Once again, about 80 friends and members of Sunflower Mission (SM) gathered on Saturday Dec. 10, 2005, at the residence of Anh Tuan and Chi Duy-Loan, to celebrate SM’s third annual Christmas holiday. This year gathering was even

more extraordinary with the 50th birthday of a director of SM’s board, Anh Cuong.

At the party, thanks and acknowledgment were given to our special members and friends. A brief 3 year progress along with SM’s five-year goal were mentioned. SM continues to beat its lofty goal of ‘at least 97 cents of every dollar raised goes to the cause’ as G&A came in at ~1.1% for the first 3 years in operation! A family work camp in Vietnam was shared with the entire audience, followed with a great dinner.

We celebrated this holiday with lots of laughter, warmth, and hope. The atmosphere was filled with music (by the two young and talented members), charmed with poems (by the advisors), and brightened with colors (by the beautiful festive decoration, attires and wonderfully plump balloons … from the games). The children especially fascinated with Santa Clause and his presents. They were competitive when competing with their elderly in contests. The children’s team won one out of two games. Great work!!!

The party was a great success considering the fact that SM is aiming at building a body from the base with family members as the core. As Chi Duy-Loan once mentioned “Our work is not just about promoting education and helping the needy but also about building the core (our children) who will continue our mission and therefore make a difference! And in the process they will always remember where they come from.”