Thank you for participating in the East Villagers Service Scholar Essay Contest! We really enjoyed reading every one of your essays and viewing each of your art pieces and videos. We were truly inspired by your enthusiasm and passion for service. Your commitment to serving the community and making the world a better place is very commendable. We thank the Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation for their generous support and sponsorship. Winners from Northern California will be invited to read their essays at the annual Service Scholar Award Celebration hosted by the Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation.

This is the second year the East Villagers Non-Profit Community is offering a chance for young service scholars within the local community to express their passion for community service through essay writing and art.  Our goal is to promote a spirit of volunteerism among the younger generation around the world.  Winners from Northern California will be invited to read their essays at the annual Service Scholar Award Celebration hosted by the Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation.  Students must complete 5 hours of community service and fill out the Service Requirement Form to provide proof.  All students enrolled in schools Kindergarten through High School in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply.

What is it? The EV Service Scholar Internship Program is a one year online interactive program focused on helping young service scholars develop an in-depth knowledge of global issues, social injustices, and solutions.

What can interns gain from the program? Interns can earn community service hours, gain an in-depth knowledge about non-profit work globally, develop life-long writing skills, and receive a $1000 scholarship at the conclusion of the program to donate to a cause of their choice or to use the scholarship to attend a humanitarian project with an NGO to gain first-hand experience. 

What will interns do? Interns will join the EV Non-Profit Editorial Team and write blog articles on topic of your interest weekly (3 per week during the summer and 1 per week during the school year). You will also work on our NGO Database and Social Marketing. 

What is the job description and requirements? This program is online and at the comfort of your room. Summer: 10 hours per week. School Year: 5 hours per week. We have weekly Intern Meetings for 1 hour. 

The application deadline is Saturday, July 31, 2010, 11:59 pm PST.

Online Application: www.servicescholar.com

 This morning, I woke up at 5am and started to work and prepare for the day of EV Speed Testing.  This involves shadowing our tiger team students and observing how they interact with the new EV China website at various locations in Fudan University.  Our goal is to have the browsing experience and usability for EV China to be as comfortable and easy as possible for users in China.

The weather is still colder than ever, and I'm overcoming my cold/allergy.  I fell back to sleep around 8am to make sure I had enough rest for the long day.  Around 9:45am, we met Teddy and headed out to meet Ketty and Clarissa who guided us to various locations at Fudan University to test EV's speed.  We learned many things through this observational trip about the situation at Fudan.  The average speed for the Hong Kong site and USA site seems to be relatively similar and fast, which is a good sign.  The USA speed test we were using had some problems with the Chinese firewall and gave us higher numbers than the actual results.  We discarded this test and decided to change our speed test to be a relative speed test for our tiger team members to perform.  The relative speed test will consist of a numeric scale from 1 to 10, 1 being very slow, 5 medium, 10 very fast.  This will give us an idea of the user experience as well.  Testers can use fast sites they browse on a daily basis as a benchmark.  After testing the speed at three different locations in Fudan, Peter had a better idea of the situation. 

For lunch, Ketty and Clarissa brought us to their school cafeteria and treated us to the student food.  We enjoyed the experience and the food was not bad.  We sat there simply enjoying the time together among the many Fudan students hurrying to eat their food to either get to class or take their finals. The more we walked towards the final destination, the more I realized, I have to say goodbye again to Ketty and Clarissa... it was not easy because they were such close friends to me during the summer and seeing their familiar, joyful, and eager faces made me cherish Shanghai this time again.  I wish I could see them face to face more often.  I told them, "I will miss you guys, " and Ketty replied, "I am already starting to miss you."  The little time we spent this time around really meant a lot to Peter and me, and we felt like we've been here for more than a week already; however, it has only been two days.

After we waved goodbye to Ketty and Clarissa, Peter and I debriefed at the hotel.  We decided to be more aggressive about observing the speed and we wrote down both of observations so far, analysis of the situation, and compiled a long list of questions we hope to answer.   This process was very effective for us because we want to make the most of our time in China as well as ensure a robust and scalable platform for the Chinese people.  Peter and I felt very good after the debriefing session and did some action planning for the rest of the trip to answer the many inconclusive questions we had.

Soon after, we had a wonderful talk with Teddy and he shared with us some feedback and we headed off to test EV at some public locations around Shanghai.  The results were promising and quick for the China site.  What we also enjoyed were some cheap rollerskate clips for our shoes that we bought at Nanjinglu (20 yuan each). Rolling around nanjinglu, xintiandi, and the bund was an interesting and memorable experience.  The air was not too cold, and Teddy's company was much appreciated by my brother and me.  Teddy is very funny and has been such a great friend to Peter and me.

Thanks for following our journey to setup EV China!

~ Driving a New Movement for Nonprofits in East Asia ~

 Peter and I arrived in Beijing at 5am in the morning.  We stepped out of the plane and the cold air rushed up my legs and face.  It was freezing stepping into the connecting walkway.  I thank my mother for reminding me to bring many layers of warm clothes.  We then transferred from Beijing Airport to Shanghai Pudong, arriving at 10:15am.  Immediately, Peter and I went to a hotel near Hanting.  We quickly prepared for our EV Staff Training session and had no time for lunch.  At 2pm, we met our dear tiger team friends. They are so sweet and energetic.  We pulled our hearts into the 4 hours with them.

I have not held a 4 hour training session with people that engaged for all 4 hours in a long long time.  It was a wonderful team bonding time.  EV Staff are very excited to get the site translated.  We also went through expectations, feedback, and the Chao Foundation 2010 Plan as well as our five year road map. We look forward to performing some EV tests with Ketty, Clarissa, and Teddy tomorrow morning at Fudan University and public locations such as coffee shops and other locations.

Peter and I saw snow fall in Shanghai! According to our friends who are Shanghai natives, they have not had snow in two years.  It was a beautiful sight to see it falling slowly down our window.  I was so surprised.  Peter said his goal was realized today on the first day.  His hope was to see snow and he got to see it and feel it.  We looked outside our hotel window and in another building, a little girl was at her window with her hands spread out feeling the snow in the sky.  We can't wait for tomorrow.  Thanks for reading our China journey to setup EV 东村族！

Tiger Team is moving forward! We have a conference call each week to catch up and reconnect as a team.  My goal for the upcoming china trip is to form team identity and clearer understanding of each person's function within the team through training.  Another important goal is action planning for Translation Project with Ketty taking the lead.  Lastly, technology testing.  Luke had some great useful info today.  China has 5 main networks and the network that will not be able to access EV US is the Education Network.  We need to test how a hong kong website runs on the education network.

Peter and I are looking forward to our China visit.  We hope to see the fruits of our visit by the receptiveness of many students, volunteers, NGOs in China to use the EV China tool.

Today Peter and i will head to the Acoustic Holiday Party to share about EV and LRS.  I will need to prepare a few things to say about EV and LRS.  Merry Christmas EVERYONE and we cannot do this without your support.  

Until next update,

Nancy 

 Our Tiger Team from the USA, Beijing, and Shanghai are forming our first steps in our respective cultures.  I'll periodically update the EV community with many of the exciting projects we're working on.

Two main projects we are working on right  now are:

1. EV China Translation Project (led by Ketty Jiang) - an intensive revision of our Translation First effort and a new effort to translate remaining pages item by item.

2. EV NGO Database - a collection of NGOs and training for NGOs (especially in China) to use East Villagers.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!

East Villagers is back and running with rapid speed!

Reminder: EV Points will reset December 31, 11:59 PM PST.
If you plan on buying something at the EV Store, please do so before this date. Villagers will start anew on New Years!

-- The EV Team

We just returned from a wonderful dinner.  The china chapters, Asian Liver Center staff, and other invited guests had a chance to meet and talk with Mr. and Mrs. Ping & Amy Chao.  They just arrived from Beijing today at 2:30pm but had great energy and enthusiasm for the youth and projects of hepatis B in China.  People had a chance to enjoy the wonderful French-Vietnamese cuisine in Los Altos downtown's Beausejour.  They mingled, laughed, and had a good time.  Once again, thank you Ping and Amy for your thoughtfulness and care.  Here is a photo from the night.

A few weeks ago on Sunday, October 18th, 2009, our EV team held a fun interactive webinar with the TeamHBV US chapter leaders.  The webinar's purpose is to introduce them to the main features of East Villagers and guide the chapter leaders through how to use the features for the conference and for their chapters after the conference. The TeamHBV chapter leaders were engaged and asked many good questions. Big thanks to Jian Zheng Amanda Wong and Derek Chen for helping to facilitate the 30 members who participated in the webinar.  Thank you Mr. Chao for his guest speech at the webinar. Thanks Peter for helping host the webinar.

A few days ago, myself and YanYan Zhang conducted an in-person training for the TeamHBV China Chapters at Stanford University all in Chinese.  It was 3 hours long but because everyone was so engaged and asked so many good questions, it felt like we were only there for one hour.  Although, EV tools are made to be easy to use by any younger generation internet user, we found it necessary through our past case studies, to hold EV training and walk through specific functions and allow the users to try it for themselves on the spot.  Watching a video ad or reading about East Villagers's many features is one thing (it could give you an idea that this is another social networking site), but trying out the tools is antoher thing.  Users tend to realize the difference and advanced customizations EV has made for nonprofit organizations alone while taking some time to explore all the features on the site. The key is seeing it for yourself! We went through a detailed walk-through of the site because we found that many partners, if they have not actually tried out the EV tools for themselves, it will be harder to see the benefits of using a new site and tool.  And so was the case for the China chapters. After they tried out and saw how fun it could be, they were excited to bring this site to their local chapters back in their home country.

Here are some photos from the training. Enjoy!

Meet the participants of the EV Training at Stanford.

East Villagers training for TeamHBV China Chapters at Stanford University

Students discussing with each other what it'll mean to use social media to do good in China.

We had the participants interact with each other and come up with their video plan.  This is one of the many enthusiastic groups excited to film their videos.

Another team recording their videos and sharing their stories.

Excited and having fun to share their stories!

I had a great time meeting you all.  I wish you all the best in your endeavors to spread Hepatitis B awareness. --Nancy

Click here to watch the winning video.  Will be announced tonight at the Dinner hosted by the Chao Foundation.

We want to thank the Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation for sponsoring the EV Flip Camcorders.  We also appreciate the strategic partnership between East Villagers, Chao Foundation, and Flip Pure Digital Technology LLC. Ping and Amy's endless support for web 2.0 technology, media, and social justice among the young generation is making great impact. We truly believe that we can bring the first-hand experiences to people all around the world to effect positive change.  East VIllagers will use these flip camcorders to share the priceless life-changing moments on the field.  This will allow our volunteers, chapters, and partners to record these experiences and share these first-hand experiences with the EV Global community.  Once again, thank you Chao Foundation and Flip Video! Look here as we unveil the camcorders. -- EV Team

The Flip Ultra Camcorders in their boxes.

Ta da!

Our Partners, the Asian Liver Center and TeamHBV, will be using these Flip camcorders to share their conference experience with you. Stay tuned for an amazing weekend!

We want to welcome Teddy Shih, 史佳俊, to the East Villagers Staff as part of the East Villagers Internship Program.  Teddy lives in Shanghai and loves to help people.  He's worked at an orphanage in Hunan and helped organize an English camp there. He created MFMC (more friends, more chances) for his friends to come together and help others in Shanghai and spread East Villagers.  He also loves to help train people to use East Villagers and see it helping people in China.  He is a big supporter of community service.  We are happy to have Teddy as one of our dedicated and passionate interns.  Everyone, please say hi and congratulate Teddy!

Click on Teddy's Photo to visit his EV Page! Everyone, congratulate and welcome him! Go MFMC!

We want to welcome YanYan Zhang to our East Villagers Staff.  She will be the main admin for the China EV Forums and serve as the Root International Peace Corps Office Manager. She is from Kunming City, Yunnan, one of the most beautiful places in China.  Currently, she is studying for her MBA in the next two years.  YanYan has experience working with World Vision International in Yunnan, authored over 20 news reports in China, and loves to do nonprofit work.  She will help us build a community of Chinese speaking volunteers and NGOs on East Villagers and write spotlight and NGO-related articles for EV News.  Everyone, join me in welcoming YanYan to the East Villagers Team!

Click here to visit YanYan's Page and say "Hi!"

Here is a very interesting video by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod's about Social Media and it's role in communications in this day and age.  Social media can be a very helpful tool to leverage for nonprofits.  What are your thoughts? Post a comment.

Vivian loves community service. She is only 9 years old and just joined East Villagers Non Profit Community.  She created a project called "Project Spare Change" and "Help the Planet." She invites you to join her projects and donate to charity on EV!

It's so easy, even Vivian can join.  Join EV today!  http://www.eastvillagers.org

Description: When Tracy McGrady (T-Mac) of the NBA heard about the massive challenges children from Darfur were facing in the refugee camps in Chad, he decided to travel there.  I'm watching this feature film (length: 1 hr, 1 minute) via Hulu.com.  I thought I'd share it with the EV Community.  You could watch it directly below.  Click play and hit the fullscreen square (top right corner).  Let me know what you think by commenting below. 

July 18-19, Saturday-Sunday, EV Training for Beida and Tsinghua

 Saturday morning, Luke, Rebecca, and Vivian flew in from Beijing.  We had lunch and talked about where they were from, their interests, etc.  After a 30 minute rest, I went into EV Training.  They asked really good questions and were all really interested.  They signed up for EV.  We went to dinner and afterwards, met up with Ketty and Alex, to brainstorm ideas and set some concrete goals such as site translation into simplified chinese and spreading the word to nonprofits and foundations in their area.  Luke asked a good question which is what is the goal for EV in the next two years. I drew a timeline and said that we are focusing on quality of users in the first year up until May 2010, then afterwards we would like to go viral.  After Ketty and Alex left around 9pm, the Beijing Team and I were hard at work to translate all EV training material (powerpoint and videos) into Chinese.  They are excellent translators as well as video dubbers.  Rebecca and Luke had very clear voices.  We ended up sleeping around 4am.  At 9:30am, we met up with Ketty and Alex in my room and recorded chinese interviews for the East Villager videos.  Around 12pm, the girls from the Beijing team left and Luke and I spoke to Mr. Chao to catch Mr. Chao up with updates and then Luke finally left around 2pm.  I really enjoyed working with this team and hope that they'll will be excellent trainers for EV in Beijing.

July 22, Wednesday, 2nd Meeting with Fudan and Jiaotong Tiger Team to Touch Base and Plan

Present: Ketty, Alex, Fang Lu, Iris Hua, Emma, Clarissa, and Nancy

We caught up over dinner with how everyone's summer's going.  After dinner, we came back to my hotel room to watch the EV Videos in Chinese.  Everyone loved the dubbing as I think having them in Chinese made it a lot more fun and relatable to the students.  Afterwards, I had Ketty practice going through the Chinese EV Powerpoint Presentation to show the rest of the group how it's done and she did really well.  Alex helped with catching the rest of the group up with the translation effort and split the phrases among the group.  Their goal is to have the translation done by September 1st before school starts so they can start training when students return to school.  The Shanghai Team were really thankful for EV training and the efforts of Ping and Amy.  They are really excited to help out in any way they can.  I'm looking forward to working with them.

July 10, Friday, EV Tiger Team Jiaoda Fudan Meeting

I met up with students who were interested in the Development Support Team for East Villagers.  These were really passionate students from Jiaotong and Fudan.  Here are some of their thoughts on video about East Villagers after hearing my presentation.

July 11, Saturday, East Villagers Overview for Fudan, Jiaotong, and PESI

The EV Overview went really well even though I had never spoken to an audience of differing english levels before.  My goal was to be as clear as possible and speak to the audience's needs in the time allotted (45 minutes).  I really wanted to make my time with them worthwhile.  I alternated videos with screenshots and demo. I could tell that American and Chinese students were both interested in East Villagers.  Many came up to me afterwards and told me that they really enjoyed the presentation and can't wait to "see me online."  Thank you PESI and TECC for giving me a chance to share about EV.

July 11, Saturday, Four Training Sessions for JiaoDa Teams

I had four 1 hour and 15 minutes sessions with Jiaoda Teams.  There was a 15 minute lag in between to set up and get the internet working.  Some computer's wireless cards worked better than others.  Students were really responsive and fast learners because EV is similar to Xiaonei and Facebook, but the slow internet was a hurdle for them to fill out their profile completely and test out the blog feature so they can blog for MMK.  I was able to teach 1-2 students who were done early how to import videos from Tudou to EV.  It is a very simple process that takes less than 5 minutes (including the time it takes to upload a video).  Tudou uploads videos really fast here in China, and Youtube and Facebook does not work in China.  Here are some photos from the training:

July 13, Monday, Four Training Sessions for Fudan Teams

I had two hours with each of the Fudan Teams.  I enjoyed working with all of the teams so far.  They are very patient with the slow internet, opening more than one window to allow time for each of the features to load.  With two of the groups, we were able to learn about how to import videos from Tudou.  I taught them how to make Tudou accounts.  We were able to upload and import 10 videos on team members thoughts before MMK.  All were able to test out blogs and introduce themselves to the community.  I didn't have time to take many photos during these sessions.  Here is the first group:

July 13, Monday, Training Session for FELP Team

 The students from the Fudan Elite Program were already very acquainted with the web and Wei Han, the leader, had already been testing out the site.  I helped him with questions that he had, did a presentation, and had the other members sign up for EV.  They did not have any problems and were really quick with the features.  We ended up finishing 30 minutes earlier than planned.  FELP has been using EV for their various projects.

Thank you to my helpers: Ketty, Alex, Yang Yang, Wang Li, and many more!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009, Shanghai -- This morning I met with YangYang, one of the leaders of TECC Fudan, and we visited a few possible locations to hold the EV training for this weekend.  This took from 9am-2pm.  After testing out the internet connection and convenience of location, we finally decided on a location which is the Fudan Cafe Bar which has wireless given that we provide 10-12 laptops and login accounts.  This location is fairly cheap and discounted for students of Fudan.  On July 11, I will be holding four EV training sessions for Jiaotong University students (around 50).  On July 13, I will hold four more EV training sessions for Fudan University students (around 50).

YangYang and I tested out East Villagers and it worked fairly fast on the wireless connection at Fudan University.  He was concerned that since students could not use Youtube in Shanghai to post their project videos but I reassured him by showing him that East Villagers can support any type of video site including Tudou.com which is China's equivalent of Youtube.  Also, he had a few good ideas for EV which we will implement in future updates.

Today, I had a call from TSI Jiangxi which includes students from Beijing University, Tsinghua, Jiaotong, Fudan, Hong Kong, and others.  I will meet someone in 20 minutes to go off to my first training.  This is my first update about EV Training in Shanghai.  I'm really excited to see this platform serve as an aid to nonprofits in China.  YangYang told me that this is a foreign concept for students to use the web to connect with each other to do non-profit.  I will keep updating about the responses of students from China and what we can do to best serve their needs.

Thursday, July 9, 2009, Shanghai -- Yesterday's training went really well.  It was my first training session and the students were very engaged in learning about East Villagers, asked many good questions, and gave good feedback.  I really like the TSI Jiangxi group and was able to make some friends.

During the afternoon, TECC Leaders, Dan, Jen, and I had a meeting to plan out the training schedule on July 11.  I will be giving an Overview of East Villagers on July 11 for 45 minutes.  Then in the afternoon, will be training 4 JiaoTong teams (9-12 people).  On Monday July 13, I will training four more teams from Fudan (8-10 people).  I've also contacted Beijing students and we will have a few come to be trained to be EV experts in Beijing.  Things are coming along well and I'm excited to see more response and reactions to East Villagers.

Blogs, Stories, and Lives Impacted are now fully linked and all show up on your Organization's page - June 25, 2009

=======================================================

東村訊

         我們已將所有已登記的社團組織網頁與其相關的部落格及小品文章聯接上了. -    June 25, 2009.

特別報導：東村族發展委員會再往前進了一步,您的部落格及小品故事都將一目了然的顯示在您所屬的組織網頁上

社區團體訊息 : 亞洲防治肝炎中心徴求護士(工作地點 : 海外或美境內 )祥情請參閱副件.
AALDEF Housing Justice Project 徴求義工, 地點 : 紐約. 時間 :暑期中.

競賽報導：凡感恩積分點數最多, 排名第一的社團組織, 可贏得美金 $2000.以為獎勵, 另有美金 $10,000  獎金, 由總積分在十五名之內的社團組織來分得 , 請盡力爲您的社團累積積分. 目前排行榜 :  Elisabeth Sum ,  Alena Goopman, Brian Cheng ,  Jean Yu  和　Julie Van.

近期活動目錄　：                          時間                                    地點
-新移民兒童夏令營　　         七月十三至十五日
-青年領袖研習團　　　                                                            亞太島
-史丹福大學保健項目　          八月五日至八日
-美國亞裔小姐選美大會　 　     八月八日                              舊金山

東村族發展委員會特別推薦瀏覽項目　：

影音紀錄
-Why Zigen comes to Shilou, Shanxi?  (滋根基金到山西省石樓縣的始末)
-Just Another Man 　(只是一位平凡的人 )--- Tim Be Told and Paul Dateh
-Be a Hero - Stop an Epidemic　(制止疾情的英雄)

部落格 :
-2008年的柬埔寨  ( Cambodia 2008 by Steve Tangsombatvisit )
-靈性的感動  ( B-Inspired ! Winning Essay by Andrea Tan )
-菲律賓的一位足球名星 ( Tim Tebow -Football Star Serving in the Philippines by Johnny Pham )

個人簡介 :
- Ping Chao, Nancy Nguyen, Elisabeth Sum, Alena Groopman, Jean Yu, Peter Nguyen, and Brian Cheng

社團組織 :
-Sino Canada Culture Association. 中加文教協會及卡城中文學校 (39位 支持者)
-Ping and Amy Chao Foundation. 趙修平夫婦基金會 (33位支持者)
-Asian Liver Center. 亞洲防治肝炎中心 (33 位支持者 )
-Technology and Education: Connecting Cultures. 科技與教學 (25位支持者)

暑期公益項目：
-Little Red Scarf (小 紅巾 計畫)
-Youth Leadership Conference.(青年領袖研習會)
-Golfing for Little Red Scarf (為小紅巾計劃籌款的 高球友誼賽)
-PESI Student Leadership Program .( PESI 學生領導活動)
-Happy Translators ( 快樂的翻譯人)

Happy 17th Birthday, Sophia! We hope you had a wonderful day! We met you when you were a sophomore and now you are going to be a senior in high school.  Thank you for being the sweetest friend to all of us on AC and EV.  These communities would not be the same with out you.  Never stop being you, sister.

The video is a special surprise from Sophia's hero. 

ServiceAsia Concert 2009 Summary

by Nancy Nguyen

To view photos and videos from the event, please visit www.serviceasia.org.

Pre-Concert

On May 2, 2009, Saturday, at 3pm, all the staff and volunteers were present to mingle and eat pizza.  I arrived with the rest of the staff and volunteers along with the material and equipments for the concert at 3:30pm, and we started our Staff/Volunteer Briefing or Walk-Through of the entire concert.  Leaders received their assignments and they were split into eight teams.  Vounteers enthusiastically joined teams they were interested in helping.  After that, all teams dispersed to go straight into their jobs.

At 3:30pm, Paul Dateh & Ken Belcehr and Tim Be Told also arrived.  Paul and Ken just came off their flight from LAX, Tim Be Told just came from their flight from Connecticutt, and immediately started setting up the stage at 4pm.

4pm, Bob the sound guy arrived and also started setting up the stage.  The big Stanford campus made Cubberley Auditorium hard to locate but everyone soon arrived on time.

From 4-6:00pm, all the sounds, lighting, equipments, emcee debrief, decor, service fair set up, directional signs were all set up, refreshments, and more all came together.

6-6:30pm TBT and PD did sound check and Ed Chao, Richard Wang, Becca Tang opened with the Pre-Show Concert at 7pm.  The guests all came in.

====

Concert

We started the show with a ServiceAsia Video to introduce the audience to the mission and bands.  Peter Nguyen created all the media for the show and introduced service needs in East Asia and core features of East Villagers through a series of videos throughout the concert.  Ed Chao, the emcee, introduced Paul Dateh and Ken Belcher to come up on stage and the crowd went wild.  Paul Dateh is a hip hop violinist with many fans and has over 3 million views on youtube.  His accolades in jazz and classical violin are countless, but what was amazing, was his humility and kind-nature which made him very easy to approach.  He played around 11 of his best songs through playing the violin and singing, with Ken Belcher on acoustic.  We will be posting videos for you to see for yourself, but his performance and personality blew the crowd away.

Mid-way, Ed introduced Tim Be Told.  Tim came on stage with the rest of the band (Andrew Chae, Jim Barredo, Luan Nguyen, and Parker Stanley), telling the audience that they did not get much sleep the night before because they had to catch the flight from Hartford to San Jose to make it in time for ServiceAsia from their previous concert in Connecticut.  Many of the guests thought that he would not have enough energy; however, he intros with the keys and opens his mouth to sing, people were so surprised that his voice was crisp, clear, and strong.  They were amazing and Tim's lyrics resounded in many people's hearts and the band's talent is unquestionable!  He wrote about his daily life, struggles, and issues that all of us could relate to.  Each one of the band members were so talented and in the same way, we will have to let you see for yourself through watching and listening to their videos.  After the concert, many guests bought TBT's cd.

Two months ago, I made a suggestion to TBT and PD to collaborate on the last song to close off the concert.  Both of them were willing and Tim had just written "Just Another Man."  Tim sent Paul the mp3, Paul practiced, and with only practicing a little bit during sound check, they sounded incredible and ended the concert very nicely with this heart-wrenching song about Tim's reaction to sex-trafficking and child-soldiers and war.

Both Paul Dateh, Ken Belcher, and Tim Be Told were a pleasure to work with.  They were very happy to be in California.  ServiceAsia was TBT's first performance ever in California! We were so happy to have them and work with them.  They hope to work with us on more concerts in the future.

===

Service Fair

Most of the stayed until 11:30pm to participate in the service fair, which had 14 non-profit organizations representing.  Please check out my other blog entry with the list of all partners.  We thank you all organizations for providing refreshments and being such a great support for the ServiceAsia Concert.  I heard many people say that the work that you are doing in East Asia and America is truly wonderful and to see all the groups come together is really inspiring.  ServiceAsia also serves to celebrate all the hard work and dedication of people and organizations who have dedicated their time to serve East Asia.  Thank you for your partnership and we hope to work with you on many more meaningful future events.

===

Thank You

Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation - Thank you for the Chao Family's sponsorship of ServiceAsia, encouragement, and vision  They have been so wonderful and supportive of the cause.

Tim Be Told and Paul Dateh & Ken Belcher (Artists)

Ed Chao, Richard Wang, Becca Tang (Artists)

Chao Foundation, East Villagers, Asian Liver Center, Asian Central, The Haas Center for Public Service, Volunteers in Asia, Technology Education Connection Cultures, Stanford Tzu Chi, Good Samaritans Medical Dental Ministry, The SOLD Project, Southeast Asian Service Leadership Network,Asian American Donor Program, and Freedom Summit (Partnering Organizations)

Peter Nguyen (Media)

Dan Nguyen (Photographer)

Steve Ko (Videographer)

Nicki Sun (Reporter)

The SOLD Project (Video Interviews)

Peter Nguyen, Stephanie Parker, Meng-Hsuan Wu, Alan Hshieh, Steve Ko, Allen Huang, Nicki Sun, Alice Lee, Bailey Wong, Talent Lau, Anthony Yu, Christina Louie, A'Lester Allen, Karen Coelho, Debby Le, Elisabeth Sum, Julie Van, Annie Chao, Donald Hoang, Julie Len, Melissa Hsiao, and many more volunteers who have made the night possible. (Staff & Volunteers)

Family and Friends for coming to the concert and supporting East Villagers and the cause!

I want to represent East Villagers to express my deepest appreciation for all your help yesterday to make the event so successful.  I was so surprised to see how many people showed up to volunteer. We wouldn't have been able to pull the event off without your help.  From putting up directional signs, manning tables, bringing refreshments, to picking up trash, and many more tasks behind the scenes.  I wanted to let you know that we saw each of your dedication to support East Villagers and the concert.  After the concert, everyone kept telling me how friendly the staff and volunteers were.  Once again, thank you for all your help.  The night would not have been the same. -- Nancy Nguyen, Concert Manager

Tim Ouyang's "Just Another Man" in Collaboration with Paul Dateh
Tim on keys and vocals, Paul on Violin, Just Another Man is about sex-trafficking and child soldiers, this song collaboration by two young and amazing artists ended the ServiceAsia Concert 2009.

Paul Dateh

Tim Be Told

Combining elements of soul, pop, rock, gospel and blues, Tim Be Told has emerged in the Charlottesville music scene with their own unique sound. After tracking their debut album "Getting By" in the Summer of 2007 and playing their first show a mere few months later, the band has gone on to perform at various East Coast venues such as the Knitting Factory, Jammin Java, and the Satellite Ballroom. Recent winners of UVa’s 2008 Battle of the Bands, Tim Be Told (Tim Ouyang, Luan Nguyen, Andrew Chae, Jim Barredo, and Parker Stanley) continues to grow a loyal and passionate fanbase both in Virginia and beyond. With each show, the band gains new listeners with their infectious guitar hooks, captivating melodies, and driving rhythm parts; but most importantly, they hope that their music will cause people to view life through a different lens, one of honesty, hope, redemption, and change. Website: www.timbetold.com  Mypace: www.myspace.com/timbetold

Preshow Concert: Ed Chao, Richard Wang, Becca Tang

To view photos from the show, please visit www.serviceasia.org.

ServiceAsia Partners 2009

Here are the Partnering Organizations of ServiceAsia 2009.  To view photos from the Concert, please visit www.serviceasia.org.

They were all present at the Service Fair after the concert.  Please find the organizations and their representatives on www.EastVillagers.org

Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation (Sponsor)
ServiceAsia is fully sponsored by the Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation. The Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation was founded in California’s Silicon Valley in 2005 by Ping Chao and his wife Amy Chao. The foundation aims to fund and nurture initiatives improving the health and well-being of children and youth in economically disadvantaged regions throughout the world; promoting the spirit of philanthropy and developing awareness of non-profit practices and opportunities for service for the younger generation of China and the greater Chinese Diaspora. www.chaofoundation.org

East Villagers (EV)
East Villagers is the only online community dedicated to non-profit organizations, their projects, and volunteers' life-changing stories. Anyone can share their life-changing stories and impact people all around the world. East Villagers allows users to share experiences with friends and family through blogs, images, and videos. Through these first hand experiences, villagers can inspire others to make a difference. The community is tailored to treat non-profits and volunteers as first class members.  EV wants to bring organizations the best features to help them connect with past and present members, keep a history of their untold stories, and help them build a community around their cause. This first class treatment is not found at any other place.  Our priority to listen to the community’s needs and make it happen. www.eastvillagers.org

Asian Liver Center (ALC)
The Asian Liver Center at Stanford University is the first non-profit organization in the United States that addresses the high incidence of hepatitis B and liver cancer in Asians and Asian Americans. Founded in 1996, the center uses a three-pronged approach towards fighting hepatitis B through outreach & education, advocacy, and research. Specifically, the Asian Liver Center spearheads educational outreach and advocacy efforts in the areas of hepatitis B and liver cancer prevention and treatment, serves as a resource for both the general public and health practitioners, and implements clinical and research programs. We hope you will use our website as a resource to learn about hepatitis B and liver cancer and current treatment options. liver.stanford.edu

Asian Central (AC)
Asian Central launched in February 2008, with the creation of the Stuff Asian People Like Blog by the author, Peter Nguyen. A few weeks later on March 27, 2008, Asian Central was created to be a tight-knit online community to help Asians connect through culture and entertainment worldwide. This is the only place to find out about everything Asian. Watch your favorite videos, learn about Asian history, discuss current events on the forums, find out about the latest Asian events, and read our nationally syndicated blog: Stuff Asian People Like. Asian Central is the place to find news from all around the world: music, movies, blogs, and restaurant reviews. www.asian-central.com

The Haas Center for Public Service
The Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University believes that every student can have an impact through public service – opportunities through student service groups, local non-profits, and Haas Center programs allow students like you to work toward positive social change through activism, advocacy, direct service, philanthropy, policy/politics, research, and social entrepreneurship. Drop by the BIRC on the first floor of the Haas Center for personalized service advising and we’ll help you figure out how to how to apply what you’re learning to positive social change. Feel free to just drop by or email nicholas.cheng@stanford.edu to set up an appointment. haas.stanford.edu

Volunteers in Asia (VIA)
VIA is an independent and entrepreneurial non-profit organization founded at Stanford University in 1963. Its mission is focused on increasing understanding between the United States and Asia through programs promoting public service and cross-cultural education. VIA provides U.S. Citizens and U.S. Residents volunteer opportunities and fellowships in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, where volunteers may teach English or work with a local non-profit organization. 1-2 year long opportunities exist for college graduates and summer opportunities exist for both undergraduates and graduates. VIA brings Asian students from top universities in Asia to Stanford where they learn about American culture, public service, and healthcare. Programs take place during the spring and the summer, providing Stanford students with the opportunity to serve as coordinators and help run these programs during school break. www.viaprograms.org

Technology Education Connecting Cultures (TECC)
TECC is a non-profit organization that leads teams of Chinese and American entrepreneurs in developing and implementing social ventures focused on technology and education. TECC believes that a great deal of positive social impact can arise from leveraging a socially conscious and motivated network, along with the enabling capability of technology and education. TECC's overall impact occurs at two levels. First, TECC helps to bridge the gap between the technologically rich and poor. Second, TECC fosters greater understanding between Chinese and Americans through collaborative work on projects that have a unified mission and goal. www.teccultures.org

Southeast Asian Service Leadership Network (SEALNet)
SEALNet's mission is to bring service to Southeast Asia and to promote the spirit of service leadership in the region.  We strive to accomplish this by building and nurturing a community of service leaders who are passionate about social development in Southeast Asia. During the summer of 2008, SEALNet conducted projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. SEALNet has been conducting service leadership projects to various parts of Southeast Asia since 2004. www.sealnetonline.org

Stanford Tzu Chi
Tzu Chi is an international humanitarian organization whose name means "compassionate relief." Founded over forty years ago in Taiwan by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, the organization's membership and activities now span the globe. Striving to put "Buddhism in Action", Tzu Chi is fundamentally a grassroots organization, and we hope to better our local Bay Area community by joining together as a Stanford chapter. Some of our events include: distributing food to low-income families in San Jose, dinner service at Menlo Park shelter, recycling & environmental protection, health fair, and mobile clinic. You don't have to be Buddhist to join; everybody is welcome, and we serve all who need help, regardless of race, nationality or religion. www.stanford.edu/group/tc

Good Samaritans Medical Dental Ministry (GSMDM)
The Good Samaritans are a group of Christians responding to the call to bring physical, emotional, and spiritual healing to the people of Vietnam. In 1999, the ministry started in Saigon and became the base of operation for the Good Samaritans. Since then the Mission has steadily grown in size to hundreds of volunteers and thousands of supporters. 2009 not only marks the Good Samaritans’  tenth anniversary, but will also see the expansion of our work, as we launch the creation of the Good Samaritan Medical and Dental Institute, a free-standing facility which will provide primary and specialty care on a year round basis, in the city of Nha Trang. Its ultimate purpose is to model competent, state-of-the-art care in a spirit of respect for all patients, regardless of their social or economic circumstances. www.gsmdm.org

The SOLD Project
SOLD is a grassroots organization, a film, and a movement dedicated to stopping the buying and selling of children into prostitution. SOLD partners with pre-existing Thai organizations that work in the areas of rescue and rehabilitation and hopes to provide education scholarships to children at-risk. The purpose of the film is to tell the stories of children whose lives have been affected by prostitution in some way or another. Sex sells children. Together, we can make it stop. www.thesoldproject.org

Asian American Donor Program (AADP)
The Asian American Donor Program (AADP) is a community non-profit (501c3) organization geared towards saving lives. We are an official recruitment group of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) specializing in conducting outreach and donor drives in the Asian, Pacific Islander and Multi-racial communities. AADP's logo, the origami crane, was chosen in fond memory of Sadako Sasaki. www.aadp.org

Freedom Summit
Our mission is to inform, unite, and engage the Christian community against the global epidemic of human trafficking. Our hope is to gather people from around the Bay Area who will join the modern abolitionist movement. Speakers include Bethany Hoang, David Batstone, Nathan George, Francis Chan, and Phil Wickham. May 15-16, Mountain View, CA.  www.freedom-summit.org 

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