Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Chinese students are uniting to raise money for victims of the Sichuan earthquake in China by sponsoring a T-shirt design contest.
Yong Zhang, Chengdu, China, sophomore, and Nancy Xiao Liang, Luoyang, China, sophomore, have called on KU students and Lawrence residents to submit a T-shirt design to the Facebook group All about China! The group will vote for three designs and sell them through the Chinese Student Scholars and Friendship Association and the International Student Association.
Zhang said the group planned to release the T-shirts next month. Donations will be sent to China through the American Red Cross.
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T-Shirt Contest Information
What: Create a design for charity T-shirts. For: Donation for the earthquake victims. How: No more than three colors. Save the design as a jpeg, Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustration file. Send it to Allaboutchina.ku@gmail.com When: By midnight at June 20.
“It’s also a good opportunity for some students to get a chance to design,” Zhang said. “There are a whole bunch of different ways to help people.”
Zhang was eating breakfast at Mrs. E’s when his friend told him about the Sichuan Earthquake, which hit his home in China on May 12.
“Right after that, I went back to my room and checked what’s going on,” Zhang said. “I was totally shocked.”
The Associated Press reported the magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed nearly 70,000 people and damaged Sichuan and its surrounding provinces. The Associated Press said five million people lost their homes and 20,000 people were still missing in the disaster zone.
Zhang said right after the earthquake he tried to call his parents and friends in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province. He couldn’t get through. He later received a text message from his parents that said they were safe.
Zhang said Chengdu experienced less damage than other parts of the province. He said he hadn’t been in an earthquake in Sichuan for many years, and this disaster was unexpected and shocking for people living in the province.
Zhang said most of his friends and his family in Chengdu contributed their time for relief efforts. His parents volunteered at a hospital in Chengdu. Some of his friends delivered clean water and daily supplies to victims. He said their efforts inspired him to take action in Lawrence and start the T-shirt contest.
After the earthquake, the U.S. government offered $2.8 million in assistance to China, according to the press release of the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The American Red Cross donated $10 million, and American companies operating in China pledged more than $34 million funds by May 22.
The Lawrence community contributed $11,400 in donations through a fundraising event, organized by Ray Chao, Lawrence resident, last month.
Alan Johnson, friend and coworker of Chao, said more than 100 volunteers collected donations at several businesses in Lawrence. He said despite rainy weather, they raised twice of what Chao had expected for the day.
Lachit Patel, Leavenworth senior, stood at Hy-Vee and asked customers for donations, many of whom were willing to help. He participated in several charities to help the victims of international disasters at the University.
“People are all equal,” Patel said. “If something tragic happened, I would help them regardless of any country of origin.”
John Kennedy, assistant professor of political science, said it would take years for the damaged regions of China to recover. He said some severe damage of the earthquake revealed the longtime problems of local government, such as lack of sufficient funding. Kennedy said many people lost their “only one” child under collapsed schools that were poorly constructed.
Zhang said the group was looking for volunteers for the design contest and selling the T-shirts, but Liang said the group had received only a few designs because many students left Lawrence for the summer. To volunteer or submit a T-shirt design, contact Yong Zhang at allaboutchina.ku@gmail.com and submit a design by midnight June 20.
— Edited by Mandy Earles
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