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St. Lucy JourneysHere’s how four St. Lucy babiesturned outSome members of the St. Lucy committee2011Bazaar kicked off with fifteenvendors selling mostly jewelryand gifts, perfectly timed for theChristmas season.It was hands-down a successand the Bazaar continued eachyear, organized by a rotatingcommittee of expat ladies.The number of vendors hasmultiplied, and stood at 29last year. The event now offersa rich mix of items, includingcalligraphy scrolls, kitchenwareand even sports gear. “Everyyear it gets better and better,”says Victoria Bunao Olsen,whose jewelry and accessoriesare highly sought after. “Everyyear, I look forward to theBazaar.”Victoria is the only vendorthat has been with the Bazaarsince day one. It has beenso ‘fantastic’ for her jewelrybusiness that these days“people even ask for a preview,hoping to get the good stuff,”she adds with a laugh. It alsogenerates strong sales for LeeLee Heng, who runs a businessselling peasant paintings fromJinshan, China.Last year, over NT$600,000in funds were raised. “Weare really very grateful tothis annual benefit. It helpsa very great deal,” says SisterTherese Thong, the soft-spokenexecutive directress of theGood Shepherd Social WelfareServices Foundation of Taiwan,which runs the home.This is because St. Lucy’sdepends largely on the goodwillof ordinary folks. “We do notrun on big donations,” saysSister Therese. Approximately60% of the donations thehome receives each month arein small amounts of NT$100to NT$1,000 per donor. Thatmeans every little bit counts, sohurry and get your tickets tothis year’s Bazaar, which fallson November 17th and will beat the American Club.Sunita is originally from Malaysiaand moved to Taipei in 2008.She has worked as a journalistwith The Edge Singapore, andnow freelances with a businessweekly. She loves good food andwine, hiking and dogs.Quinn Tsai Ju TrinnamanQuinn was an extremely tinybaby with a compromisedimmune system and severeasthma. Fortunately for her,at four months of age, shewas placed in foster care withthe trinnaman family, whowent on to adopt her. Withplenty of love and care, Quinn has grown intoa confident and intelligent nine-year-old. Shestill suffers from bouts of asthma that can resultin pediatric IcU care about once a year but isotherwise active, fun-loving, and extremely proudof her taiwanese heritage.Jaylen Hsing YunTrinnamanJaylen was placed with thetrinnaman family after theyreturned to the US. At thetime, he was five-and-a-halfyears old and since birth hadbeen cared for by an amazingfoster family in southerntaiwan. He made a remarkable transition andblended in seamlessly with his new family.Jaylen is now 11 years-old and a brilliant student.He's very in tune with the needs of othersand is extremely responsible. He’s become aphenomenal basketball player and is known asthe “next Yao Ming” around the neighborhoodand at school.Lena Katherine Bruner andSamuel Frederick BrunerSigne Schilperoort and herhusband Fred bruner wereposted to taipei by AItbetween 1998 and 2001.After they returned to the US,they began thinking aboutadopting. through St. Lucy’s,they adopted their daughter, Lena, in August2004 and their son, Sam, two years later. bothchildren were ten months old when they joinedthe bruner family. “they were such healthy andhappy babies and they were so loved and caredfor at St. Lucy’s,” says Signe.the bruners have just returned to taiwan foranother posting, bringing Lena, now eight, andSam, now six, back to the land of their birthfor the first time since they left. both are nowlearning Mandarin in school. Lena is goodnatured, very creative and artsy, and very goodat drawing. Sam loves to make the family laughand is very sensitive and affectionate. He iscurrently obsessed with Lego, Star Wars: TheClone Wars, and anything to do with computers.Staff at the St. Lucy center in tainan with a US family thatadopted a child with special needswww.communitycenter.org.tw october 201119