Helping HOPE HOUSE
Ever since Duke wrote to me on Facebook, he has been very friendly, helpful and was there doing whatever he could do when I was trying to save Sue the labrador retriever. In one of his messages, he told me about Hope House, which is where he works and gives his time.
I visited their website and I am very happy to see the good work they are doing for the homeless in Dubuque. It reminds me of what Kechara Soup Kitchen is doing here in Malaysia – feeding the homeless and helping them to get back on their feet and become independent contributing members of society. I wanted very much to help them in some way.
On their website is a wish list of things and I had my assistant BK call them up to find out more.
Duke picked up the phone – he was there and he was very helpful to get us the information we needed.
And I will be sponsoring the following for Hope House.
- Cloth Napkins (40) – $30
- Deodorant (20) – $40
- Socket Wrenches (1 set) – $50
- Razors (10 packs) – $30
- Household cleansers – $30
- Frisbees and Soccerball – $30
- Toilet Paper – $20
- Total = $230
I will also create a link to Hope House on this blog and on my website to help them create more awareness of what they are doing. They are sincere, doing very good work and I will support them.
Tsem Tulku
Thank you so much for your help with the wish list. These are things that sound small, but are very needed for a place like Hope House. These are things that are often taken for granted, but are very important to our guests.
We also present what we call “Round Table Discussions”, where we invite the community to participate in a discussion on one of the many issues we face in society today, such as homelessness, poverty, religion, and community. We hold these twice a month and usually get a good turn out, as well as stimulating discussion. About three months ago I presented an overview of Tibetan Buddhism and was happy to see four Sisters from the Sisters of the Presentation convent sitting at the table to listen in.
We also hold an inter-faith prayer service every day that is meant to be all inclusive and nurturing.
The whole house is about to sit down for a community meal and we are expecting about 35-40 people to come and break bread with us here at the house. Before we eat at 6pm, I am going to share with all of our guests the news about your gift and support. I can’t wait to share this with everyone. I will let you know how it goes…
Duke
Way to go Duke, its nice to know about how some other folks are doing community work with the homeless folks .
Thank you Wai Meng.
I shared with the community the good news last night at our community news. Many people seemed to know that something was going on…I must not be very good at hiding my excitement. Anyways, when I explained to the group about the gift of support from Rinpoche, people seemed genuinely amazed…that a Buddhist Master from the other side of the globe had taken interest in our humble Hope House! Many had questions about Rinpoche and who he was and it was wonderful to share with them more about Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and Kechara House.
We are going shopping today for the supplies that you have sponsored and we will share the pictures when we are done.
How exciting for Hope House to have a connection to Tsem Rinpoche. How fortunate we are.
Thanks again for everything Rinpoche!!
Hope House loves you!!!!
Yes, helping homeless people is really important because they have nobody else than associations. They are totally dependant of the care of others persons.
In the Soup kitchen I was benevole, we asked food from supermarket (1-2 days before the end date bast before. We had a lot by this way and we made a hot soup to give in street with fresh vegetables. It was really hard to see all these people oustide by -4 -5 degrees, we have to help them. Give one or two hours of our time in a week seems nothing but a lot for them.
I work with homeless animals and homeless people in Canada. It is very cold here in the winter so they suffer a lot. In summer it is very hot and hard to find water in some places. With the animals you can see the love in their eyes when you try to help them, feed them, care for them…there is no doubt. And whenever we run our feeding spot for homeless people on the downtown east side of Vancouver we are overwhelmed with the love we receive from people living in such misery it is unimaginable. You would think they would feel bitter, seeing such luxury beside their own poverty…but when we are on the street handing out food and water the people are constantly giving us thanks and blessings, even when we have little to offer them but some water and snacks…it seems just as important that we are there with them, sharing our lives, as it is to give them things they need. I guess, like the animals, humans need love and understanding as much as we need food and water.
Dear Roslyn,
Does your group have a blog or website or have more information you can email me please. I want to know more about feeding the animals in the winters of Vancouver please.
Sincerely,
Tsem Tulku
Dear Tsem Tulku, the West Coast Spay and Neuter Society has a website at http://members.petfinder.org/~BC23/index.html The founder of the group Kathe Jeffries a woman who has dedicated her life to helping animals, is currently living on a northern property without a satellite phone by her own wishes, largely due to the constant harrassment of the BCSPCA. Many of us in the no-kill animal rescue groups have come under fire of the BCSPCA (B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) due to our efforts to overturn their kill policies and reform animal legislation in favour of the animals. The SPCA income is also down as people turn to groups that put 100% of their money towards direct animal aid (vet bills, medicine, food) rather than only 10% (as is the case with the BCSPCA, with its 6 figure salaries and high kill rates). In addition, we have been making presentations to municipal councils to encourage them to open local no-kill municipal shelters operated transparently and welcoming to the public and the animals, rather than paying the SPCA to do “animal control” in the form of the lucrative pound contracts. Many local municipalities are now running their own animal shelters, which are then accountable to the public and subject to the concerns of the electorate on animal care. The BCSPCA has an exemption to the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and can therefore do their looting and killing away from public view. I put a call in to the West Coast Spay and Neuter number to make sure that the mailing address is still working as Kathe is no longer in Mission. I have some donated surgical supplies to share with her and other groups and need to get them up to her as I am sure she will be able to use them. I work with homeless cats in the lower mainland and run five feeding sites, spaying and neutering, and fostering special needs cats like diabetics, renal cases, recuperating animals etc. which is self-funded mostly, with donations from other activists, vegans, and family covering about 20% of costs. I also work organizing with like-minded individuals to encourage various levels of governments to reform animal laws and create safe healthy happy ecologies for people and animals. The people who volunteer for the West Coast Spay and Neuter Society are good kind people, and have suffered a lot for their conviction. They are to be commended for continuing their work under such difficult conditions. Thank you for your interest and caring. Please let me know if you have more questions. And thank you for helping with Hope House, I can see from their wish list that they are helping really at the grassroots level.
It’s fantastic to see support groups and organisations like Hope House provide help and vital assistance to homeless people, who find themselves in extremely difficult and unfortunate circumstances.
People like Duke are very inspirational, and again – like everyone at Kechara – here’s another example of how anyone can work to help others in such a beneficial way.
I also love that, through the wonders of the Internet, so many more people canbe supported by others from anywhere in the world, which otherwise would be very difficult to achieve. Hopefully, many more people will continue to help others in their plight through global communication. So often, the Internet gets a bad press, but as we can see from this story, there is so much good that comes from such amazing innovations, helping people to come together to support one another.
Kind regards,
Sandy
It is so fortunate that Duke had written to Rinpoche on Facebook. That is why facebook is very important. The people working in organisation like feeding and helping the homeless can be located and help will be easily sort for. You can see Duke the person in charge of Hope house was so grateful and excited when he received the amount of $230 donation although it is small. Rinpoche does not only concentrate on feeding and helping the Malaysian but his compassion and kindness spreads universally. Rinpoche is not being kind only to human but also to animals. Rinpoche does not care what religion your organisation is. Its just to help.