Hello everyone, my name is Patrick Liu, and currently in 10th grade. I have been learning Chinese instruments at Galaxy Arts Center since 2015. It’s now been 4 years, and within each year, new students join, and older students graduate. During our time at Galaxy, each one of us students has gained valuable skills and experience. Moreover, our mentors here provided us with many opportunities to perform and share our artistic talents. Earlier this year, Mr. Pu and I discussed whether we could put our students’ musical talents to use, and perhaps organize an abroad music and arts charity camp. I was initially inspired due to my knowledge of the many children in China, whose parents often travel long distances for work, leaving their children behind. Many of these children do not get to see their parents often, and can only live in the countryside with their elderly grandparents. Their access to entertainment is very limited, and these children have very few opportunities to enjoy simple things like music and dance. I want to bring these children the gift of the music and arts, so they can have the opportunity to enjoy and also learn about various musical instruments. Perhaps this will even help them find their own interests, and enrich their social lives. My mentor, Mr. Pu, was very excited about this idea, so I made a bold move to be a leading member of our volunteers. In the end, with the help of Mr.Pu, our Music & Arts Summer Camp officially began on June 27 of this summer!
Before we set off however, we organized a charity performance here in Orange County. It was very successful, and with the help of our student body and audience, we raised more than 2,000 Chinese yuan for this summer camp, in order to donate to underprivileged areas in China.
We have a group of more than 20 students who performed music and dance for special needs children and elderly communities. We also used the funds we raised to purchase stationery, musical instruments, and simple household items to those we visited. This charity camp was a great experience for all us us, and we’ve all learned so much through helping those in need. We have established a long-term relationship with the people we met, and have even exchanged letters and emails. In the future, we will continue to raise funds through our performances, and will keep on working harder ourselves. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, our charity camp was very successful!