Christina Zhao
Christina is the Events Associate for Wokai's San Francisco - Bay Area Chapter.
Having always wanted to turn every little activity amongst friends into an “event”, I realized that my true calling in life is event planning. With a background in finance and finance only, Wokai offered me the amazing opportunity to be in charge of chapter events and to learn as I do.
The Bay Area Wokai family celebrating a successful launch of our Drinks for a Better World campaign with, you guessed it, WOKA-KAZE shots!
As the newly minted Events Associate for Wokai, I am ecstatic to be sharing the wonderful news of our first fundraising event of 2009. Last Thursday (March 26, 2009), over 200 individuals gathered at San Francisco’s premier happy hour spot, Taverna Aventine, to celebrate Wokai’s inaugural Drinks for a Better World (DFBW) event. This event was a tremendous success and with everyone’s hard work and contributions, we managed to raise over $2,500 in suggested donations! To put things into better perspective, US$2,500 in China is enough to cover the cost of 40 roundtrip overnight train tickets from Wokai's Beijing Headquarters to our field partner in Inner Mongolia in addition to one full year of housing accommodations for a Wokai Fellow on location. Talk about having a long lasting impact!
The Bay Area Chapter’s DFBW campaign follows in the footsteps of our Beijing counterpart and has a vision of providing an easily accessible and social environment where young professionals with a similar desire for social change and philanthropy can come together to meet one another and to exchange valuable new ideas.
Thursday’s event would not have been possible without the generous support of the owners of Aventine as well as one of the most wonderful and down to earth girls I know, Summer Huff, Peroni and Pilsner account representative. With their help, Wokai was able to take over the bar from 6 to 9 pm and offer attendees drink specials such as $3 Peronis and $4 Woka-kaze shots (our take on the traditional kamikaze, another success!). Even though the event was scheduled to conclude at 9 pm, seeing so many of our guests having such a great time mingling, I did not have the heart to break up the party and the event went on until well past 10:30pm.
One of the main objectives for putting together this event was to raise awareness for microfinance in China and to spread the word about the impactful difference a simple $25 contribution can make in someone else’s life. My fellow Wokai volunteers acted as “information spreaders” that evening to ensure that every person in attendance understood our mission and all the different venues through which they can help. We were extremely successful in garnering interest and even received numerous requests from individuals who wanted to become volunteers.
This whole experience, from the planning stages, to securing a venue, to heavily publicizing to friends and colleagues, and finally to the post-event group dinner where volunteers and Wokai friends celebrated the success together, was an extremely heartwarming one. I have learned that when you are truly passionate about something, that type of enthusiasm and excitement becomes contagious to others around you and those people want nothing more than to see you succeed. And for that, I am forever grateful!
To all those who attended this event, I sincerely appreciate your support and hope that you had as much fun as I did. Please stay tuned because the next Wokai Drinks for a Better World will be even better.
In the meantime, please save the date for Wokai’s launch event “Dollars Without Borders: Growing Microfinance in China.” It will take place inside the Ferry Building on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 and will include guest speakers such as Premal Shah, President of Kiva, and Maya Chorengel, Managing Director of UNITUS Equity Fund; the premier of a short-film How the Rural Half Lives; a silent auction; as well as breathtaking views of the San Francisco waterfront. Feel free to reach out to me if you want any more details and I look forward to seeing you soon at the next Wokai event! 干杯 (Cheers)!
Excellent event! The place was so packed that I was worried we might have exceeded the legal capacity of the bar. Congrats!
Posted by: Alice | April 03, 2009 at 10:46 PM
That's awesome - you guys raised the bar!
Posted by: Sam L | April 04, 2009 at 05:38 PM
Great event Christina! Aventine was a terrific spot, but like Alice said, you may need a bigger venue for the next one :)
Posted by: Nik | April 04, 2009 at 06:51 PM