Chinese Culture Group of Greater Grand Rapids

May 2008:

With Summer approaching there are several cultural opportunities for you and your family. In June, FFIC will be holding its annual Heritage Camp from June 17-June 20, 2008. For more information go to: http://www.fficgr.org/id3.html

On July 26, 2008 the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce will be holding its annual Dragon Boat Race For Literacy at Ping Tom Park in Chicago, Illinois (for more information go to: http://www.chicagochinatown.org/). To celebrate this event, there are several families from our local FCC group who will be traveling to Chicago for the weekend.

We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Mayan Adventure Indoor Water Park in Elmhurst, Illinois http://mayanindoorwaterpark.reachlocal.com/coupon/?scid=180826&cid=177176&tc=08051015115926832&dynamic_proxy=1&primary_serv=mayanindoorwaterpark.reachlocal.net&se_refer=http%253A%252F%252Fsearch.yahoo.com%252Fsearch%253Fp%253Dmayan%252Badventure%252Belmhurst%2526ei%253DUTF-8%2526fr%253Dmoz2. This hotel offers reasonable rates and includes an indoor water park that should be fun for all ages.

Additionally, there is a commuter train station 5 minutes from the hotel, offering hourly commutes into Chinatown. The hotel offers complimentary shuttle service to and from the train station, depending on interest level. For more information about fares and schedules, please visit: http://metrarail.com/. The Elmhurst station is on the pink line and is a 35-40 minute ride into Chicago.

An agenda for activities has been developed as follows:

Friday:

· Check-in time is 2 PM

· Dinner will be on your own

· Meet at the pool (open until 10 PM)

Saturday:

· Dragon Boat Festival is from 9 AM to 4 PM (come and go as you please)

· Pizza Party at the Pool at 5 PM

· Swimming until 10 PM

Sunday:

· Breakfast on your own

· 11 AM check out

· You may enjoy the pool until 3 PM

From July 28th through August 1st, Chinese Village & Young Champions will be holding a Wushu Summer Camp for ages 6 on up.  For more information please visit their website at: http://chinesevillage.org

From August 8th through August 10th Families Through Adoption (Char Lanning’s organization) is planning a weekend gathering to celebrate the Olympics in Beijing. For more information, go to their website: http://familiesthroughadoption.org/celebrate.htm

I hope everyone enjoys a memorable summer. Peace – Dan Richter, CCGGGR chairperson.

Memory Mosaic

Our families are unique, but we share a common thread, which together makes up a mosaic of the Chinese adoption experience.

Let’s share our collective family stories
Come share your story using video, photos, stories, souvenirs, etc.
Each family limited to 10 minutes

We will meet on January 18th from 6:30 - 8:30 at Keystone Community Church located at 655 Spaulding in Ada, MI

Please RSVP to Dan Richter via email if you plan on showing a video or presenting something else for this event.

xie xie,

Mark

Please join us on Friday, December 7th at 6:30pm for our annual Christmas Party, held at Keystone Church in Ada. This is a great time to get to know other families better. We’ve got an activity planned for the kids as well as a performance by the Chinese Village Dancers. There will also be an opportunity for you to get a family portrait during the evening.

There are still some items left from the silent auction that will be available to bid on as well. In addition to the auction items there will be two custom prints by artist Xi Xiang He that we will be raffling off, tickets will be $5 each.

Please plan to bring a hot and a cold dish to pass. The group is providing coffee, juice and place settings.

Agenda

• 6:30 - 6:40 Greetings
• 6:40 - 7:15 Dinner
• 7:15 - 7:30 Chinese Village Dancers
• 7:30 - 8:00 Kids craft

Prints from Xi Xiang He

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

CCGGGR Board

Check out the list of items you will be able to bid on. I’ll keep updating the list as they become available. Remember, this year a portion of your meal cost will go to Grace and Hope for Children, a special thanks to Ming Ten for their generosity. I think this year is going to be the best year ever!

For event details click here. If you’re interested in donating an item or need more information, please contact a board member listed on our Contact Us page.

Current Donations that will be available for bidding on November 13, 2007

The Mud Room has donated a Studio for 4 which is a $75 value. They are located in Ada Village, check out their website at www.themudroom.us or give Rachel a call to setup your own creative day or night out. 616-682-9706

Family to receive a $350 credit towards their application fee when signing up for any of the AAI international programs. A great gift for any family currently looking into international adoption. They have a lot of international programs so please check out their website at www.adoptassoc.com

Cold Stone Creamery has donated one medium Midnight Delight cake. Chocolate lovers are going to be battling it out for this item.

Great Wall China Adoption is donating 2 very nice books that were printed by the CCAA. The books are titled Elder Respecting and contain heart warming stories that teach morals like respect much like William J. Bennett’s - The Book of Virtues. Check out Great Walls website at www.gwca.org

Grand Rapids Area YMCA is donating a 3 month membership which is a $279 value. Visit their website at www.grymca.org

 

Chris Lin, Author of the award winning children’s book Mandy and Pandy Say, Ni Hao Ma? is donating (3) copies. Book comes with a CD.

“Mandy and Pandy say “Ni Hao Ma?” has been such a hit with our Chinese students and their parents. The pictures are so much fun and the story teaches great language, from family and friends to playing in the park. We can’t wait for other ‘Mandy and Pandy’ stories to come out.”  Shelley Whiddon Jabberü, Foreign Language Learning for Kids

RKS

Owner Kim Swanson of RKS Salon has donated a $30 gift certificate. Read on for a great endorsement from a very satisfied customer. (Grand Rapids City Search.com)

“On my search for a stylist that knows how to cut naturally curly hair, I ran across RKS Salon in the yellow pages…..Well let me tell you, I have never had a better hair cut in my entire life! KIM IS JUST AWESOME!!! She gave me a cut that I can actually work with and look GREAT, she also did color correction the first time I went in and she did a great job on that as well.. She never RUSHED through the process. Thanks Kim you’re FANTASTIC!!! I HIGHLY recommend this salon to any woman that wants a great experience!”

D.A. Blodgett

D.A. Blodgett is donating (2) Follow Jade and (2) Mei Mei and Me videos that are great for learning the basics of the Chinese language.

XiXiang He

Local artist XiXiang He is donating 3 art pieces. You may remember XiXiang from when he held a calligraphy class for our group in January.

Last year was the first year we celebrated Moon festival and everyone had a great time so we are very excited to celebrate one of China’s biggest festivals again this year. The kids love to dress up in their traditional Chinese outfits which makes the event even more special and fun.

The event will be a potluck dinner so please bring both a hot and cold dish to pass. This will be our first time meeting at Keystone Community Church which is located at 655 Spaulding Ave. in Ada, MI (Fulton & Spaulding) You can do your own Google Map search or click here for a map

September 14, 2007 from 6:30-8:30 at Keystone Community Church

Tentative Agenda:

Word Scramble Game for older kids
Potluck Dinner
Story time for group
Glow Stick Hunt for kids with paper lanterns

During this event we will be auctioning off the beautiful Chinese scroll pictured below. The scroll
measures 6′ long and 2′ 2″ wide. Happy bidding.

Cost for the event is $5 unless dues for the whole year have already been paid. Hope you can make it. Please register for this event using the sign up form located at
http://ccgggr.org/content/signup/moon-festival-signup/

CCGGGR Board

Please plan on attending our annual US Citizenship Celebration:

Who: Any child adopted from China that has not previously participated

Where: Keystone Church, Ada, MI

When: October 8, 2007, 6:30pm

This is a ceremony to celebrate our children’s US Citizenship. Your child became a citizen during the swearing in at the US Consulate in Guangzhou. As you remember this was an exciting and emotional event. Unfortunately, most of our family & friends were unable to attend this exciting event in your child’s life. We know that many of them would have loved to witness that moment. This is our way of giving you the chance to share that moment with them here at home.

Please join Michigan Representative Tom Pearce as he presents each child with a certificate. Family & friends are welcome and encouraged to attend. Cost is $5 per family and cake and punch will be served. Bring your cameras.

Please RSVP by September 15^th to be a part of the ceremony.
RSVP at http://ccgggr.org/content/signup/citizenship-celebration-signup/

The 3rd annual silent auction is scheduled for Tuesday, November 13, 2007 from 6:30-9pm at Ming Ten Restaurant located at 2090 Celebration Dr. NE Suite 215 in Grand Rapids, MI 49525

The event format will be similar to past years in that we will be donating the proceeds to a charitable organization in China. This year we’ve selected Grace and Hope for Children which is a non-profit organization that seeks to place as many kids as possible with foster families in China. For more information on GHC please visit their website at http://www.grace-hope.org

Ming Ten has generously partnered with us this year and is offering our group a reduced rate in addition to waiving the fee for the banquet room. The reduced rate for the buffet will allow us to donate $5 for every adult price to Grace and Hope for Children. The buffet is fabulous, and they even have an all you can eat Sushi bar which is the best deal in town. Cost includes all you can eat buffet, soft drink and tip.

• Children under 10 are just $4
• Ages 11 and above are $15 ($5 of the each adult price will be donated to GHC)

Space is limited to 70 people so we ask that families RSVP via the form below.

3rd Annual Silent Auction/Buffet Sign Up

Click here for a list of items that will be available to bid on.  Note that this list will evolve as new items are added.  Silent Auction Donor List

We’re combining our June and July meetings this year. We’ll be meeting again at the 8th Ave Georgetownn Township Park located on 8th Ave South of Chicago Drive in Jenison. Please try to arrive at 11am as we will be voting in new board members.

By the way, we still have some open board positions, if you’re interested please contact a board member. This year we will be relying on sub-committees to help share the load, especially for some of our larger meetings like Christmas, Chinese New Year and Citizenship Celebration. If you’re interested in serving in a more limited short term capacity like on a sub-committee please email the Secretary Mark Elenbaas

For those that have never been to this park, it has a public beach and covered pavillion with tables. There is an entrance fee for non Georgetown residents. According to their website the fee is $3 per adult and $1 per children under 12

The meeting will be potluck style so we ask that each family bring a salad or fruit to pass. There are charcoal grills available to grill your meat and someone from the board will be bringing some charcoal and lighter fluid to get the fire going for the rest of us Don’t forget to bring place settings and drinks for your family.

Hope to see you there

CCGGGR Board

Please join us at Cascade Christian Church on Saturday, April 21 from 8:30 - Noon. We will be splitting into three groups for this meeting:

• Waiting to Travel
• Home Land Tours by Lotus Travel
• Panda Pals (Children in grades 3rd - Jr. High)

The Waiting to Travel group is especially helpful for families that will traveling this year. This event is very well attended and is packed with information.  The Waiting to Travel panel includes families that have traveled to China and have lots of tips to share. The home land tour presentation is new this year and is timely as many of our CCGGGR families have older kids and may be considering a home land tour in the not to distant future. Panda Pals has a special event planned to create blankets for some of the orphanages in China.

This year the event cost is $15 which can be paid at the event.

Cascade Christian Church is located at 2829 Thornapple River Dr.

Respectfully,

CCGGGR Board

Don’t let the cold weather keep you away from our Chinese New Year meeting. We just received word that the Chinese Village dancers will be performing a brand new dance that they will be performing at the Chinese Association event later this month.

Lily An also has a craft planned for the kids that will help decorate your house for the Chinese New Year. I’m sure she can also help us all learn the traditional new year greeting. Lily will also have tickets to the Chinese Association Gala event which will take place on February 24th. For more details you can visit the CAWM website.

Happy New Year
Xīnnián kuàilè