Please read the following letter from the Sisters of the Witness to Faith. This time was more special. Instead of giving gifts to the poor in their homes, the Sisters invited the families to the Congregation to meet the Sisters and receive their gifts.

Dear Sister and Benefactors of the Hong An Association,

On behalf of the Sisters of the Witness to Faith and the people in Bao Loc, Vietnam, we want to thank you for your help and gifts. These acts of generosity have brought so much joy and happiness. It also motivates us on our mission and encourages us to live out our devotion to serve the poor. We wish you and the benefactors all the peace and blessings of God. 

Dear Sister,

Previously, we brought gifts to their homes. For the first time, I invited them to the Congregation to receive gifts and to adore the Blessed Sacrament and give thanks to God. Everyone is very happy, Sister.

I have distributed 151 portions under the program "Hong An Rice" to help people. I will distribute the scholarships at the end of the year to prepare for the new year. It will not be convenient to distribute them at the beginning of the year. I will write a report and send a picture later regarding the scholarship.

Life is very difficult at this time. We put our trust in God, Sister, because life is unpredictable. Live each day as it comes. The people here are very pitiful, they lost their crops and there’s COVID. There are places that are isolated, so the atmosphere is gloomy and dull. Most people don’t go out but stay indoors with their families. They’re afraid of meeting people and catching COVID then passing it to their families and around the village. This is the common burden of the whole world, right? Well, we have to pray for each other. May God take care of us.

Once again, on behalf of all of everyone, we would like to thank you, Sister and the benefactors of Hong An Association for sharing with us through prayers, concern and donations. May God repay you in abundance on our behalf. Please continue to pray, support, and love the people in this area.  Please support us as a congregation so that we can work with you to share the faith and love of God.

Sister ANNA NGUYEN THI N. 

Among the poor people selected by the Sisters of My Tho to receive food are the can and bottle collectors. The nuns said that some of them were known by the Sisters, while others were referred by other people in the area. It is a network of poor people referring other poor to the Sisters. 

      The people who collect bottles and cans describe the job as: "People’s trash is our rice and clothes because they throw out their trash, and we collect it.”

      There are a lot of risks with this job such as the bumpy roads while traveling with the collected trash can cause accidents or death.  The bottle collectors are very territorial, so there is competition and fighting if other collectors are in the area.   A small number of people are fortunate if they find a landfill where garbage trucks dump the trash. They have more opportunities to find scraps. However, standing on the piles of trash is very dangerous because of all kinds of sharp objects and crawling bugs.  Digging through piles of trash is smelly work.

       When accepting this job, they know that they will have to pick up trash, get very dirty and get sick with sinusitis from unsanitary conditions.  There are times when they find expired food but are unable to smell whether it is rotten, so they bring it home to eat.

          During the pandemic, many shops were closed, which had a serious impact on people who picked trash. For a long time, some only got a few plastic bottles and sold them at 4,000 VND / kg (17 cents / 1 kg); carton paper 1,500 VND / 1 kg (6 cents / 1 kg). They pray for good weather, because on a rainy days it is very difficult to collect bottles and wet boxes or paper cannot be sold.

        Bottle pickers often share that collecting trash is dirty, but they don't know what else to do. Some say that they don’t have anything to sell as street vendors or lottery ticket sellers, so this is their only option.

Each year, the Sisters send updated reports to Hong An Association regarding the changes of recipients for the rice program. Some of the  reasons for these changes are some recipients have passed away, or their families are now able to take care of them, or after the Sisters visited them, the family members became more aware and attentive to take care of their love ones. So, the Sisters quickly filled those open spots.There are so many poor people that it doesn’t take long to find a replacement. Many poor neighborhoods have the Sisters nearby so they are familiar with where the poor areas are.

          Each time the Hong An Association receives information regarding a new person's situation, the Association always feels grief and shock that people must live in such deprivation! We invite you to follow the stories of new people shared by the Sisters of the Holy Cross of Hung Hoa.

Among the recipients of the "Hong An Rice", 16 cases were changed:

- Death: 8 people (from someone born in 2011 (10 years old) to someone born in 1908 (113 years old).

- Family members were more attentive and took care of them: 3 people.

- Better economy: 5 people.

The Sisters have replaced 21 people as shown below.

The Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross of My Tho is another religious group cooperating with the Hong An Association.  The poor people being supported here are very special. The number of poor people is so large that the Hong An Association agreed to let the Sisters choose which poor people receive gifts every three months, based on the need. Besides the sick and elderly people, the Sisters help the lottery ticket sellers or bottle collectors.

The Hong An Association would like to tell the story of the poor people who sell lottery tickets on the streets. Most of them are elderly or disabled. Many of them sit on rickety hand quarts to move around.

       Each lottery ticket sells for about 10,000 VND (~45 cents). The seller will earn 1,000 VND per ticket (~4.5 cents). Selling more or less depends on each person. Every day, they walk about 20 km (12 miles), wandering around town to sell tickets.

         However, the lottery sellers’ worst fear is being followed and robbed of their tickets. There are thieves who dress in very nice clothes, sitting in nice cars, offering to buy more tickets.  But when the seller gives out more tickets, the thieves snatch the tickets and run away.   There is no way for these elderly or disabled ticket sellers to chase after them!

A second fear is that someone will fake a winning lottery ticket to exchange for money. If this happens, the sellers can only sit and cry over this sad situation. Many people said that: “Our life is already difficult because we have physical disabilities, and we are poor.  But we still try to earn a living.”

Understanding this sad situation, the Sisters of My Tho Cross always pay more attention to the disabled and elderly who sell lottery tickets. The Sisters said they either have to wait until late evening, when the poor people come from work, or find them on the street and put the gifts directly on their hand carts. Upon receiving gifts from the Sisters, these poor people are very happy! The Sisters said, "seeing them happy, makes us happy.”