St. Therese is pleased to announce a new scholarship award through the Harry W. and Mary Lou Tong endowment.  This year 3 students at our school will receive $500 for tuition through this parish endowment fund.  Here is a little history on our generous donors.

      Harry W. and Mary Lou (Lum) Tong were raised in Chinatown having lived there for more than 30 years on Wentworth Ave. and Alexander Street right next door to St. Therese Church.  Mary was born in Chinatown and her family resided on the third floor above St. Therese Mission on Wentworth Ave., and Harry emigrated from China and lived in Chinatown since 1940.

      Harry attended St. Therese School in 1941 when Father Mao founded the Mission and three of their five children attended St. Therese School in the 1960s before the family moved to Arlington Heights.  Their "roots" are firmly planted in St. Therese and although they moved out of Chinatown for over 40 years, they always felt that "you can take them out of Chinatown, but you cannot take Chinatown out of them".

      Harry earned his BS, BA and MBA at Roosevelt University and his JD from De Paul School of Law while Mary earned her BA at Chicago State University.  Harry is licensed as a CPA and an Attorney in both Illinois and California and both are now retired after raising their five children, all of whom graduated from college which gave rise to their desire to provide financial assistance to other deserving children to get a quality education.  They had funded college scholarships at Cameron House and Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco's Chinatown as well as providing scholarships for needy students in China through the SOAR Foundations and Spring Bud for more than ten years.

       These scholarships are their way of "giving back to their community and to honor the priests whom help mold their character while growing up in Chinatown and contributed to their success in life. 

       I would like to extend a thank you to Fr. Michael Davitti and Mr. Nick Andriacchi for working with the Tongs in establishing this endowment for St. Therese students.

Fr. Aniello