Harvard China Care Raises $25,000

Harvard China Care raised $25,000 on Friday to support the operation of a special care unit room in an orphanage in Beijing at an annual benefit dinner.

Harvard’s branch of China Care, which was founded eight years ago, runs a number of educational programs including play groups and mentoring for recently adopted children from China in the Boston area.

The club—which has hosted fundraisers for the last six years—was able to rake in an all-time high in donations this year.

“The number of donations was above what we had hoped for,” Harvard China Care’s President Maxwell L. Meyer ’12 said. “We’re so proud of the turnout that we had and the impact that this money will exert over the next year at our orphanage in China. This certainly means we will be able to provide the same level of support, or even a greater level of support than we have in the past.”

The special care unit which will receive the donations provides pre- and post-operational care to orphans, primarily those in need of cleft lip surgery. This past year, the unit aided around sixty children, according to Meyer.

The benefit included a silent auction, a fashion show featuring professional models and children from China Care’s programs, a performance by Harvard’s Asian American Dance Troupe, and two speakers.

“I thought that having [AADT] perform was really great because I don’t know if other people are that exposed to the culture. I don’t know what different types of people were there but I figured that was a nice way to bring in the cultural aspect of [the event],” Neda Shahriari ’12 said.

Items for the silent auction were donated by student groups and local businesses in Harvard Square and Boston. The clothing and professional models were provided by Freshob, a Boston-based clothing company.

“These donations were a huge help to us,” China Care’s vice-president, Nan R. Du ’12 said.

The event’s main sponsor was the Jenzabar Foundation, the philanthropic branch of a software company, which has donated over $100,000 to Harvard Child Care over several years.

“They’ve been one of our most constant and best supporters,” Du said. “They’ve really been a huge help to make sure that we honor our commitment to fundraising for the orphanages.”

About 90 people attended China Care’s benefit, which took place this year at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge. It has been held in Boston in previous years.

Meyer said the hoped that the change in location would result in higher attendance.

“We brought it back to campus because we wanted a greater level of student involvement and wanted a greater number of students to be familiar with the work that we do,“ Meyer said.