Sending Messages of Love and Healing - NEPCA's November 2023 Winter Reliefs Project

Snowflakes fell from the sky one by one, and the earth was about to return to snow-white again, pure, and flawless, but this white snow was also accompanied by strong cold air. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, when winter comes, people always hold events to celebrate, which is happy and beautiful. But the people who live on the streets and under bridges will always be unable to enjoy these happy times for various reasons. Furthermore, some live-alone seniors may have no family members finding time to visit them. 

As volunteers of the non-profit organization Northeast Philadelphia Chinese Association of Cultural Trust (NEPCA), we believe that helping others is the source of happiness. We hope to bring some love and care to the homeless and the live-alone seniors during this winter holiday by bringing them usable gifts. We hope that the gift will warm their heart and bring them hope. We want them to know we are thinking about them this holiday season. At the same time, we also hope to advocate "building a safer and better community together in the spirit of love, peace, and harmony.”

Our gifts are mindfully packed by our youth volunteers. Each pack includes winter and personal care items such as hats, scarves, gloves, socks, combs, lip balms, lotions, notepads, pens, small tissue pads, and folders. Each pack is put in a canvas tote bag and touched with a custom-made calendar greeting card that sends the recipients our message of love and care. We have made 55 packs for the homeless men at the Whosoever Gospel Mission and 30 packs for the seniors in need at the Philadelphia Protestant Home. 

The lovely NEPCA calendar and greeting cards are designed and made mainly by our youth volunteer team. 2024 is the year of the Dragon in Chinese culture, so many dragon elements are in our designs, representing the Year of the Dragon. Dragons also symbolized the presence of a strong positive force in Chinese culture (and the same influence throughout Eastern Asia). We wish everyone good health and a positive spirit. The design has a white dove singing. Through it, we send a message of LOVE, PEACE, and HARMONY, wishing that everyone in the community can be kind to others, so we can build a safe and better community together.

Our greeting card message comes from the “love and kindness” mindfulness meditation phases: “May you be SAFE, may you be HAPPY, may you be HEALTHY, may you LIVE WITH EASE.” We all need these wishes to come true. One can adapt these wishes to wish for ourselves, the people we care about, and everyone in the world to have the same blessings. Cultivating good thoughts every moment using these phases can bring peace and kindness to ourselves and others, which would empower us to overcome many challenges in this post-pandemic difficult time. 

Lastly, we want to thank the following recent sponsors and donors who provided funding for NEPCA’s charity project and our operation: 

Adwa Home care 
Asian Mosaic Fund
Ben Thanh Supermarket
Community On Rise
Echelon Care Rehab Center
National Wholesale Liquidators
Philadelphia Activities Fund
Philip Jaisohn Memorial Foundation
Tookany Tacony Frankford Watershed


 


 



















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