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Students set sights on charitable cause
By Nie Xin |
August 2, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A couple of American students and a Shanghai local are selling sunglasses in a city mall to raise money for elderly locals to have cataract surgery. Nie Xin takes a look at the BluBlocker China team's valiant charitable effort.
American-born Chinese Diana Tsai never expected that her study trip to China would finally turn into a charity cause.
The Georgetown University student majoring in international economic policy came to Shanghai in January to study Chinese at the East China Normal University. But since April, Tsai and her classmate Peter Nulsen, also from the United States, have been helping poor elderly patients with cataracts by selling sunglasses.
During July and August, their aim is to help 200 patients by selling 2,000 pairs of sunglasses at 300 yuan (US$46.57) each. Three weeks ago, they set up a stand in Pudong's Super Brand Mall and the project which initially started with three students has rapidly gained attention and now has more than 20 volunteers helping them.
When Tsai took her Chinese class at the university, she usually went to small restaurants in the old neighborhood on and around Guangfu Road W. There she met some elderly residents suffering from cataracts but unable to afford surgeries.
"I was always thinking to do some charity work here, combining with the commercial knowledge I study," says Tsai. The idea of doing something for the elderly came into her mind.
Tsai and Nulsen met Chinese local Donnie Yu (Yu Rongzhen), an alumni of East China Normal University who was also interested in this project and willing to help. And then the BB China team was founded (they are supported by American sunglasses brand BluBlocker).
"We hope more young people can join the charity, not only by donating money but by raising awareness," Nulsen adds. "Why do we sell sunglasses? Fashion and charity - when young people wear them, they will be reminded of this project, and also let people around them know."
Supported by BluBlockers, the BB China team established their official website, opened a weibo account and started their online sales and direct sales to collect money for the cataract surgery.
Since then, 270 pairs of sunglasses have been sold and 11 patients have had successful cataract surgery.
The BB China team established a connection with some local eye hospitals to find their potential patients, those elderly locals suffering from cataracts unable to afford the treatment.
"We ourselves interview the potential beneficiary to know about their situation and then put their name on our help list," says Nulsen.
Sometimes persuading the old people to accept their help is not easy.
Lack of trust, concerns about the surgery, suspicions about the money being provided and poor communication - all of these became challenges to their work.
Regardless, the young group was persistent; and surprises came together with the difficulties.
Yu, the group's only Shanghai local, quit his previous highly paid job as a salesman of computer facilities. Since May, he has contributed full time to the charity project.
"Luckily my parents understand and support me to do this meaningful thing. Earning money sometimes is not the most important thing," he says.
As a local, he forecasted more difficulties than his teammates.
"Donnie told us that it would be very hard to do a charity of this kind in China if we don't have any social relationships," Tsai says.
Without any official background or links to relevant organizations, they presented their project and explained their idea again and again, but got little feedback.
However, where there is a will, there is a way. They still met a lot of nice people, eventually getting support from hospitals, shopping malls, warm-hearted students and customers.
Three weeks ago, they set up a stand on the fifth floor of Super Brand Mall, and every weekend from Friday to Sunday the team will be there to sell sunglasses and promote their project. The mall provides them a good location for their stand for free.
"To our surprise, there are more and more volunteers joining us, and most of them are college and high school students," says Yu.
Now the team has six core members, with the assistance of 21 volunteers. They collect the names of potential patients, interview the patients and sell the sunglasses.
On their first day in the mall, only 11 pairs of sunglasses were sold, but on the third day the number rose to 56.
"We changed our strategy," says Nulsen. "Only presenting the charity project sometimes is not that attractive to the customer. We started to sell the sunglasses as a commercial product, explaining how they can reduce ultraviolet radiation, and the feedback became better."
If this project succeeds, the BB China team will consider cooperating with Shanghai Charity Foundation to enlarge the scale, get more formal management and help more people.
"But we are also concerned that if we start to rely on the foundation, we cannot connect with the patients ourselves. Also the reliance is another problem," says Tsai.
For more information, go to www.cnblublocker.com or weibo at http://weibo.com/blublocker.
To lend a hand, e-mail to cnblublocker@163.com.
Stand address: 5/F, Super Brand Mall, 168 Lujizui Rd W., Pudong
American-born Chinese Diana Tsai never expected that her study trip to China would finally turn into a charity cause.
The Georgetown University student majoring in international economic policy came to Shanghai in January to study Chinese at the East China Normal University. But since April, Tsai and her classmate Peter Nulsen, also from the United States, have been helping poor elderly patients with cataracts by selling sunglasses.
During July and August, their aim is to help 200 patients by selling 2,000 pairs of sunglasses at 300 yuan (US$46.57) each. Three weeks ago, they set up a stand in Pudong's Super Brand Mall and the project which initially started with three students has rapidly gained attention and now has more than 20 volunteers helping them.
When Tsai took her Chinese class at the university, she usually went to small restaurants in the old neighborhood on and around Guangfu Road W. There she met some elderly residents suffering from cataracts but unable to afford surgeries.
"I was always thinking to do some charity work here, combining with the commercial knowledge I study," says Tsai. The idea of doing something for the elderly came into her mind.
Tsai and Nulsen met Chinese local Donnie Yu (Yu Rongzhen), an alumni of East China Normal University who was also interested in this project and willing to help. And then the BB China team was founded (they are supported by American sunglasses brand BluBlocker).
"We hope more young people can join the charity, not only by donating money but by raising awareness," Nulsen adds. "Why do we sell sunglasses? Fashion and charity - when young people wear them, they will be reminded of this project, and also let people around them know."
Supported by BluBlockers, the BB China team established their official website, opened a weibo account and started their online sales and direct sales to collect money for the cataract surgery.
Since then, 270 pairs of sunglasses have been sold and 11 patients have had successful cataract surgery.
The BB China team established a connection with some local eye hospitals to find their potential patients, those elderly locals suffering from cataracts unable to afford the treatment.
"We ourselves interview the potential beneficiary to know about their situation and then put their name on our help list," says Nulsen.
Sometimes persuading the old people to accept their help is not easy.
Lack of trust, concerns about the surgery, suspicions about the money being provided and poor communication - all of these became challenges to their work.
Regardless, the young group was persistent; and surprises came together with the difficulties.
Yu, the group's only Shanghai local, quit his previous highly paid job as a salesman of computer facilities. Since May, he has contributed full time to the charity project.
"Luckily my parents understand and support me to do this meaningful thing. Earning money sometimes is not the most important thing," he says.
As a local, he forecasted more difficulties than his teammates.
"Donnie told us that it would be very hard to do a charity of this kind in China if we don't have any social relationships," Tsai says.
Without any official background or links to relevant organizations, they presented their project and explained their idea again and again, but got little feedback.
However, where there is a will, there is a way. They still met a lot of nice people, eventually getting support from hospitals, shopping malls, warm-hearted students and customers.
Three weeks ago, they set up a stand on the fifth floor of Super Brand Mall, and every weekend from Friday to Sunday the team will be there to sell sunglasses and promote their project. The mall provides them a good location for their stand for free.
"To our surprise, there are more and more volunteers joining us, and most of them are college and high school students," says Yu.
Now the team has six core members, with the assistance of 21 volunteers. They collect the names of potential patients, interview the patients and sell the sunglasses.
On their first day in the mall, only 11 pairs of sunglasses were sold, but on the third day the number rose to 56.
"We changed our strategy," says Nulsen. "Only presenting the charity project sometimes is not that attractive to the customer. We started to sell the sunglasses as a commercial product, explaining how they can reduce ultraviolet radiation, and the feedback became better."
If this project succeeds, the BB China team will consider cooperating with Shanghai Charity Foundation to enlarge the scale, get more formal management and help more people.
"But we are also concerned that if we start to rely on the foundation, we cannot connect with the patients ourselves. Also the reliance is another problem," says Tsai.
For more information, go to www.cnblublocker.com or weibo at http://weibo.com/blublocker.
To lend a hand, e-mail to cnblublocker@163.com.
Stand address: 5/F, Super Brand Mall, 168 Lujizui Rd W., Pudong
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