A Good Day's Work

(Or, Getting Our Charity On)

When the earthquake hit Sichuan last Monday at 2:28 PM, I received some emails from friends with the breaking news. The general air surrounding the event seemed more like gossipy shock-news to me. A big earthquake in the middle of nowhere, separated from Shanghai by a swath of land equidistant to the one that keeps Boston at safe distance from Los Angeles. Big deal. I quickly dismissed those paranoid friends who claimed they felt tremors, having felt no such thing myself. And we were in the same building. I was happy to hear from family and long-lost friends, concerned about my safety and well-being, but overall, it felt like people were overreacting.

So when the numbers started trickling in that afternoon, and the following day, the full scope of the event began to sink in. A week later, the death toll is over 30,000 and expected to reach 50,000, with thousands more missing or injured for the rest of their lives.

To help give you a better idea of just how big that fatality figure is, think about it this way.

1. Pick one of these more recognizable small US towns:
Chapel Hill, NC. Ithaca, NY. Palm Springs, CA. Fairbanks and Juneau, AK. Beverly Hills, CA. Bozeman, Helena, MT. Concord, NH. Hackensack, Atlantic City and Hoboken, NJ. Roswell, NM. Burlington, VT. Revere, Methuen, Woburn, Northampton, MA. (More here)
2. Add a terrible natural disaster.
3. Poof, the entire population, all gone.

I mean no disrespect to compare and make light of other tragedies, but Katrina claimed less than 2,000. Maybe because we're so inundated with news headlines and attention-grabbing statistics, or perhaps because of the distance from the event (much like Burma last month or SE Asia, post-tsunami), but it's hard to actually grasp those numbers without some perspective.

In the aftermath of the quake and in the face of the unanswered questions from angry, newly-childless parents that will no doubt come to light when the rubble is cleared, the country has banded together in a display that is refreshingly more positive than the pre-Olympic bullshit that we've been swamped with in the past months. In an ironic twist, this tragedy might actually garner China more sympathy (man, does it need it...) and help balance all the inane pro-China/anti-West stupidity that's been festering. For now, everyone is focused on doing as much good as possible.

Over the weekend, our company's annual Spring Fair was turned into an impromptu charity event, with many participating vendors offering some or all of their proceeds directly to the Shanghai Red Cross relief effort. Our company, to its credit, organized an easy system that deducts donations directly from our paychecks, making charitable contribution even easier (and tax deductible, natch).

Most encouraging of all was the outpouring from the children. Throughout the day, a steady line of kids brought their piggy banks (seriously, all pigs!) to the Red Cross booth, giving as little as 10 RMB in hard-earned coinage and upwards of 200 RMB for the little rich ones. Some kids, just casually walking by, emptied whatever was in their pockets onto the table, doing their small part. It was heartening to see how excited they were to contribute however much they could.

Little Guy Doing His Part

The annual clothing drive that I organize saw a huge bump in contributions, blowing up almost three-fold from previous years. In some ways, it was a little daunting to move it all to the donation drop-off, but how can I complain about such a good turnout?

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Lots Of Donations

Over the course of a day, bag after bag of clothing and bedding was donated, resulting in two fully jam-packed moving trucks that required two hours and four people to shift. The poor donation drop-off volunteer lady was happy to see it all, but admitted it was a little "psychologically overwhelming." We ended up filling about 1/3 of the space in her garage. It's going to be a bitch for her to get her bicycles out of there now. Ha.

Poor Garage...

Thank God For Happy Helpers

Since I started the annual clothing collection, I've seen the attitude towards charity shift in a positive direction. The first year, I got a lot of "Donation? Henh! Why don't you just sell the clothes instead!?" As if I was insane for suggesting a contribution of old clothing to the needy in poor Chinese villages was a good thing. Charity? What's charity when there's a buck to be made? Ahhhh, China~

By the following year, the idea of charity and donations was slowly catching on around here. Even though some people still didn't get it ("Why give away clothes!?!", "Can I sell them to you instead of giving?" etc.), the younger people were learning that there's more to life than consumption and me me me.

So, reflecting on the response from this year's drive, it is inspiring to see people giving so much in a time of crisis. I admit a strong sense of pride in what we accomplished, however small it turned out to be. There's still a lot to do. If you'd like more information on donating to the Sichuan earthquake relief, check the information here. If you'd like more information on River of Hearts, the local Shanghai charity organization that accepts these clothing donations, click here.

Best Driver Ever

And finally, if you're looking for a good moving service, call Mr. Meng. The man was an immense help for us on Saturday, even giving a sweet charitable discount for his services. He can be reached at 13817207577 (24 hours a day, services going as far as Anhui).

You knew there'd be a jumping picture involved...