Written by Hoa Ta

Over 100 friends, members and supporters of Sunflower Mission (SM) gathered on Saturday Dec. 13, 2008 at the Dao-Le 's residence to celebrate Christmas holidays. All of us were able to put aside our worries and uncertainties in this extraordinary economic environment to enjoy a well- planned social event with family and friends.

After a full meal we gathered together in the main living room. Acknowledgements and appreciations were given to directors who just completed their terms and the annual unsung hero award this year was presented to Chu Tung, our webmaster from the very beginning, who has worked tirelessly and unselfishly behind the scene. Co Duy-Loan briefly went over many major accomplishments of SM over the past 6 years. She also restated SM's original ten years plan and how each 'soft' and 'hard' goal has been met with exceeded expectations over time. Notable accomplishments for the last 6 years are as followed:

1. Raised more than ONE MILLION dollars in 6 years (vs 10 year goal)
2. SM continues to keep G&A expenses under 3%, averaging 1.16%
3. Built 84 classrooms and will exceed 1-year goal of 100 in year 8
4. Gave out almost 5000 scholarships from elementary to college. Many of out students have graduated and now working
5. Our children, family and friends continue to be involved and they are an integral part of the organization

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Holiday atmosphere was fully filled with music and singing carols (led by Thay Truong, Chi Anh-Lan and many other talented singers). The children really enjoyed Santa Clause ' s appearance and his gifts (through the generosity of co Tram Mai). Laughs and joy were spread across the room as the games were being played. Teams were highly competitive in two contests with children's team won the first game and women's team won the Christmas tree contest. I must admit that their Christmas tree was well built and nicely decorated.

Overall the party was a great success. The event could not have been successful without Chu Tuan and co Duy-Loan; they generously opened their beautiful home for the event. Chi Khanh-Van and her sub teams (decoration, food, traffic control, greeting, clean up) did an outstanding job of planning and coordinating all logistics We hope that all of the attendees had a great time.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All of our support.

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