Holiday Happenings already......

The Pearl S. Buck House Festival of Trees opened to the public on Tuesday, and it looks awesome!  Each room in the house has been decorated by a community group, business, or organizaiton.  The entire house was transformed and has a wonderful holiday feeling which put me in the mood for our Holiday Members' Event on Tuesday evening.  It was a nice evening with over 115 people attending.  The food was deliciously catered by Temperance House  (http://www.temperancehouse.com/) and our members seemed to enjoy the evening and even did a little Holiday shopping in our gift shop.  Our wonderful volunteers are now off getting ready for our annual juried craft show which opens the day after Thanksgiving for a 10 day period.  For the third year in a row, employees from Prodesco (http://www.prodesco.com/) spent the day with us yesterday helping to transform the cultural center into a winter wonderland for the craft show.  I am so grateful for the wonderful support of all of the men and women who help us carry out the dreams and legacy of Pearl S. Buck. I can't wait until the craft show opens and hope to do some holiday shopping before my upcoming trip to Korea and China on December 1st.  More on the trip in my next blog.
Janet L. Mintzer
President & CEO
http://www.pearlsbuck.org/

Lots of activity at Pearl S. Buck International today...

It was an incredible day!  Pearl S. Buck International was rocking with activity.  Reed Technology & Information Systems http://www.reedtech.com/ hosted a Fall Festival for their employees in our beautiful garden tent.  Their event started off with a guided tour of the Pearl Buck House www.psbi.org/house and included a delicious pig roast provided by All About Catering http://www.all-about-catering.com/.  At the same time, the Rotary Club of Doylestown http://www.doylestownrotary.org/ gathered for their board meeting on the first floor of the Cultural Center, and immediately after held their membership meeting and a buffet dinner on the 2nd floor. Concurrently, in our main office, our Welcome House program www.psbi.org/welcomehouse hosted an open house information meeting for families to learn about our adoption programs, while our weekly Yoga class met in another area of the building. 

It was great to see so much activity and the legacy of Pearl Buck reaching out to so many people at the same time. 
Janet Mintzer
President & CEO
Pearl S. Buck International
http://www.pearlsbuck.org/

Sherry Tinsman Pearl Buck Bracelet

I'm so excited that Sherry Tinsman, well-known Bucks County Metalsmith, has designed a beautiful new bracelet which is being sold in the Pearl S. Buck International Gift Shop.  It will be sold online on our website in a few days.  You can see the photographs to know that it is beautiful and describes so well the founder of Pearl S. Buck International.  Sherry has been a jeweler for 21 years working out of her Bucks County Studio.  You can visit her website at http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1slqm/sherry_frames.htm.  Most importantly, come and visit the Pearl Buck House and our renovated International Gift Shop.  It is the first place you enter when visiting our international headquarters and is filled with beautiful items from around the world. 

Happy shopping,
Janet Mintzer
President & CEO
http://www.pearlsbuck.org/

Trip to Vietnam

I had a wonderful 2 week trip to Vietnam. (And it has taken me two weeks to catch up!) It was vacation, actually, but I spent two days with Pearl Buck staff at our office in Vietnam. Currently staff in Vietnam consists of a Country Director, bookkeeper and sponsorship manager. In Vietnam, we primarily serve children living in 6 orphanages through our sponsorship program. The office moved to new quarters since my last visit, and I was happy to see the space was larger than I expected and in good condition. I also enjoyed lunch with two of our advisory board members who were talking about a fundraising dinner the board is organizing. It was great to see the board so engaged and committed to expanding our programs. I must confess, however, the highlight of the trip was meeting with my sponsored daughter, Loan, who I've been matched with since she was in ninth grade. (She is now married and pregnant.) After she graduated from the orphanage, she didn't have many options for the future. Her mother placed Loan and her four siblings in the orphanage when she was very young after her father passed away, because she worked on a silkworm farm earning very little money and couldn't afford to raise her children. Loan would have had a similar future if our program did not fund her tuition, room and board for two years so she could attend vocational school to become a seamstress. Loan and her husband took the day off from work for my visit. They met our car on a highway, and we followed her husband's motorbike down many small dirt roads to her modest home. I was the first "foreigner" in her "hamlet", so neighbors and family gathered around to see me. I entered Loan's house and sat on a small plastic chair. While we shared stories, everyone stood around and others poked their head in the door. It was funny to be the main attraction and a wonderful feeling to see Loan grown and employed as a seamstress. We drove back to the city and had lunch in an Italian restaurant, which was the second time Loan ever ate in a restaurant (the first time was my trip there 2 years ago), and first time she ever ate western food. When we hugged goodbye, it was with joy. Tears of happiness streamed down my face as I walked into my hotel. My husband gave me a big hug, understanding the emotion I was feeling. What an exhilarating experience to sponsor a child so many years and see her as a productive member of society, with a husband and a baby on the way. What a wonderful vacation!

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

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/

Exciting day with Pearl Buck's children

It was a great day at Pearl S. Buck International this past Saturday with a reunion of four of Pearl Buck’s children on what would have been Pearl S. Buck's 118th birthday. Henriette Walsh-Wilson visited from San Francisco for the first time in 20 years with her husband, Sandy, and their son, Jonathan. Henriette was greeted by her brothers Richard and John and sister Janice. It was an incredible day. I actually felt emotional seeing them all together. Henriette had great memories that we had not heard before, typical of a daughter, in terms of patterns of silver, stemware, and locations of paintings etc. John and Richard saw their re-created bedrooms for the first time since our renovation was completed this past April.  Our curator, Donna Rhodes, was writing the entire time we toured the house to capture their remarks.  Henriette’s husband, Sandy, is part of the Alexander String Quartet, (http://www.asq4.com/), and he said he would love to perform here sometime in the future. What a wonderful day for the family to come together and walk through their childhood home.  It is a day I will always remember.

Janet L. Mintzer
President & CEO
http://www.pearlsbuck.org/
jmintzer@pearlsbuck.org

Starting our blog

Welcome!  This is the beginning of a blog that will be written by the management team at Pearl S. Buck International to inform the public about happenings at Pearl S. Buck International.  We agree this is an amazing place to work with many great things going on each day, yet we feel that we are the best kept secret in Bucks County.  From this day forward, we hope to share with you more about the exciting legacy of Pearl S. Buck which continues here in Hilltown Township, Bucks County, PA, USA. 

This week, we have an exciting event before us.  On Thursday evening, June 24th, 5-7pm, we will be hosting a business member's reception and networking event in our garden tent.  This is open to business people in our area.  It is the second year we hosted this networking event which provides a great way for us to showcase our beautiful gardens, the Pearl S. Buck House, and our membership program.  You can register to attend at www.pearlsbuck.org/businessreception. 

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