Delegation from Namdon, Republic of Korea Tours Pearl S. Buck House

On Tuesday, July 20th we received a phone call alerting us to the fact that a delegation from Namdong, Republic of Korea wanted to visit Pearl S. Buck International and tour the National Historic Landmark home of our founder, Pearl S. Buck at the end of the week.  While staff was aware of the delegations weeklong visit to Bucks County in honor of the First Anniversary of the signing of the "21st Century Alliance" agreement between Bucks County and Namdong, since Janet Mintzer served on the planning committee, the week long itinerary had not included a visit to our site.  We were honored and very happy to quickly make arrangements for the groups visit on Saturday, July 24th.

Accompanied by Donna Rhodes, Curator of the Pearl S. Buck House, and Elizabeth Mah  (Korean American high school student) our volunteer Docent for the group, I welcomed Hwang Heung Goo (Vice Mayor of Namdong District), Yoon Tae Jin (Former Mayor of Namdong District), and the other 8 members of their delegation, an interpreter and photographer to PSBI's new Welcome Center, Gift Shop and Awards Room prior to their tour of the Pearl S. Buck House.  While the visit was brisk (taking only 45 minutes in total), it was a very enjoyable visit and tour of the House as the delegation asked questions and expressed their appreciation by presenting us with a donation to PSBI.

Elizabeth did an outstanding job of engaging our visitors and interpreting the Awards Room and House in Korean.  Several members of the planning committee, including Tom Jennings (also a member of PSBI's Board of Directors), Vail Garvin (Executive Director of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce) and Beverly Miller accompanied the delegation and enjoyed shopping in our new gift shop while the group took its tour.

All in all, it was a whirlwind tour and much enjoyed by all involved.

Teri Mandic
Vice President of Operations
Pearl S. Buck International

Meeting with Ning Shao and good news from Valerie Harper

I'm happy to report that Valerie Harper has agreed to serve on our Honorary Board!   Valerie is so down-to-earth and a long time fan of Pearl S. Buck. What an honor it is for us to have her on our Board.  But I still have not heard back from Apl.de.ap's agent about his willingness to serve on our Honorary Board...I'll post more about this later (hopefully!)

I had a special meeting with Ning Shao and May Wang and their beautiful children this past Saturday.  Ning and his family were visiting from Shanghai.  Ning is the chief executive of the Shanghai Representative Office serving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The office is sponsored by the PA Department of Community and Economic Development in collaboration with private-sector businesses to help PA companies penetrate the Chinese market as well as attract Chinese direct investment to PA. Essentially, the company promotes U.S. business interest in China. (http://www.pausa.org.cn/)  Ning's wife, May, is a long-time Pearl Buck fan, so they enjoyed learning more about Pearl S. Buck International (especially our scholarship program in Zhenjiang China) and touring the historic home of Pearl S. Buck.  In addition to assisting PA businesses, the office also assists with travel.  Ning is working on bringing tour groups operators to PA, through Philadelphia, Bucks County, Lancaster and Hershey.  I will be sure to visit Ning's office next time I am in China. 

I'm off for a two week vacation to Vietnam with my husband to celebrate our 35th Anniversary.  But, of course, I will spend two days with our Country Director Hang Pham Minh in Hanoi, meeting with our Vietnam Advisory Board members and others.  I'm most excited that we will be visiting Loan, the young woman we have sponsored since she was 12 years old.  Loan is now married and expecting her first child.  I'll write more when I return. 

My best,
Janet L. Mintzer
President & CEO
Pearl S. Buck International
http://www.pearlsbuck.org/
jmintzer@pearlsbuck.org

Katherine Heigl

I sent letters to Katherine Heigl http://www.kheigl.com/, Apl.de.ap (aka Allan Pineda) http://www.apldeap.com/ of the Black Eyed Peas and Valerie Harper http://www.valerieharper.com/ asking them to consider being on our Honorary Board in line with the governance plan of our Board of Directors to build our honorary board.  As famous as she is, Katherine Heigl is a sponsor in our Opportunity House program and her sister was adopted through our Welcome House program.  Apl.de.ap., a part of the hip-hop group, Black Eyed Peas, was a beneficiary in our Philippines sponsorship program.  He was actually adopted by his sponsor when he was fourteen and came to live in the USA. Valerie Harper, on the other hand, has been a long time supporter and friend.  She co-wrote and performed a one-woman play about the life of Pearl S. Buck which was fabulous.  She was recently on broadway in "Looped" and was nominate for a Tony award for her performance.  I'm happy to say that I received my first reply from Katherine Heigl’s mother who told me her daughter would be honored to be on our honorary board. Katherine (or Katie as her mom called her) will be making a movie this summer in Pittsburgh.  I invited her to come to visit the Pearl Buck House if she has any down time while the movie is in process.  It would be great for her to see the legacy of Pearl S. Buck in action and our beautiful property which is in full bloom right now.  One down, two to go!

Janet L. Mintzer
President & CEO
Pearl S. Buck International
http://www.pearlsbuck.org/