圣路易时报

圣路易11位华裔中学生 制作捐赠3,100个手工口罩

STL teens donating 3,100 handmade masks during the pandemic

【圣路易时报讯】因应新冠病毒疫情,圣路易11位华裔中学生成立了非盈利组织CRET(Crisis Response Teens,also known as Covid-19 Response Teens),宗旨为帮助青少年和家人积极应对多变的世界局势和当地社区的危机。在家长的支持下,孩子们募集一开始就达到2,000美元,很快的用在手工制作口罩捐赠社区活动。

从4月到8月,11位华裔女生和她们的家长共做了2700个布口罩,加上其他志愿者支援的470个,一共捐献价值了超过$12,000美元的3,100个口罩。接受捐赠的单位有: SSM health hospitals,St. Luke’s Hospitals,St. Louis Children’s Hospital,John Cochran VA Medical Center,Loaves and Fishes for St. Louis (homeless shelter)和Bernard Care Center (Senior living)。

8月21日,CRET捐献269个手工口罩予St. Luke Hospital,4个月的捐献口罩活动告一段落。

活动进行中,同学们一直密切关注疫情发展和需求变化,及时将捐赠对象从一线医院逐步转到老兵,老人和儿童以及无家可归人群。

捐赠的口罩最远的被寄到加州和华盛顿州的无家可归人群。八月初的口罩寄给了一位叫Liem Kaplan的11岁男孩,他是从越南被领养的一位双手残疾的孩子,他在疫情中开始了自己的慈善项目Giving Hope Project,他和家人每周给无家可归的人捐赠食物和口罩等物品,Liem的妈妈(一位社工)联系到STL CRET,申请要一些口罩,尤其是儿童口罩,Liem已经收到了CRET 8月4日寄出的248个口罩。

CRET的捐赠收到了很多赞扬,很多医院的负责人表示「这是对我们的极大帮助」,还有从加州的非盈利组织发来的「谢谢你们寄来救命的口罩」,这些对同学们是极大的鼓励。学校开学后,同学们会回到学校学习,CRET下一步很可能会做一个捐赠食品的活动,给无家可归服务机构提供支持,也可能会做帮助学校的活动。

7月,CRET成为「总统志愿服务认证非营利组织」(President’s Volunteer Service Certifying Non-profit Organization)。

STL CRET目前成员有:

Emily He – President (Parkway Central High School),
Jennifer Li – Vice President (Marquette High School),
Danielle Zhang – Artistic Design Director (Ladue Horton Watkins High School),
Roselyn Chen – Outreach Director (Parkway South High School),
Angela Lee (Westminster Academy),
Cindy Yao (Lindberg High School),
Emma Shao (MICDS),
Lian Lee (Westminster Academy),
Nicole Dai (MICDS),
Sarah Ning (Ladue High School),
Teresa Jiang (John Burroughs High School).

For more information, you can visit the STL CRET facebook page or please contact Melody Zhang: 314-609-9987, melodywenzhang17@gmail.com

STL teens donating 3,100 handmade masks during the pandemic

On Friday August 21st, CRET will donate 269 handmade masks to St. Luke Hospital. This will mark the completion of such effort for the last four months.

From April to August, STL CRETs, a group of 11 St. Louis teens from local Chinese families, made over 2,700 masks and engaged additional volunteers to make an additional 470 masks. In total, STL CRETs donated over 3,100 cloth masks (estimated value over $12,000) to SSM health hospitals, St. Luke’s Hospitals, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, John Cochran VA Medical Center, Loaves and Fishes for St. Louis (homeless shelter), and Bernard Care Center (Senior living).

In response to Covid-19 crisis, these 11 St. Louis teens quickly established a non-profit organization called CRET, which stands for Crisis Response Teens, also known as Covid-19 Response Teens during the pandemic. STL CRET’s mission is to support kids and their families to positively respond and adjust to rapidly changing global and local crises. With their families’ support, STL CRETs raised over $2,000 to jumpstart the process of making cloth face masks for communities in need. 

During this period, these teens have been closely monitoring the pandemic and where the needs lie, shifting support from frontline hospitals to veterans, seniors, childrens, and homeless individuals. 

The cloth masks supplied by STL CRET travelled as far as the states of California and Washington to support the homeless there as well. The last package was sent to a young boy named Liem Kaplan who was adopted from Vietnam with a special physical need in his hands. Liem started his relief effort called the GivingHope Project after the pandemic began. He and his family collect everyday items, such as food and masks, to donate weekly to the homeless in Seattle. After learning of STL CRET, Liem’s mother, Nancy Kaplan, reached out to STL CRET for mask donations, especially kids sized masks. After two weeks of hard work, 248 handmade masks were sent from CRET to Liem on August 4th. 

STL CRET’s efforts gained numerous appraises from those who received the masks. Statements from hospital directors, such as “this is a huge help to us” and, from a California non-profit organization, “thank you so much for the beautiful, life saving masks”, were great encouragement for CRET members. As schools begin to start, STL CRET continues to help their community while also focusing on their school work. Their next phase may include hosting a food drive for food banks, making needed items for homeless shelters, and supporting their schools in any way possible. 

In July, CRET became a presidential volunteer service certifying non-profit organization. After completing the donation of homemade masks, their next phase is food drive for homeless people in St. Louis.

Currently, CRET members are:

Emily He – President (Parkway Central High School),
Jennifer Li – Vice President (Marquette High School),
Danielle Zhang – Artistic Design Director (Ladue Horton Watkins High School),
Roselyn Chen – Outreach Director (Parkway South High School),
Angela Lee (Westminster Academy),
Cindy Yao (Lindberg High School),
Emma Shao (MICDS),
Lian Lee (Westminster Academy),
Nicole Dai (MICDS),
Sarah Ning (Ladue High School),
Teresa Jiang (John Burroughs High School).

For more information, you can visit the STL CRET facebook page or please contact Melody Zhang: 314-609-9987, melodywenzhang17@gmail.com