Meet Several of Evergreen Cards' Hard-Working Card-Cutters

Mrs. Li is in her early 60's and has been working with Evergreen Cards since the project started in 2004. Most Chinese people her age no longer have to work so hard to supply their family’s needs because their children have grown up, gotten married, and may even help them out financially.  For Mrs. Li, however, this isn’t the case. Her son’s wife divorced him, leaving him and her grandson a number of years ago, and her son still must work long hours each day.  So, she is now the primary person responsible for taking care of her grandson. Cooking meals for him is not a problem, but being intimately involved in the training and educating of a young teenager is now the hardest part of her life. It is a difficult situation, but she has no other choice.

Mrs. Qi has been working with Evergreen Cards for about 14 years.  Though she is an extreme introvert, her card-cutting skills are great.  She has a young daughter in primary school, so she has to be available to cook for, and to take and pick up her daughter from school several times each day.  She feels very lucky to have the chance to earn money by cutting cards at home.  In China, moms who are responsible for taking care of their children have very little opportunity to work to help support their families.

Mrs. Li is a very special lady who has been working with Evergreen Cards since the very beginning.  When you buy any of our most intricately-designed cards, there’s a good chance that they were personally cut for you by her!  As one of our most skilled card-cutters, each time we hold training sessions to teach new ladies how to cut cards, she is one of our trainers.  Her husband passed away several years ago, and since that time, she has also had to personally battle back from a very serious and life-threatening surgery.  She now lives in the village by herself, but with the money she continues to earn from Evergreen Cards and her children’s help, she is continuing to do fine.

Mrs. Guo, a wonderful lady and an Evergreen Card card-cutter for more than 12 years, has a permanent walking impairment which necessitates the use of a cane to get around. This doesn’t keep her, though, from always quickly getting to the Evergreen Cards’ office to pick up her supplies every time we call with new card-cutting work for her to do. Though life is often very hard for her and her family, she is extremely thankful for the opportunity to earn a living by cutting cards.

Several years ago, her husband experienced a severe loss of use in one of his arms. The seriousness of this led them to see a doctor to find out what was wrong. Surgery was the result. Fortunately, it seems that the surgery has been mostly successful, but he still has a long rehabilitation period ahead of him before he can work again. During this period, the money that his wife earns from cutting cards is the only income that their family can rely on.