Wendy Wong, founder of Education at Elevation, is acknowledged by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama at the recent “Unsung Heroes of Compassion” event. (Photo by Briana Forgie)
The Dalai Lama was an honored guest at a luncheon event at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in San Francisco on Feb. 23, where he acknowledged and thanked 51 individuals who are the honorees of “Unsung Heroes of Compassion 2014.” Among the honorees was Wendy Wong, founder of Education at Elevation (E@E), a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that raises funds for a small school in a remote Tibetan village in western Sichuan, China (formerly Kham, Tibet). Founded by Wong in 2007 as the Vajrayana Dharma Foundation, Education at Elevation (E@E) was created to support orphans and poor children at Rinpoche’s Nga Gyur Shed Dup Cho Ling school (loosely translated to “The Early Translated Dharma Teaching and Study Center”) by providing education, housing, food, clothing, and other basic necessities.
Each honoree was chosen “as demonstrating the timeless and universal human goodness celebrated by every wise culture.”
Wong was born in Malaysia in 1970, grew up in Kuala Lumpur, and attended college in the United States. In 2007, her mother sponsored Sonam Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, to come to the United States to study English. Through many conversations with Rinpoche, Wong learned about the poverty, harsh conditions of the region, and challenges faced by many Tibetan children in the remote areas of China. (end)