Hoa Vo still has the magnetic checkerboard she received for Christmas nearly 30 years ago.
It’s no longer functional — some of its pieces have gone missing over the years. She keeps it at her parents’ house as a treasured memento of the two Christmases, around Grades 2 and 3, when volunteers came to her house with gift boxes for her and her two brothers. At the time, she had no idea where the gifts came from or who the volunteers were.