History of Blessing Hands
Blessing Hands began in the fall of 2005 as a simple fund to provide tuition supplements for 185 primary and 31 lower middle school children in the Yangshuo County Schools, for a total of 216 children in 30 rural schools. Teachers at a 2005 summer English camp, where Betty Cutts was teaching, reported the names of students in their classes who could not afford tuition for the coming semester. The Blessing Hands Blog started August 29, 2005 as a report on Betty Cutts’ visit to rural schools and summer English camp experiences.
To raise money for these first 216 students, Betty Cutts spoke at
clubs and small groups concerning the needs of these students and
sent Internet reports and appeals for help for the students. At
first there were no firm plans to incorporate or become a nonprofit
charity. In January of 2006 the Chinese Government made an
announcement that rural children in Western provinces under 15 years
of age would receive free tuition. This change was announced to
Blessing Hands donors and adjustments were made to the new situation
for the children already enrolled in Blessing Hands, and high school
students, who could not pay their tuition, were added to our rolls.
In late February of 2006, Founding Family Charitable Foundation gave
Blessing Hands a grant of $25,000 with matching funds up to $15,500,
offered until December 31, 2006. This grant came because of an
e-mail that was forwarded to the Foundation by a mutual friend. With
these new funds, plans were made to increase the number of Yangshuo
County students receiving educational aid to 282. 104 primary
students received textbooks, school supplies, and other school needs
at $10 per child. 73 lower middle school children received
textbooks, school supplies, and other school needs at $25 per
student, and 83 higher middle school children received tuition. The
total Yangshuo fall program was budgeted at $8,501. Three partial
college scholarships of $500 were also budgeted for Blessing Hands
graduating seniors from Yangshuo at any college where they would be
accepted.
A new program was also begun in the fall of 2006 in Qinzhou, China
to serve 180 higher middle school students. Anna Liu from Qinzhou
No. 1 Middle School became the administrator over the Qinzhou area.
Anna had been the administrator of a summer English camp where Betty
Cutts taught in the summer 2004. She also was a visiting scholar in
Morehead, Kentucky for nine months in 2006 and got to know Betty
Cutts well.
Blessing Hands was incorporated in the State of Kentucky as a
nonprofit April 13, 2006 and received IRS status as a 503 (c)(3)
nonprofit charity July 14, 2006. Initial board members were Jeff
Fannin, Phyllis Nickel, Steve Chen, and David and Betty Cutts.
By-laws were passed at the first board meeting that took place on
June 18, 2006. The fiscal year was set from August 1st –
July 31st
at that first meeting. Betty Cutts was elected Chairman, David Cutts
was Treasure, Phyllis Nickel was Vice President, and Steve Chen was
Secretary of the first board. An Advisory Board was also selected
that was composed of Walson Li, Qiqi Wen, Malan Cai, and Emily Hsu.
The first 990EZ form submitted to the IRS (2005-2006) showed $55,084
in contributions.
Malan Cai, a professor at Guangxi Normal University in Guilin,
China, oversaw this initial program for the Blessing Hands Fund. She
had been a visiting scholar at Morehead State University and got her
masters degree at Morehead. She handled funds and communication
between the Blessing Hands Fund and Gloria Wei, the first Yangshuo
administrator for Blessing Hands. Gloria Wei also worked for the
Yangshuo County Educational Department as Director of Elementary
Teachers for Yangshuo County. Betty Cutts knew Gloria Wei, because
she was the administrator of the 2005 summer English camp in
Yangshuo where Betty taught.
