[yidie]

At this point, many of us may have already made donations to our fellow people in China in trauma. Do you want to extend your helping hands by calling for donations at your workplace? I have a prepared letter in English that I sent through email to my colleagues at work and I received overwhelming responses from them. This email was drafted by a friend of mine and then I made some changes to blow it up a little bit (actually the reality speaks for itself). If you fnd it convenient to use this letter at your workplace, please feel free. And here you go with the letter.

===================================

Dear colleagues,

I was very shocked when I read the news about the disastrous earth quake which occurred in southeast China on May 12, around 14:30 when most people were at work, children at school.

The impact of the earthquake was tremendous. It not only caused immense damage at the main quake site, its impact was felt throughout China and its devastation shook the whole world. As most of you know, I was born in China and spent the first 25 years of my life in that country before I immigrated to Canada. As a result the impact of the quake was very emotional personally.

I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw the photos about young kids buried and who had died together underneath the debris of their collapsed classroom buildings. At another school, in Qingchuan County, at least 178 children were confirmed dead, killed as they were having a midday nap. In Juyuan county, it is said that a whole generation of the town's children may be lost.

We do remember our childhood days, our carefree approach to life and the feelings that we would live forever as growing old was so far away. How these young children must have suffered! Today, we have our own daughters, sons, nieces and nephews who have the same dreams as the young children who perished in China and of the young survivors who have to live with the nightmares that will be with them forever. We are so fortunate to be living in a country such as Canada. I would like you to look at these links on the devastation which has just taken place. Please view them with caution as they may have an emotional impact on the viewer. The links are:

http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200805/news-gb2312-595951.html
http://bbs.comefromchina.com/forum79/thread565158.html

Since the centre of the tremor was located in a mountainous area where all the roads, bridges and infrastructures were destroyed, more than 100,000 people were believed still trapped underneath the debris almost 48 hours after the quake. Given the poor road conditions and down pouring rain, the rescue teams can only progress one meter at a time.

The healing process and the rescue process will go on for quite awhile and I feel the need for us to do something to help these victims transition to a "normal" way of life. They cannot do it on their own. They need support and a lot of help. As a result, I am seeking your help in gathering donations from all of you, my dear co-workers, to help and support the survivors of this disaster in China.

Every penny will go a long way in helping them meet that goal and it will also help us knowing that we have contributed towards making their lives better.

I have setup a donation box in our common kitchen area on the 27th floor. Please feel free to drop in during the rest of this week and make a donation. The amount is not the point. Every penny will help.. I will have a follow-up email to all of you once I donate all the collected money to the proper charity account that has been officially setup by China Red Cross, or you can donate through Canada Red Cross at https://www.paypaq.com/redcross/new/index.php . Just select "China Earthquake".

Thank you, thank you and thank you.

[Romanoffi]

[xiaomage]

一碟美眉真是个有心人。

[xiaomage]

另外，有朋友提到，鉴于加拿大政府或红十字会的人浮于事和低效率（上次Tsunami的捐款好像隔了很长时间还是没有到位），他把款online捐给了香港红十字会，一来他们离中国近又是同文同种，能保证快速到达，还有香港政府和机构的高效和廉洁是有口皆碑的。

香港红十字会中英文online donation网页：
https://www.redcross.org.hk/donation...n.asp?langId=1

[yidie]

Thanks, Xiaomage. I will make sure the money I raised be submitted to China Red Cross or same in Hong Kong.

Also I just learned this afternoon from the management team of my firm that a fundraising event will be put on nationwide and all the funds raised will be matched up by the firm. So if you do raise money at your workplace, please rememer to check with your company to see if they have this "match up" policy.

[雪在烧]