Helping the Less Fortunate is Serving the Lord

Following Supreme Master Ching Hai’s noble examples and with a wish to serve God’s children, the San Jose Center often actively engages in activities to enhance our neighborhood. Recently, an opportunity arose for volunteer groups to participate in a landscaping project. We submitted our application to the City of San Jose in support of its “San Jose Beautiful” initiative to assist senior-citizen homeowners, and people with disabilities to beautify the city without imposing substantial cost or labor on the part of the inhabitants. Officials from the City of San Jose eventually contacted us and inquired whether we could help landscape the yard of Mr. & Mrs. Bolton, an 82-year-old disabled World War II veteran and his wife.

The City of San Jose essentially purchased all the materials and drafted the plan; our job was to implement it. When we arrived at the Boltons’ residence, two representatives from the City of San Jose, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Marty Pardun, were already there. We were later joined by a staff member from the City Councilman’s office, in whose district the Boltons reside. We learned that Mr. Jamie Matthews was one of the people at the City Council who had drafted and helped to pass the law requiring all houses in Santa Clara county to have their front yards landscaped. We were cautioned at the very beginning by the representatives from the City of San Jose, that we should expect the job to take us two days over the weekend on May 5 and 6. They repeated this timetable to us a number of times in order to set our expectations.

It was an older house; Mrs. Bolton told us that she had been brought home there as a baby and raised in the house. The property was part of an old prune farm dating back at least to the 1920s or before.

The yard was covered with weeds, as neither of the Boltons was able to keep it up due to advanced age. On the other hand, it was graced by a very large and beautiful California peppercorn tree.

Our brothers and sisters arrived, quickly donned their Supreme Master Ching Hai vests and got to work. With picks and shovels, we quickly cleared one side of the property, put down weed blocker, bedded new plants, and put down mulch. Seeing our rapid progress in only an hour, Mr. Matthews commented, “You’re going to need to slow down!” to which a fellow sister-initiate replied, “Clearly, you have never met us before; we work fast!”

Progress continued at a steady pace, which seemed effortless. About two and a half hours into the project, we overheard the two city representatives expressing amazement at our progress and commenting that it would have taken 50 people to do as much work as our team of 15 people had done in that period of time. Clearly, Master’s power was at work!

For lunch, we ordered some of our favorite dishes from Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Vegetarian House to share with everyone at the work site. At first, Mr. Pardun cautiously took very small helpings of the food and picked at it very carefully - not sure what to expect from vegetarian food. Within a few moments of tasting the food, his eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise as he realized that it actually tasted good. He later commented that he planned to come into the restaurant for lunch sometime with some of his friends and co-workers, as their offices in the City Hall were very close.

After lunch, both Mr. Matthews and Mr. Pardun felt sufficient confidence in us to leave and allow us to finish on our own. We completed the project shortly after lunch and invited the Boltons out to see the improvements. They were both very excited and pleased. In spite of the fact that he had recently been released from the hospital, Mr. Bolton came outside to take a look and enjoy his new beautiful view. Mrs. Bolton told us that she wanted to come down to the restaurant and try the food, and that she hoped to see us there.

Our sisters and brothers bid farewell to the Boltons, and left their residence feeling warm and peaceful inside. It was yet another day in which all of us were grateful for so much of God’s blessings. In addition, it was a wonderful opportunity to reach out and connect with our community and to serve the Lord, our neighbors, and ultimately ourselves.