The Danish Chamber of Commerce in China – Beijing was having yet another successful Gala Ball, which took place at the Sofitel Wanda, Saturday 25 February. This was the 16th Grand Charity Gala Ball and it turned out to be a great evening with almost 300 attendees and most important and relevant of all, a fruitful endeavor in terms of donations, due to everyone who attended and the kind support and generous donations from the sponsors.
When the guests arrived they were greeted with a glass of champagne and canapés, after which they took the time to look at the many interesting auction items – all while the MC for the evening, the famous Danish entertainer Finn Nørbygaard, mingled with the guests.
After a short while everyone was greeted in the Great Ball room of Sofitel Wanda with an opening speech from DCCC’s MC, and the first dinner course of the day.
The chairman of DCCC, Humphrey Lau also made his presence at the stage with a speech about last year’s charity project 2011 in Malipo County, Yunnan, with pictures showing the positive transformation of a new school building being constructed.
The proceeds of this year’s Gala Ball go to the project ‘Coming Home’ in Zhenzhou – Henan Province, via the non-profit organization, Morning Tears.
The organization was originally initiated by 5 Chinese Judges who could see the need of taking care of children whose parents were imprisoned, children who had been abused or neglected, – who had not been registered at birth and thus had no rights, – and street children.
The children live together in homes of 8 children with 1-2 caregivers. They participate in the daily life of a small home and society while having the support of their peers. All the homes are linked with a “child assistance center”. The child assistance center is the base for intake of new children providing psychological and medical assistance as well as coordinating the training of the caregivers and social workers. The child assistance center will maintain links with hospitals and prisons. The organization was started by 5 Chinese Judges who could see the need of taking care of children whose parents were imprisoned, children who had been abused or neglected, – who had not been registered at birth and thus having no rights and street children. Currently “Coming Home” houses and helps 42 children.
Hereby the founder, Koen Sevenants held a moving speech about the purpose of the project and also that this year’s proceeds will go directly to the construction of a new home for 16 children in Henan.
A lot of the proceeds derived from the live – and silent auction and Chinese lottery, which most diffidently made the evening even more entertaining and charitable due to all the interesting items donated by our kind sponsors.
Shortly after the Live Auction the very famous Danish band and huge success ‘Alphabeat’ played live on the large stage and all the guests started dancing and cheering.
From the feedback DCCC has received from the guests, -the evening became very memorable and gave the Danish community and friends a chance to unite in order to help the Chinese Society, says a representative from DCCC.
