Detailed News:
1. The 2003 Tampa Bay area Chinese New Year
Celebration Party was held on Jan. 26, 2003 in USF
Special Event Center. This year's celebration had
drawn more than one thousand local Chinese as well as over 100 American friends,
which made the party the biggest event in the Bay area Chinese communities. To
celebrate the Year of Goat, over 200 performers presented 16 art programs to the
audience including dancing, martial arts, Chinese custom show, solo performance,
east-west musical, children's choir and chorus, etc. The party was a very
successful one not only because it was the biggest one, the audience were also
deeply impressed with the party organization, the quality of show, the food, and
not to mention, the First Tampa Bay Chinese Photograph Show (see below).
--By Li, Lihua
--Editor: Cai, Xinang
2. One week before the Chinese New Year, Sujie Man,
a USF Chinese student, was involved in a serious family difficulty and we asked
all our community to lend a hand in helping her deal with the problems. We have
received a tremendous number of responses after we sent out the notice for
donations and helps. Our people donated money, helped the kid for school work,
and spent after-work time to help with the housework including preparing food,
taking care of the kids, etc. "My hard time is over thanks to our community and
our great people. I will remember forever and I will
help people who need hands", Sujie sincerely
expressed her appreciation with tears in her eyes when we visited her two weeks
ago.
As a big family, we are tied, we are sharing, and
we are working together to take care of each other. We are proud of our
community and our people.
Dr. Austell, the director of International Student
and Scholar Services at USF, recently sent a letter to Yu,Hanhua, the President
of CAAT, to express his appreciation for what CAAT had done in helping the
student. Below are the letter from Dr. Austell and the letter from Catherine
Seybold, a senior International student advisor:
--Letter from Dr. David Austell:
Dear Hanhua,
On behalf of the University of South Florida and
the division of International Affairs, I want to thank you, and all the members
of the Chinese-American Association of Tampa Bay and the Chinese community in
general, who gave their time, energy, and resources to help a person in extreme
need. I am greatly touched by the generosity shown by all the volunteers, and
I'm so thankful for all of you!
Blessings to you and your family, my friend, and
please give my kind regards to all involved.
Very best wishes,
David.
2.21.03
David B. Austell, Ph.D., Director
International Student and Scholar Services
University of South Florida, CPR
107
4202 East Fowler Avenue