Update: Meeting X

Hello All!

Sorry for the absence. It has been a busy week for all and a lot of progress has been made.

In the past week alone SRM, in conjunction with other organizations within NYU, participated in three events raising money for the school - and they have all been successful. We were able to raise a moderately large sum of money in just the past week, and more is to come!

For our upcoming events:

We are going to host one final bake sale this Wednesday in Stern. Please come and support us, and enjoy some baked goods and hot chocolate for the wintry season!

KSA will be hosting a fundraising/Breakdancing event later this week. More information will come as we know, but it looks like SRM is going to be able to be part of it and sponsor it.

Later in December, there is another event that SRM will do in conjunction with a church's congregation. It will be taking place in Queens, and SRM will be doing a presentation and asking for donations during the church's Christmas Luncheon. Again, more details to come as we know.

The trailer and website is up, and donor letters will be sent out. If any of you know anyone in alumni organizations or who would like to donate to our cause, please refer them to our site (sichuanreliefmission.org)

In addition, SRM is searching for a webmaster, someone who would like to contribute their services and help in making our site much much better. If you know anyone, or would yourself like to help, please send an email to thesichuanreliefmission@gmail.com, with "Webmaster position" in the header.

Thanks!

-SRM

Update: Meeting X

Hello All!!

EDIT: SUNDAY'S MEETING IS CANCELLED. THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE NEXT SUNDAY. MORE TO COME LATER!
THE CSS BENEFIT CONCERT TICKETS WILL STILL BE SOLD ON MONDAY, TUESDAY, AND WEDNESDAY. THANKS!

We have reached our tenth meeting! It will be held on Sunday at Bobst Library from 5-7:00pm.

Also, this coming Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, SRM will be selling tickets in conjunction with CSS for the CSS Benefit Concert. Tickets will be sold at the Stern lobby. Please come to support our cause and buy tickets in advance for the event!

Thanks!

Upcoming Events

Hello everyone!

We have several upcoming events:

1) We will be hosting a bake sale this week, from Monday Nov. 23 to Wednesday Nov. 25, during the times of 1-5pm at Stern. More cookies, cake and brownies are coming your way! We will also be selling tickets for the CSS Benefit Concert - $5 per ticket. Buy them early so that you don't have to pay a more expensive fee at the door!

2) The CSS Benefit Concert will be on December 3. Hosted by NYU's CSS club, there will be numerous performers, including Magnetic North, and SRM will be present to provide your tummies with some goodness.

3) That same weekend, on December 6th, there will be another concert in NYU's Kimmel Center. It will be a small concert with any proceeding donations going to the cause. Red bands of the earthquake relief will also be on sale.

That will be all for now. Keep checking for more updates!

Thanks!

Website Update

Hello all!

We have a new, official website! Check out: sichuanreliefmission.org

Please do check it out and spread the word!

Thanks to all who have shown support so far!

Shout out to Columbia's Culture Shock! Our baked goods and bubble tea (especially the bubble tea) were an instant hit and we managed to make a good amount of money during a ten-minute intermission.

Meeting IX

Wow - we are up to Meeting 9!

It will be held tomorrow at LL2-08, from 6pm to 8pm at Bobst Library.

Please join us if you can!

Thank you!

Bake Sale Update

Hi all!

Yesterday we hosted another bake sale selling scrumptious goodies. We didn't make as much as we did during our first one - but every little cent helped! Thanks to all that came and supported us.

Another update is that next Saturday, November 21, SRM will be at Columbia University's Culture Shock event. A performance-filled event, SRM will be having a table there selling more baked goods. This is part of our outreach program to more schools, more students, more people. We are happy to be given another opportunity to continue establishing our connections at Columbia. If you can, please do come in support for us!

Thanks!

Sichuan Relief Mission Trailer

This is the new trailer for the Sichuan Relief Mission, compiled by footage from the documentary.

Update: Meeting VII

Hello all!

Our next meeting will be:

Room: LL2-08
Date: Sunday, November 08, 2009
Time: 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM

See you there!

Event Tonight!

Everyone, please stop by tonight at the Lafayette dorms for Game Night!

Sign up for the tournament ($5 entry fee) and play Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Guitar Hero and more to your heart's delight!

Address is:
80 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10013

Party will be going from 5:30-12 Midnight!

If you are off campus, please send an email to lx240nyu@gmail.com and ask to be added to a guest list so that you can enter the dorms.

Winner of the tournament wins half of the proceeds going to the relief mission.

Update: Meeting VI

Hello all!

Sorry for the late update on what went on at Meeting VI.

Meeting VI was mainly a refocusing of the group and our mission. Kevin has come up with an executive summary that stated the purpose of the mission. We also outlined the goals of the mission itself. Currently we need to work on creating a business plan, as we want to expand our fundraising efforts to people outside of the student community.

Here is a brief look at the summary. This was mainly what we discussed that day:

I. Brief statement of problem

In 2008 the Sichuan Earthquake claimed 70,000 casualties, and left 4 million people homeless. Due to waning relief efforts, and the administrative burden on the Chinese government, there are still over 2 million homeless nearly two years later. Many of these individuals reside in Beichuan County, an area situated at the heart of the Sichuan earthquake. Beichuan County, once economically prosperous, lost 80% of its buildings and 21,000 of its residents, which is nearly two-thirds of its population. In addition to nearly all of the school facilities, the Beichuan County School system lost 1300 out of its 2900 student body. Most relief efforts have been focused around the less devastated Wenchuan County, and although the city of Beichuan itself is being reallocated by the government, thousands of people in the region still remain homeless. The Sichuan Relief Mission is dedicated to helping these forgotten victims of the earthquake.

Dengjiaxiang is a central village to which many of the surviving victims moved to. Dengjiaxiang is situated just five miles outside the Beichuan County township, and is now home to over 600 households, over 95% of which are currently homeless. Dengjiaxiang is also home to many orphaned students; nearly 100 primary students currently attend school in a portable building.

II. Goals and Objectives

The Sichuan Relief Mission aims to target these three particular issues:

1) Continue to supply need-based relief to impoverished individuals

The survivors of the Sichuan Earthquake in Beichuan face growing financial burdens. Villagers' wealth were firmly invested in farmland and property. The earthquake and the resulting landslides destroyed 80% of buildings and nearly all arable land. Families' saw life savings disappear overnight. Currently Dengjiaxiang is the home to these newly created migrants. 95% of the populous, almost 600 households, live in temporary housing, large slums composed of scrap metal shacks. Unemployment is at an all time high as the Sichuan economy as a whole struggles to recover. In past trips SRM has provided villagers with basic necessities, subject to needs at the given time. Relief packages have included cooking materials, water jugs, and toiletries.

The Sichuan area experiences harsh winters, particularly the mountainous Beichuan county, with temperatures regularly reaching -3 C (China Daily). SRM's Winter Relief Mission will provide relief packages that include materials needed to survive the harsh winter: blankets, warm clothes etc There are currently 300 targeted households that SRM plans on distributing supplies to.

2) Initiate long term solutions by rebuilding community-based infrastructure

The primary school in Dengjiaxiang currently lacks a full staff and building to house them. Through fundraising efforts in Shanghai, SRM has raised half of 20,000 USD needed to rebuild the school, providing nearly 100 students every year with a fuller education. The school is the first step in SRM's goal to switch from providing relief to rebuilding the area. In the long term, reconstruction of a school will provide a more lasting impact than temporary need-based materials. After SRM's winter mission and the construction of the school in February, we will continue to pursue community reconstruction projects, and find long term solutions for Dengjiaxiang.

3) To raise awareness for the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake in Beichuan.

The SRM film team is currently working on a full length documentary focused specifically on the Beichuan area. In this film SRM aims to demystify the Sichuan earthquake, and to raise awareness for the thousands still homeless and hungry in Beichuan county. Through the film, and photographic documentation, SRM plans to launch a post mission marketing campaign in hopes of capturing a broader audience, and ultimately receiving funding to create the desired long term solution: rebuilding of Dengjiaxiang.

Thank you to all who have supported us so far and continue to support us! We hope you understand our goal, and our determination to fulfill it.

Update: Meeting VI

Hello,

The next meeting will be on Sunday, November 1, at Bobst Library, LL2-20 from 5-7pm

See you all there!

Event: Games Night

Hello all,

An update on the events we are going to be hosting - instead of a student dinner event on November 5th, we are going to be having a Games Night at a common room in the Lafayette Dorms. A tournament will be held alongside drinks and snacks for everyone's enjoyment. There will be a bunch of nintendo games - from Super Smash Bros. to Mario Kart, DDR to Guitar Hero, and more!

We hope that you will join us at this event on that Friday night. It'll be a great way to relax after exams and settle into the weekend!

Entering the tournament will cost $5, with half of all proceeds going to SRM and the other half going to the winner of the tournament.

Event Details:
Games Night
November 6th, Friday
5:30pm-12 midnight
Common room in Lafayette Dorms

Update: Meeting V Minutes

Hello all,

Another productive meeting today! The theme of the meeting was "deadlines". It's cutting close to the wire and we need to get a lot of things done - including raising more money for the cause.

So here's a summary of what went down at the meeting today:

• The prospectus will be completed by Wednesday and ready to be sent out on Friday. Testimonials from team members are all that is missing.
• In addition to weekly minutes and this blog as updates, we will start sending out newsletters to all those in our newsletter listserv. It will provide more comprehensive information about what we've done without needing all of those on the listserv to slog through our technical minutes. The newsletter will be ready by Wednesday.
• The film budget will be separate from the mission's fundraising budget. Hopefully we can raise $20,000 to cover pre-, during, and post-production costs.
• We are in need of an event coordinator that can help be our liason with school clubs as well as help us organize our events, and a marketing person to be our additional contact between the team and corporate sponsors.
• We will be having two upcoming, very important events in the future. One is a student dinner that is done in conjunction with the Tzu Chi organization. It will be a dinner event for all NYU students to come and support our cause and eat good food! In December, we are also planning another event - a corporate dinner event - to promote our cause with potential donors for more donations and corporate sponsorship. Please stay tuned for more details on these events.
• A link for donations will be set up by the end of this week. Our goal is to make all donations tax-deductible, so we are currently searching for the best way to do this.

We plan to continue with the Buy-a-Brick idea and continue fleshing out our weeklong activities while there in Sichuan. More progress has been made - slow and steady, we'll win this race!

Thanks!

Action Items for Tomorrow

Here are some action items that need to be completed by this Sunday:

• we still need a list of donors and corporate sponsors that we can send our packet to.
• come up with action plan ideas in case something goes wrong in Sichuan
• large dinner event for potential donors
• we need a marketing/producing person to be in close communication with Amy in terms of funds coming in from donors and corporations you contact and send packets to
• we also need an event planning person to produce the next events we will be hosting, i.e. the dinner event

Another reminder: Tonight at 9pm, there will be a video conference with Liu Laoshi at Bobst, please attend if you can make it!

SRM at Columbia

Here are some pictures from our event on October 23rd. The sale was a success! We made 12 dollars in sales of hot chocolate and red bands. Kevin and Li also managed to take one each for the team by winning the Fear Factor eating contest - Kevin won an iPod Touch! That iPod Touch will be raffled off or sold on eBay - so keep a lookout for it!

Update: Meeting V

The next meeting will be held on Sunday, October 25 at Bobst Library LL2-08 from 5-7pm.

In addition, Saturday, October 24, at 9pm there will be a conversation with Liu Laoshi via Skype with Kevin. If you can make it and would like to speak to Liu Laoshi or have any questions for him, please go! If you can't, but still have questions - just forward them to Kevin! That meeting will be at Bobst Library LL2-22.

Thanks!

Columbia Night Market Event

Hello!!

Tonight at 6pm, NYU SRM will be at Columbia's Night Market event. We will be having our own booth promoting our cause and selling hot chocolate. Different varieties of hot chocolate will be available, with regular hot chocolate, hot chocolate with marshmallows, minty hot chocolate, and more! And we will also be selling "dirt" - chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy worms - appetizing, isn't it!?

Please come and visit us if you have the chance and support our cause! Grab some warm drinks to celebrate the fall season (and what feels like the start of winter), and enjoy the night market!

Thanks!

Bake Sale!

Our very first fundraising event - a bake sale held at the Stern building today - was a great success! We raised over a $100 on our homemade baked goods. Thanks so much for all those who helped and who came and supported our cause!

It was a great way for us to also start handing out our new pamphlets. Word was spread not just to old friends from Shanghai, but to students new to the cause. Our leftover baked goods were bought by a professor for his class as well, and he helped us hand out our pamphlets and spread word of our cause.

Our next event will be this Friday, at Columbia University, 6:30 PM. We are participating in Columbia's Night Market event selling hot chocolate, our red bands, and handing out more pamphlets. Please come and join us if you can!

Thanks!

Update: Meeting IV Minutes

Hello all,

Here's an update on what happened on the 4th meeting of SRM:

• The bake sale has been finalized - please come and support us!
• The pamphlet and trailer are nearly done. We will be having pamphlets ready for everyday distribution at our events and for all school organizations and students. A more comprehensive package will be sent out to corporate sponsors and non-profit organizations that includes a prospectus, trailer, pamphlet, and a letter from the leader.
  
• We may have an involvement in the Asian Heritage Month at Columbia University. We will have to send a proposal to them, and we may have a booth there too. 
• As for our affiliation with RM, we will have to send a proposal to them. While they may not be involved in the actual project or send someone to go with us, we may perhaps be able to use their account for our donations. That is, if our proposal is approved.
• The cheapest airline tickets will be available for January 11th to 18th. Visas will be sorted out in mid-November. 
• Liu Laoshi had a recent conversation with Kevin about the situation in Sichuan. Because of his volunteer efforts, he was kicked out by cops from Dengjiaxiang. Currently based in Anchang, he tells us that we can continue our relief effort in Dengjiaxiang, especially since we are going to be there for a short time and are not going to be there too long to influence the people there. 
• The next conversation with Liu Laoshi will be on Saturday at 9pm at Bobst. 
• Another idea for fundraising is Buy Bricks program - people can purchase and decorate a brick, and those bricks would be installed in the building of the new preschool.
• The preschool - where our donations will be going towards - has been given a permit by the government to be built. The principal just needs the funds to build it. 
• There will be a meeting with the NYU Reynolds program in hopes of getting the prize money towards the relief mission. There is an executive summary meeting on Tuesday, but we will try to have a one-on-one meeting with them. If we can submit a comprehensive proposal, there is a chance to win!
• We have narrowed down what our activities in China will be. We will be split into the flat-ground team and the high-ground team - where some will stay in the villages and help out and some can do the more dangerous site visits. We are going to continue site visits and distribute supplies, work with the children, and continue supporting the construction of the school. The team is divided as thus because of the dangers of the weather and conditions of the area. 

Email nyusrm@gmail.com for the more comprehensive version of the minutes. 

Thanks!

SRM First Event!

Hello all!

This Wednesday, October 21, will be the first SRM event! We will be hosting a bake sale at Stern lobby from 10:00-2:00pm, selling cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. Come join us and have some great snacks and find out more about SRM!

Thanks!

Update: Meeting IV

Hello all,

Next meeting will be held on Sunday from 5-7pm, at Bobst Library LL2-07.

See you there!

Update: Meeting III

Hello all,

Here are the updates from the third meeting of SRM.

After RM discussed the possibility of taking SRM as a subsidiary, they have officially decided not to. HOWEVER, there is still a chance for affiliation and their helping us with the bank account for donations.

A new member has also been added to the team: Annie Gao. We welcome her to the team!!! 

The budget has been announced; we will need to raise at least $16,850 to cover our expenses, as well as for our supplies and donations for the school. Every member will have to pay $500 to help with the airfare costs, unless a deal can be made with an airline for a group discount. The plan is to fly out on the 11th and return on the 18th, with a maximum of 5 days in Sichuan (accounting for the train ride).

There is a possible affiliation with another organization - Tzu Chi organization. Tzu Chi wants to spread their message of providing relief work and building schools in impoverished areas in NYU, and so there is a possibility for a mutually beneficial relationship to grow from this.

Our first event is also coming up! Next Wednesday, from 10AM - 2PM there will be a bake sale held at the Stern building. Proceeds going to the relief fund.

On the film front: a translator has been found! Li Xu has offered to help us translate sections of our documentary. We welcome her to the team and thank her for helping us!

The trailer and the pamphlet (meant to help us spread the word and provide information to other organizations) are still in progress. They will be both (hopefully!) completed by the next meeting.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more updates and come next Wednesday to support our bake sale!

Meeting III

Hello!!

The next meeting for SRM will be on Sunday, October 12, at LL2-22, from 5-7pm.

Hope to see you all there!

Update: Meeting II

Hello!

Today was our second meeting, and we are continuing to make headway!

Here are some highlights of the meeting:

• The donated money has become an issue in the sense that we need to figure out a way to make it tax deductible. The situation we have reached is: we would become a subsidiary of Rainbow Missions. In that way, we would be able to use their bank account for the donations we get, and it would be tax deductible. By the end of the week, it will be confirmed if we are part of RM.
• Pamphlets are currently being made and so we should hopefully have something by the end of the week that we can give out to people interested in helping us. 
• Trip Logistics:
• Currently the plan is to be in Sichuan from January 1-7, 2010. Those dates are still pending. From early December to December 31st, RM will be sending their own volunteers to Sichuan, so we are trying to not overlap with their dates. 
• The goal of the mission is still to raise money for the school in Sichuan. Politics have currently halted the construction of the building, and there is a call for more money. Building the entire school ourselves would cost us a total of 100,000 RMB. 
• Fund Raisers:
• We need to start planning fund raising events, because other organizations can help us with the fund raising by getting the word out, or giving us a space to work with and whatever little they can give us from their budgets. However, we need to come up with the events ourselves.
• Currently, there is a possibility that our first event will take place next Wednesday! Amy has offered a bake sale to be done in conjunction with another organization, but it has yet to be confirmed. Watch out for further updates on that end!

Please check our minutes for today's meeting for any further details! If you are not yet on our listserv, just email "listserv" to nyusrm@gmail.com and we will add you!

Until then!

SRM Pamphlet

As you all know, the best way to convince people to come on board (especially clubs and organizations) is to have a pamphlet/leaflet/brochure that can inform others of what we are, what we did, and what we plan to do. It's a great way to make ourselves be more professional.

But the pamphlet cannot make itself. Therefore, if anyone is interested in helping out and contributing and making this pamphlet, please let us know! We need designers and writers now so that we can make this and give it out as quickly as possible.

Email nyusrm@gmail.com if interested in helping.

More will probably be discussed at the meeting tonight.

Reminder

*IMPORTANT UPDATE!*

The meeting time has been pushed back, and it will now be from 6-8 PM. It will be at Bobst Library LL2-08 on Sunday.

Hope to see you there!

Success!

*I take every small event as a success so...*

Tonight was the Mid-Autumn Festival. We had a mini-booth set up while students played casino games all night and performers went on stage. Even our very own Lucy Liu performed "Knock You Down" by Keri Hilson. *snaps for Lucy!*

We showed our Sichuan video - the 15 minute trailer we showed at Shanghai Night - on a computer and put it on a loop. We also managed to add 8 more people to our listserv, all of whom were interested in helping us in one way or another.

Kevin managed to talk to all of the presidents of the Asian clubs there, so we managed to get the word out even more! Exciting stuff people.

In addition, our cause will most likely be the one that CSS will have a benefit concert for. We are going to have to sell something - so ideas are welcome! Right now, we are thinking of selling the red bands. We'll sell them at $3 each (for example) and part of the proceeds will go to the fund. This is going to be one of our events where we are going to need a big strong presence.

Oh, and we had a donation tin can set up. William Wang (from our Shanghai group) kindly donated 52 cents to our cause. *scream a silent cheer!* (We all have to start from somewhere, right?)

That's all for now, folks!

Mid Autumn Festival

This Saturday is going to be the Mid Autumn Festival. NYU's Asian Clubs - CSS, CMS, ACU, HKSA, TASS, and VCU - are hosting an event tonight at the Kimmel Center, 4th floor E&L Auditorium, from 7-10 PM

NYU SRM will be having a booth set up at the event tonight! Come join us to support our cause!

Update: MLINY

MLINY is following us on Twitter!

Victor Ma also interviewed Spencer Shangkuan and Kevin Wong today for MLINY. He will also be sending questions for team members who could not participate in the interview to email their responses.

Updates: Reaching Out

We are in search of a translator in Chinese and Sichuanese for the documentary! Please email nyusrm@gmail.com if you are interested or know anyone who is!

In addition, Cindy Nawilis said that if a press kit and/or a pamphlet can be given to her, she can propose the fund raising ideas to her clubs, one of them being an International Relations club.

Katy Zhao, Annie Gao, Thomas Lau, and Gloria Li have been contacted so far:

Annie Gao has confirmed that CSS will be discussing which charities and causes they will host their benefit concert for, so SRM is in the running! (again - a pamphlet might help push our bid up!)

Katy Zhao has expressed interest in helping us reach out to corporations and non-NYU people to donate and support or cause. We hope she can join us (either in person or through skype!) for our meetings.

Updates: Twitter and Facebook

Steph has created our Twitter and Facebook pages!

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/nyu_srm

Join the NYU Sichuan Relief Mission group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=284984400267&ref=nf

Join the NYUSRM Documentary group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=75508068273&ref=ts

Welcome!

Hello,

This is the new blog for the Sichuan Relief Mission. We will be posting up team updates weekly here, including money that we have raised, events we will be hosting, documentary updates, and meetings.

As we plan for our trip back to Beichuan, Sichuan in January, we need to keep everyone involved as updated as possible and spread the word.

Check back often for news and updates on what the team will be doing!


-NYU SRM