China Care Event To Benefit Orphans

Members of the local community reached out to orphans in China through the third annual Harvard China Care benefit dinner and silent auction at the Lenox Hotel in Boston last night.

Guests paid $80 per ticket to attend and bid on a wide variety of prizes, including pottery from Texan artist Murry Gans, tickets to the American Repertory Theatre, and select services pledged by many of the club members themselves.

The proceeds from the benefit this year will fund the maintenance of the Children’s Home in Bao Ji, Shanxi province, which opened last November. With the help of their major sponsor, the Jenzabar Foundation, the HCC has so far funded surgeries for 40 infants and supported six completed adoptions at this orphanage.

Robert A. Maginn, who is the chairman of the Janzabar Foundation, called the fundraiser a “triple win,” benefitting the orphans, the students that participate in helping them, and Harvard College.

HCC, the first college branch of a national organization founded by Matthew A. Dalio ’06, has raised nearly $200,000 since its inception in 2003, according to the HCC President Sherri Y. Geng ’09.

The group has used this money to provide funding for surgeries, adoptions, and other operational costs for special-needs orphanages in China as well as for a Harvard student summer internship program.

HCC also supports the families of adopted Chinese children in Boston through a mentoring program that currently boasts 40 mentor-mentee relationships and 50 bi-monthly playgroups called “Dumplings.”

“I believe with all my heart in the work that HCC is doing. They give us a huge gift, and I’m here to give back by supporting them,” said Maria S. Kulsick, an adoptive parent and third-year participant in the Dumplings program.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Thomas Lennon showed an excerpt from his 2006 Oscar winning documentary “The Blood of Yingzhou District” at the dinner.

The film, co-produced by Ruby Yang of the Chang Ai Media project, depicts the ostracism faced by children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in rural China.

HCC intends to donate $1,000 of the proceeds from the evening to the communities Lennon worked with in the documentary, according to Geng.

“Mr. Lennon’s work reminds us of a hopeful truth: in an increasingly globalized world, when we can be connected to extremes of poverty and wealth almost instantaneously, we have more power than ever to reach across the Pacific and make a difference,” she said.