QUINCY − A city woman is sending a message to refugee children passing through Quincy: they are loved.

Thuy Leung, owner of Eye Lush Salon on Hancock Street, got 1,500 teddy bears, each one dressed in a blue T-shirt emblazoned with the motto, "Quincy Loves You," as gifts for every refugee child passing through Eastern Nazarene's processing center and temporary shelter. For Leung, it feels like a gift to her former self. At age 8, she and three siblings fled southern Vietnam on a fishing boat.

"My journey was tough," Leung said. "As a kid, I remember all I wanted was a teddy bear."

Since last summer, homeless refugee families fleeing poverty and violence have stayed at Eastern Nazarene College, a waystation before hopefully finding permanent housing.

Leung's story of the teddy bears began at a contentious community meeting at Central Middle School in September.

In her speech before the crowd of supporters and critics of ENC's refugee assistance program, Leung shared her own refugee story.

Many in the audience feared that the new visitors would burden the city's resources and create security issues, while others wondered why immigrants should receive help when so many veterans struggle with homelessness and addiction.

On the spur of the moment, she came up with the idea of donating teddy bears, thinking back to her hard journey and childhood wish.

"I imagine all the little kids as myself," she said.

Fighting back tears, she appealed to the assembly for help. She said the response was warm and energetic. "Everyone in their seats was turning around, saying 'I’ll help you with a teddy bear drive.'"

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Leung said the families at the shelter are probably more fearful than anyone.

"They went through a very tough journey to get here," she said. "They just want to settle down and be a part of American life."

Leung was born to a large Catholic family in southern Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, her family had ties to the South Vietnamese government, which fought alongside U.S. forces against the communist government of North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh.  

When South Vietnam fell and the U.S. withdrew in defeat, life was hard for Vietnamese aligned to the defeated side. Leung said her family was targeted.  

In 1986, when Leung was only 8, she and three older siblings boarded a fishing boat. All four children were under 16 years old. After 10 days and nights on the open sea, and an attack on their boat by pirates, they landed in Indonesia, where they stayed in a refugee camp.  

Fortunately, a Lutheran couple from Virginia brought Leung and her siblings to the United States, becoming their foster parents. All four lived with the couple for two years, until their foster mother developed breast cancer and could no longer provide for them.  

At the point, Leung and her siblings were split up, each going to a different group or foster home. Fortunately, an adult brother tracked them down and became their guardian. The reunited family settled in Amherst, where Leung spent the rest of her childhood. 

An Eastern Nazarene official and some students have personally distributed the bears to children staying at the temporary shelter on two occasions, once on Valentines Day and again on Easter.

"They were so excited," said L. Michaels, the college's director of missional engagement and community development. "They were hugging them. As families are leaving to go to more permanent sites, I watch the kids. They're still clinging onto the bears."

Due to safety and privacy concerns, Leung cannot personally give out the bears and see the kids' reactions.

"I imagine myself in all those kids, and I don't know who they are," she said.

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Michaels said that the necessary focus of service providers on urgent needs can lead a gap on the more human, intangible needs, especially for the children. Like the need to have a stuffed comfort toy.

"For the kids, it’s been a really big deal just to have something that belongs to them," she said. "It allows them a moment to just be children again."

The stuffed bear is brown and fluffy, big enough to fill a child's embrace, but small enough to travel easily. It wears a blue shirt with a big heart in the middle, inscribed with the message, 'Quincy Loves You.'

Leung said she that many people held signs with the heart symbol outside of the community meeting where she first shared her story and appealed for help with the teddy bears.

She decided to write the words "Quincy Loves You" not only to make the kids feel welcome and loved, but to create a positive memory in the midst of uncertainty.

"When these kids move around, they're going to have these teddy bears that say, 'Quincy Loves You.' They're going to remember the word Quincy, and hopefully they will have a positive memory of their stay in Quincy," Leung said.

That's 1,500 memories of Quincy, and 1,500 messengers carrying Leung's and Quincy's message through the state. Michaels said that the gift is enough for all the refugees passing through the city.

"We expect to give a bear to every child that comes through this shelter for a long time," she said.

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News Source : https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2024/05/01/quincy-ma-thuy-leung-gives-teddy-bears-to-refugee-children-eastern-nazarene-college/73456147007/