be renamed in memory of Sister Lillian’s late mother.

Sister Lillian, Brother Ronald Ho and some of their family members have planned to visit the school next April.

“Life in the Yi Village” by Albert Hu

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ChinaDaily.com.cn Editor’s Note:

Albert Zhongyang Hu, 12th Grader at San Marino High School, California, and his father Scott Hu visited Zidu Village, Beishan Township, Yi Nationality autonomous prefecture, Sichuan Province from June 19 to June 26, 2011. The following is part of Albert’s diary, along with photos that he wanted to share with China Daily website readers. “To be honest, after experiencing life in this village, I felt like I had not really lived in San Marino,” said Albert.

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For the English version of  ”Life in the Yi Village,” please refer to the following ChinaDaily link (use Internet Explorer for full compatibility). Please click on the “Introduction” and “Story” links to read through Albert’s daily journal.

If you prefer read this article in Chinese, and wish to see more photos, please click on the PPS thumbnail provided below:

一位美籍華裔少年在中國貧困地區的經歷 

This is a large PPS file; but it has much more contents and photos than the English version.  In case your computer had trouble to handle and display it, then you may have to save it in your computer (e.g. desktop,…) first, then open it afterwards.

PLCT accepts “Donor of the Year” Award from Shin Shin Educational Foundation

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At the 2011 Annual Event of Shin Shin Educational Foundation on Saturday (12/10/2011), PLCT was recognized as “Donor of the Year”.  Brother Donald sent and delivered a video speech to the conference (see Donald video speach 12-10-2011 )  Br. Chung-Yang  and his wife attended the event and accepted the award on behalf of PLCT.  Details see a letter from Shin Shin’s president, Mr. Steve Ting (below) and attached three photos. 

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Dear Donald and Chung-Yan,

First of all, wish you and your family a happiest holidays!

Thank you, Donald, for sending your video well wishes to Shin Shin’s 2011 annual event attendees.   We all have learned a great deal about PLCT and impressed by PLCT’s wonderful work and contributions to help children and people in need.

And, thank you, Chung-Yan and your wife, for taking the time out from your busy schedules to accept the “Donor of the Year” award on behalf of PLCT and listen to our event presentations.   We hope that you find the program was interesting and informational.

As Donald highlighted in his video remark, PLCT and Shin Shin has had long history of strong partnership to improve the educational environment for disadvantaged and impoverished children in rural China.  We treasure the partnership very much.   I and Shin Shin look forward to working with PLCT and each everyone of your members for many years to come.

Attached pls find few photos taken from the 2011 Annual Event on Saturday (12/10).

Thank you and best regards,

Steve

Steve Ting (丁永慶)

President

Shin Shin Educational Foundation