March 2007 - Lechang County, Southern China
C.O.L.O.R. Program Manager Xuhao He was given the CHIME Community Hero Award for his fundraising and work following hurricane Bilis in Southern China. With help from C.O.L.O.R., generous donors, sponsorship from the local government, and hardworking local families six homes were built following the disaster. Pictures of the new homes and families can be found at: http://xuhao.officeisp.net/New Homes/Forms/AllItems.aspx
September 2006 - Lechang County, Southern China
Project manager: Xuhao He
Tropical storm Bilis caused very heavy flooding when it hit South China in
mid-July 2006. Many houses built with mud bricks were destroyed and many
solid brick houses severely damaged in the flooding and heavy rains. In
some cases the flooding hit so fast in the middle of the night that families
barely escaped with a few possessions. Xuhao He approached C.O.L.O.R. with
a desire to help raise money to aid some of the storm ravaged villages in the
Lechang County of Southern China. The Board of Directors of C.O.L.O.R.
voted to help support this project and bring money and goods to help these
families.
A total of $3,580.00 was raised through private donations and Microsoft fundraising matches. This money was converted to into Chinese currency (RMB) at the exchange rate of $1: RMB 7.824 for a total of RMB 28,009.92 to be brought back to China for the purchase of goods and monetary relief by Xuhao He.
Xuhao traveled back to Southern China in late September 2006 representing
C.O.L.O.R. to survey the remaining damage and assess the rebuilding situation in
the small towns and villages of Lechang County. Many houses had been
destroyed outright by the flooding or were so badly damaged that they were
deemed inhospitable and dangerous to live in.
With
the money Xuhao raised he bought teaching supplies and sports equipment for
students at the Longzhu Elementary School, relief in the form of cash, goods,
and building materials was given to forty four (44) families in Baokeng Village
and a nearby small village called Chen-Jai-Peng. Many of these families
used the money to purchase quilts for the coming winter, 3-months supplies of
rice because the rice paddies that they rely upon to feed their families were
destroyed in the flood, and also to rebuild homes and parts of homes damaged or
destroyed in the flooding.
C.O.L.O.R. is very proud to have supported this project and of Xuhao’s efforts to help families and villages to rebuild after natural disaster in his native Southern China. Disaster relief is a worldwide effort supported by people of all walks of life and the lives that sudden disasters can touch does not discriminate. We hope that Xuhao He will help us in future projects where we can bring a little C.O.L.O.R. into people’s lives.
