Friday, September 6, 2013

Gracious Giving

Grace and gracious.....two lovely words....meaning elegance and beauty or divine blessing. Both meanings apply to the recent gifting through Journeys of the Heart, to Children's Education Foundation in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Our dear friend Carole Earle Musgrave died recently. Carole was a brilliant, funny lady. Her friendships were many. She was a lover of words and books; in fact Carole was an early and patient editor of the manuscript of our book Back to Vietnam: Tours of the Heart. Throughout the years Carole was also a staunch supporter of Journeys of the Heart and so was her book club....the Red Tent Book Club. The RTBC annually donated funds for libraries in remote villages.

I was very moved when one of the RTBC members e-mailed me to say that they would like very much to donate funds for a library in memory of Carole. I immediately thought of Linda Hutchinson-Burns' attempts to build a traveling library for the girls whose education CEF sponsors. These girls from poor families have no access to books and often are not close to a library. Some villages and schools simply do not have libraries.

We all agreed that this would be a sweet way to remember Carole and now Linda and her staff are happily shopping for books. Each one is stamped with the quote "Today a Reader: Tomorrow a Leader" and " This Book is from your Auntie Carole in Canada, who loved books".

The book topics range from fairy tales, to the environment, science, nature, art and self-improvement and the Auntie Carole library is still growing.




Remembering a friend, colleague or family member with a donation to a cause close to their hearts is a gracious way to honour their memory. We have also received gifts to honour birthdays, graduations, promotions and life milestones.

Thank you to the Red Tent Book Club for remembering Carole Earle Musgrave in this gracious way. 

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