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Okay, so hello, today is May 27, 2020. And we're here with Mrs. Y. Ping Sun for the Houston Asian American Archive. Thank you so much for your time and being interviewed for this COVID-19

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project and contributing your voice at this time. So first I want to ask how are you doing? Oh, I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. I hope you are doing well too.

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Thank you. I know you've been working hard to help the Houston community through donating N-95 masks to the medical center as well as being on the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund Task Force.

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Can you talk a little bit about what you've been doing? Sure. In terms of, you know, donating masks to the medical center, it's really a very minor thing.

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It's just a friend who sent us some N-95 masks. And I feel like the front-liner, the doctors and nurses, they need those masks much more than we do.

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So that's why I discussed it with the family and they all agreed with me that these masks should go to the hospitals rather than, you know, being kept by us for our

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private use. And I know there are many other people out there have done exactly the same thing. In terms of Greater Houston

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COVID-19 Recovery Fund, this is a fund set up by both United Way Greater Houston and Greater Houston Community Foundation: these two nonprofit organizations to

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support the families and people in need in this pandemic, and this is also basically a joint effort for the city of

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Houston and Harris County. Actually, the fund not only covers Houston Harris County, but it also covers a couple of other counties as well, such as Fort Bend

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County. And so far, we've done two distributions. The first distribution was $1.5 million going to 30 nonprofit organizations.

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It was mainly covering the basic needs for food and the second round was just actually approved by the Task Force on May 21.

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The second round was larger. And the second round was over $8 million dollars. 8.15 or so million dollars going to 65 nonprofit

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organizations, again, mainly to cover basic needs. So that's just kind of the landscape of this fund. Okay, yeah. So for the first round, I researched that they were trying

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to serve vulnerable families and communities. And so I wanted to ask what communities is the recovery fund trying to help? This covers, I would say, mostly low income families and also include some Asian

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organizations such as Boat People and Chinese Community Center, of course, Baker Ripley and we also have East Harris County Empowerment Council, Easter Seals,

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Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels, and also Humble Area Assistance Ministries. 30 recipients, the nonprofit organizations, it really

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covers a broad range of the community. It also includes some churches, because they are the front liners such

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as Interfaith Caring Ministries and also Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and Montrose Counseling Center. So it really covers a

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broad range of the community. Yeah, very diverse list of nonprofits. So was it ever hard for you to help select these nonprofits or how did you choose these nonprofits?

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That's a very good question. Actually, my responsibility, I am on the task force. It consists of seven people and we do not review the actual applications.

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The task force's responsibility is to provide guidance for the grants committee. So there is also a grants committee that consists of people who are grant

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staff from the United Way and Greater Houston Community Foundation and couple of other endowments, foundations, because they review applications all the time. And so they have the expertise, and they go

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through the applications. For instance, this last round. The grants committee received 400 inquiries from nonprofit organizations.

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Eventually I think 108 organizations applied, so they reviewed every application and finally they decided on 65 nonprofit, nonprofit organizations to fund. I know how much work went into the review,

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because I had some personal experience during Harvey right after Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Turner and Judge Emmett set up a Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. And they asked me to serve as a

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Co-Chair of the grants committee. So from that work, we reviewed so many applications and I really know how much work the reviewers have put in, hours

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and hours of thoughtful analysis going into the review, so I really commend them for a wonderful job they've done.

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So after they review all the applications they gave us a list of recommendations, and then the task force members will have a meeting and have a discussion, basically, we will ask questions.

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Why? Why do you think , you know, we need to fund this organization versus that organization? And if so, you know, how much is appropriate.

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And so we always have very, I wouldn't say heated discussions, but really thoughtful discussions. Everybody expresses his or her opinion, and because we want to see the best

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use of this fund, to help those people who are so in need in this crisis in our community. And how did you become involved with this task force?

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And like when was it created? Well, I guess I've been quite involved in the community. I serve on the United Way board. And you know, Texas Children's Hospital, Asia Society

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Texas Center, and Teach For America, Hermann Park Conservancy. It's really interesting when the former CEO, Anna Babin of United Way, called me and she

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said that , you know, they were establishing this task force and set a- three people. There'll be seven members and three people will be coming from Greater Houston Community Foundation board and their

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recommendation and three people will be coming from United Way board. Even though I'm a United Way board member, but they hope that I will be the community representative because I'm so involved in the community.

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And so I just said, definitely! I am happy to serve. Because I really, truly love this community. Houston is a very special place.

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Yeah, and you guys have already amassed like a huge amount of donations. How have you seen the people in the Houston community rise up? Amazingly. So far we've raised

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about $15 million and some, like Brown Foundation, Houston Endowment, they all step in or companies and individuals. I'm so proud of the Chao Family.

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And they they are so generous. They've given to so many worthy causes in our community and their family they they are the foundation, the Chao family,

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the family foundation1 is one of the donors to to this COVID-19 recovery fund. So I just want to take this opportunity to thank the Chao

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family members and all the donors, individuals and corporations and foundations for their generosity in giving to this fund, we

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are really- we are all in this together. And so it's very touching to see the generous spirit coming out of our community in helping members of our community.

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Yeah, so I saw online that right now the second round was trying to assist with like domestic violence, which has risen since the quarantine orders and food insecurity in the homeless population.

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And what other areas of concern do you think will emerge? Or do you think these will have more like severity? Well, in addition to those issues you mentioned, we also funded nonprofit...

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helping immigrants. You know, we also funded legal nonprofit organizations, helping the the people with no status, and of

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course counseling service is another key area and we're also hoping to look into doing some system... system support funding.

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In other words, maybe providing some money to assist the non-profit organizations setting up a platform, so that in the future when crises like this happens, the nonprofit

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organizations will be able to talk to each other and so that they will be more efficient in helping the people in need. Okay. And, um, other than monetary donations, how else do

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you think people can help? Well, there are, of course, lots of ways by staying healthy that in itself is a great help. And, you

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know, try to maintain social distancing and wearing masks and all those things things are helpful. And also try to bring awareness and whether through social media or your friends circle.

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At this juncture, you know, we we really need to help each other. And this is probably also a good time to touch base with with some friends.

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For instance, I have a friend, we've worked at the same law firm, and but ever since I left and we really didn't have, you know, contacted each other but because of this pandemic, and we reconnected so this is another way

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of staying healthy, staying upbeat. And basically, I feel if we all abide by the CDC recommendations and

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guidelines, and we will be helping this whole situation a lot, and it's really hard to see. I know people all have cabin fevers, they they you know, they are kind of

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in quarantine for a while and they all want to rush out as soon as you say, okay, the beach is open, and the swimming pool is open. There are pictures of people crowding into a swimming pool, and I'm

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not sure that's the best way of dealing with the situation right now. Yeah, I agree. So yeah, how has your personal life been affected by the pandemic? Personal life it's

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well, you know, I have an extended family. Right now we are separated, even though we're only like, three minutes-drive away from each other.

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My father, brother, sister and nephew all are in the townhouse. So they used to come over for dinner all the time, but now they haven't been coming over for more than two months.

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And so, basically you know, my mother's here with us and David 1 Correction: Westlake Chemical Corporation made the donation to the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund.

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and I have two kids. They are all- one is a senior- is about to graduate tomorrow actually, from Rice of the North.

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Yeah, and also, his girlfriend is also here, a fellow classmate, and so we are planning some graduation celebration for them. And of course, just just the six of us.

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And what happened was few—at the beginning of the quarantine my daughter found a cat, a stray cat who had five kittens in our back yard. So the children took on the responsibility of feeding the

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cats, of course. At the beginning I had to venture into PetSmart to buy cat foods. I don't even go into grocery store I just do the curbside pickup but so

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I ventured in and got all the cat food. And so for the past two months, the cat family we named mama- Mamma Mia.

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And they, they provided kind of distraction, but also kind of hope in this situation, you know, new life comes into the, into the world and we know this pandemic

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will be, will be over hopefully soon. But you know, whatever situation we are in- in, we have to remember life goes on. And so we were able to, after

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Mamma Mia kind of stop nursing all the kittens, we were able to get all five kittens families, and so they were all adopted a few days ago.

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About two weeks ago, I took Mamma Mia to get her all the shots and and and also have her spayed and so that there won't be additional, you know, stray

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cats running around and a few days ago we were able to get Mamma Mia adopted as well. It's just unfortunate that we cannot have a cat in the house because you know my son is allergic

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to cats. And also, after, you know things get back to normal we we do have quite a bit of events at the house and a number of guests are allergic to cats.

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And so that really limits our ability to have cats in the house. So basically personal life it's, you know, goes on but sometimes with some

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surprises and I have been doing some exercise, doing a little bit gardening. It's wonderful.

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It's very satisfying to see kind of a new growth in your yard. Well, congratulations to your son. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

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To go back a little bit um- Are you a junior or? I'm a rising sophomore. Oh rising sophomore? Yeah, yeah.

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And I, I think I've met Mei during one of the training sessions for HAAA. Yeah. Yeah. She's taking some summer classes. Yeah, yeah. Um, so you're a board member for Teach For America and you're involved with the Texas Children's Hospital.

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Have any COVID-19 related issues arisen? Yes. When we have, you know when we have board meetings... It seems to me the last couple of board meetings, most of the time, people were concentrating

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on COVID-19. How it's unfortunate that you know, everybody, every organization has been affected by COVID-19. But in terms of hospital, and

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education, they are , you know, affected more, more so, but I have to say the Children's Hospital under the leadership of Mark Wallace, they've done a great job in terms of anticipating,

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you know, the needs for sort of quarantine beds and they are also very diligent in their supply of PPE's. When other hospitals

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needed some help and Texas Children's Hospital stepped up to help, you know, via the hospitals by providing PPE's to them.

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So also, of course Teach For America. This pandemic really affected how, what, what, how to train new teachers.

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Normally the Training Institute will be going on but this year the Training Institute will be virtual. And we're still discussing how they can get the teaching experience

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because normally when you decide to do Teach For America you join the Summer Academy, you get trained and then you go out to school to practice to, you know, get some practical experience.

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And so this year, everything is different. So we just have to adapt to the new situation and see what the best way is to

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train our future teachers. Yeah, COVID has really changed like, a lot of things. How do you think COVID has impacted the perceptions of Asian Americans and especially Chinese Americans?

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Unfortunately, there is a lot of misunderstanding out there. And people, some people blame Asian Americans, especially Chinese Americans for COVID-19.

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Well, I think this if you look at the history, kind of history repeats itself. And at each point, a certain ethnic group was being targeted.

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And that's why I feel this is so important for each one of us to the best ability we can to help sort of dispel this

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kind of misunderstanding by doing our best in helping people in the community and you know, when the Chinese

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Americans are out there like the Chao's, they are out there, you know, helping the community by donating to the recovery fund. And so the Chinese American

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doctors and nurses are on the front line. And, you know, the Chinese American police are out there, keeping the community safe. And so we're all doing our

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part to demonstrate, we are members of this community, and we are in this together. And you know, it's not useful for certain people to blame the Chinese Americans, but we

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cannot give up right? We have to realize that even though they are wrong in thinking that the Chinese Americans created this problem, and because this can happen to anybody,

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to any country, and so because now we are in this world that you know, it's no longer a closed country right.

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So we have to interact with each other. The international travel will not stop even though it has slowed down substantially, but it will resume. So I just hope that we will use

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our action to influence and to tell the world that who we are, you know, we are a group of very hard working people.

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And we want the best for our community. And, you know, we will step up when people are in need of our help. I think that's what we can do.

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Very well said, yeah, sometimes I think people forget that COVID is a disease, and now it can affect us all. Do you have any other thoughts that you'd like to share? Well, I just hope

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that being Asian Americans, we will. I appreciate this, you know, archive, and it's wonderful to record you know what Asian Americans have done in combating

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this COVID-19 not just this one issue, but in terms of this is really history writing. You know, HAAA has interviewed many

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Asian Americans and getting them to tell their stories. And hopefully, the stories, the experiences will benefit the young people, you know, for generations

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to come, and hopefully we will be able to pass on the wisdoms and, and or the obstacles we've faced, and hopefully the younger generation,

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because what we've been through, the younger generation will have less obstacles. And, you know, I've been trained as a lawyer.

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I feel like the pioneers, the woman lawyers, such as Justice Ginsburg, and, and they really paved the way, paved the path for me

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and for other woman lawyers like me. And you know, when Justice Ginsburg first got out of Columbia Law School, she couldn't even get a job. She couldn't even get a legal secretary job at a law firm.

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And when I graduated from Columbia Law School, I was able to get a very good position at a large law firm in New York, but I never ever forgot, forget that this doesn't come by

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easily. It's the result of so many pioneer women, you know, lawyers or judges and professionals pave the path before me, so that I have had the opportunity

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to work at a larger law firm. So, I'm hoping that HAAA will thrive and will continue to record the Asian American stories.

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Thank you, yeah. That's very meaningful, I think. Yeah. So thank you so much that you have done to help the community and that you continue to do. It's very great talking to you today.

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Thank you so much.