Betty Kwan Chinn

At the age of seven, Betty Kwan Chinn and her family were violently forced from their home in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. She was separated from her parents and became homeless, living on the streets and always hungry until, after four years, she escaped with her sister to Hong Kong. After emigrating to the United States, she took refuge with relatives, later marrying and raising two sons in Eureka, California. One day, Chinn realized that one of her son’s classmates was hungry and living in a car with her parents. As she would later tell CNN News, “Inside my heart I don’t want anyone to suffer what I suffered.” Chinn began sending extra food to school for her son to share with the classmate — and once she started, she couldn’t stop finding people in need. Since the 1980s, Chinn has fed, housed, and helped countless people. She eventually established a nonprofit, with volunteers and local businesses supporting her mission to “honor all of humanity by providing direct responses to immediate needs and helping the homeless achieve the dignity needed to return to society as contributing members.”

Today, the Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation consists of the Betty Kwan Chinn Day Center, offering transitional housing and employment and family services; Betty’s House, a family shelter; Betty’s Blue Angel Village, a temporary housing shelter built from shipping containers; Betty’s Annex, a center for women and children that opened during the pandemic; Betty’s Showers, a public shower facility; and Betty’s Blue Angel Outreach, which provides wraparound care to hard-to-reach individuals in need of specialty services. In recognition of her work, she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the United States. Speaking at the White House ceremony, she said, “I would encourage anyone, no matter how big or how small, use your gift to benefit someone less fortunate than you who needs help from you. Be compassionate and love them and get involved. Don’t sit in the house doing nothing.”