MilliCharity Anniversary Parties
And a New Charity WeChat Account
Charity can be truly uplifting. I’ve already covered the MilliCharity Elections. December also had a pair of MilliCharity anniversary parties.
First up was the 4th anniversary of MilliCharity getting formally registered with the government. This is usually one of the biggest parties of the year, with many of the more active sponsors of children attending. We seem to have established a tradition of doing this at Dong Ge’s restaurant somewhere out in the wild countryside of ChangPing.
MilliCharity’s 4th Anniversary of Getting Registered
In addition to the excellent (as always) food, there were the usual speeches, looking back over what was accomplished in the previous year (such as a record number of new children being sponsored 
) as well as getting a general idea of where we’re heading over the next year.
Chicken, Chinese Style
Hakka Dofu – Yum!!!
And, like any gathering of kindhearted people, a certain amount of silliness ensued (ok, with MilliCharity it is a very large amount of silliness).
MilliCharity is very uplifting 🙂
Mommy, what are you and that Lunatic doing?
My lovely wife also flirts
Next up was the 8th anniversary of our outgoing president’s day job. When he’s not sponsoring children or building bridges, An Ge is a partner in the Upper Cave Man Art Club and Vegetarian Tea House restaurant in NanCheng. Each year, he uses the restaurant anniversary party as some sort of fundraiser for MilliCharity. This year, he had something new and different. First, everyone got videoed signing their name on the poster (and wondering why the microphone was stuffed into a tribble).
Signing on for charity
Why is a tribble eating the microphone?
After signing the poster (and giving back the tribble), we all headed upstairs.
Charity Parties always have speeches
Then, before dinner, An Ge explained what the QR Code (square bar code thing) on the poster was. In conjunction with some other charity groups, he’d created a special WeChat Public Subscribable Account for charitable purposes. Once installed, any project listed can have donations sent in by phone, but with a difference. For the inaugural test, a total of about 56,000 RMB was needed to build a road and 100% of this (and not 1 RMB more) was going to be collected in the account. The settings were locked in so that each person could donate only 100 RMB one time. This meant that 560 donors were needed. Naturally, everyone at the party with a WeChat account donated (and one Lunatic with a dumb phone sat there wondering what to do 
) and then shared it with their friend circles. By early the next day, all the money was raised and that road project closed.
Using this method, charitable projects are treated like products. Parameters for purchase (donation) can be set. In the future, other projects can be added. Each can have its donations parameters customized. The idea is to use this to allow large projects to reach out to many who want to donate modest amounts. This can also appeal to donors who don’t want the long-term commitment that comes with sponsoring a child via MilliCharity. As always, any overhead costs of any MilliCharity project are covered by the Board of Directors. 100% of donations go directly to the project itself.
Since my inadequate phone leaves me without WeChat, the best I can do is share the QR Code. At the moment, there are no projects posted, but more will pop up from time to time. If I can get enough advanced warning, I’ll try to post about the next WeChat funded project before funding begins. I also have ZERO clue about whether this will work from WeChat accounts outside of China, but will post an update if I find out.
(See Update 1 at end of the article)
Last year, there was one dish at the party that I hadn’t encountered before – dofu skin (aka tofu skin). I had been hoping to encounter it again. Instead of risking disappointment, I asked An Ge a few days in advance if it would be possible to have this again. Happily, An Ge was more than agreeable to make the arrangements. Here’s my highly inadequate photo of one of the most amazing dishes his restaurant serves:
Dofu Skin – Yum!!!
Of course, the rest of the food was also quite good, even though it was vegetarian and I’m a carnivore.
Another Vegetarian Dish
Naturally, as the evening progressed, things devolved into the expected (and occasionally unexpected) silliness. Much to my delight, a certain amount of Lunacy seems to now be expected at MilliCharity anniversary parties.
We’re not kissing him. We’re sucking out his brain! 🙂
It was inevitable – Lunacy takes over 🙂
For me, my personal upcoming MilliCharity plans are travel-related. One of the kids I sponsor just graduated from a trade school. Another one is graduating from high school after the spring term. That will take me from 8 kids sponsored down to 6. I guess I need to go and select a couple of new ones.
For more information about MilliCharity (if you read Chinese), visit MilliCharity.com
Update 1: Sadly, the powers that be decided that donations via WeChat QR Codes were not quite ready to be approved for regular usage. The road project was fully funded and completed, but MilliCharity has to wait for regulations of this sort of payment to be expanded to permit it to be used for other projects.
UpDate 2: I finally was dragged into the wild world of WeChat. 
