A huge pile of discarded items sits in the office of the Sungyou neighborhood administrative office in Taipeis Xinyi District. The neighborhood chief, Ho Li-chin frequently tells guests visiting the office that he is sorry about how messy things are inside. Ho, however, has taken the lead in retrieving recyclable items from the refuse heap in order to raise money. The funds accumulated from the initiative are enough to provide 15 scholarships to children each semester. Ho uses the lure of the scholarships to encourage children in his neighborhood to study hard.

Ho Li-chin originally comes from Changhua County. He had to drop out of school when he was young, and this experience has taught him over the years the importance of being in school and learning. There were six children in his family when he was growing up, and each one of the kids faced any number of obstacles in their efforts to receive an education. Each one of the children in the family, from his eldest brother to his youngest sister, had to work part-time while they were students. Making through each grade never was an easy task, but ultimately most of them completed their basic schooling.

In speaking about his childhood, Ho said that his was a farming family in the countryside, and his father frequently was not able to find the labor he needed to work in the fields. As a result, Ho, along with his three brothers, and coupled with his father and mother worked together in going into the fields to harvest rice. Ho said that before he had even completed elementary school he was called to work in the fields. At the time, he thought that going to school was a real extravagance.

After Ho completed his military service, he began working at Tatung, one of Taiwans largest electrical appliance manufacturers. He still had not given up hope on furthering his education. He worked during the daytime and went to a vocational high school in the evening. After quite a bit of effort, he was finally able to graduate from high school.

After he retired from Tatung, Ho originally sold fruit. Nonetheless, he always had a specific dream in his heart. He wanted to establish a scholarship to encourage students to work hard and do well in their studies. Ho was eventually elected as neighborhood chief and in 2004 he founded the Sungyou neighborhood scholarship fund.

In order to be able to focus exclusively on his new job, Ho decided to close up his fruit stand. The small truck that he used to use to cart fruit to and from the market became his recycling truck. All along the wall of the neighborhood administration office are congratulatory plaques. On the floor, however, are all types of recyclable items. There are pieces of paper here and bottles there. Little by little, the money raised by selling their items began to form a sum of money that was used to fund the scholarships. Each semester, Ho releases scholarship money to applicants. Each university or technical college student is allowed NT$3,000, each student in high school or vocational high school receives NT$2,000 and each junior high school student is provided NT$1,000 in scholarship money.

Ho said that even though the amount of the scholarship money is not a lot, the aim of the initiative is to generate an excitement for learning. He said that the students who receive the neighborhood chiefs scholarship feel a sense of honor and pride within their neighborhood. Ho said that since establishing the scholarship, he has discovered that there are in fact many outstanding students in the neighborhood and that the competition for the scholarships is quite keen.

In an attempt to be fair, the screening committee is comprised of interested people in the neighborhood, retired teachers, or present teachers in junior highs, high schools, colleges or universities. Hos son, who is presently a university student, has already applied for a scholarship several times, but has never placed in the top five. Ho keeps encouraging him and telling him to try again next semester.