In 2008 while visiting my son, an English teacher in Qinzhou, China I entered his high school lunchroom to find a small cluster of students around an American woman with a translator. She was interviewing students who had asked for a scholarship to pay their tuition cost so they could remain in school. Their families were too poor to pay the modest fees charged by the public school system in China. As she qualified each student for a scholarship another would then sit down before her and present his request. The process seemed very straight forward. When the last student was through I introduced myself to Betty Cuts and was treated to a friendship that has lasted and lasted. I discovered she represented Blessing Hands Charity which, at that time only granted scholarships to high school and college aged students.

The funds that provide those scholarships come from donors who will correspond with the recipients and receive updates on their progress through the school year. When I learned that the Charity had no paid staff and all the funds went to the students I began to understand the dedication and commitment Betty had to provide the most benefit to each student possible. Since our first meeting the scope of the Charity has enlarged to provide pure drinking water to rural schools, medical aid to children of the most rural areas of China and this may only be the beginning of what I see as a total commitment to the peasant Farmer’s children of rural China.

Over the 6 years I was in China I supported several College students with scholarships through their university years and now follow their careers as they have left behind the peasant life they started in and have become productive participants in the Chinese ascension into the Global Economy.

The vision that started Betty on this amazing trip has continued to grow as her base of supporters pass on the word to others of what great things come from participation in Blessing Hands scholarships and projects.

Jerry Dickison