As a mother, have you ever thought of the pain you will have to go through if one day your child suddenly went away and you would never be able to see her/him again? It was the emotion that my sister had gone through as her beautiful daughter, Catherine Tran, passed away suddenly after a tragic bus accident. How could you cope with the tremendous grief of losing your own child? How could you find your calm when you had to attend your own daughter’s funeral? The sadness was just like a deep hole that drained all of your energy…
It was at those darkest moments when my sister and brother-in-law’s families made the decision to give birth a beautiful organization, the Catherine Tran Charity Team, to honor their daughter’s passion in helping others. Being a young girl growing up in Toronto, Canada, Catherine Tran not only was a well rounded excellent student, she also had a golden heart. Her love for others and her compassion were shown when she was only nine years old by giving all the money she got from winning a piano competition to buy supplies and books for the poor students at the orphanage she visited with her parents in her first trip back to Vietnam. Catherine always exuded a sense of compassion, a sense of caring to everyone who was around her. Her passing created such a shock to all her friends who knew her at the high school she attended. They organized a memorial service and sold more than 1000 black ribbons to raise money to buy gifts for poor children for the holiday that year in the honor of Catherine.
And although 2009 marked the end of her short life on this earth, Catherine Tran’s departure has inspired her parents and both of their families to start a new beginning, a beautiful journey of love and service with Catherine Tran Charity Fund established to bring joy and happiness to the children and needy families around the world, in the schools where she attended in Canada, in rural areas of Vietnam through the building of bridges, houses and clean water well, in those areas affected by natural disasters being Japan, Pakistan, Haiti… to name a few!
As we celebrated Catherine’s 25th birthday (if she were still here) this summer, I want to remember her gift of loving and sharing with this beautiful song composed by the born blind guitarist Nguyen, Duc Dat from California to honor her spirit. As we celebrate Catherine Tran Charity in November this year for its 9th anniversary, we send her our deepest love and appreciation for teaching us the lesson of compassion, love and giving. Catherine Tran Charity has delivered 2,200 toys to poor children in Canada through CTV’s Toy mountain, provided over $30,000 in scholarships and youth programs in Canada, completed 38 infrastructure bridges, 311 clean water wells, 6 kindergarten centers, 14 homes for poverty-stricken families in rural areas of Vietnam and providing support to disaster relief in Haiti, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Japan and recently provided support for a center in Kenya for poor children. The list goes on…
Thank you Catherine Tran for teaching us the gift of love and service. You helped us to transcend the sadness of grieving into something beautiful and meaningful.
Anhlan the Coach 