[Feb. 6 2010] As many of you know, currently there are two organizations  in the area with almost identical names.  This has caused much confusion.  Feb. 1 2010, the Board of Directors of KCCA proposed a name change to help remove any further confusion.  The reaction and feedback from the public for the proposed name “Kansas City Chinese American Association” (KCCAA) has been very positive and constructive.

Our reasons behind the name change are as follows.

1.  The new name will help create a harmonious environment for the local Chinese community.  Even though it was this board that created the name KCCA three years ago, and it is near and dear to our members’ hearts, the board has decided to give up this highly recognized name to prevent more confusion and conflict.

2.  The new name can better represent our organization’s current and future state.  The new name has broader appeal to individuals, families and organizations.  We would like to welcome everyone including individuals and families who are Chinese from various places, Chinese Americans, families with Chinese children or anyone who love Chinese culture and want to be part of our organization.  Chinese culture has a vast and rich root.  Its inclusiveness reaches beyond Chinese descendants and the culture heritage belongs to the entire world.  Our new name transcends the “Exclusive Chinese Club” image and reaches to the mainstream society.  We also hope the new name and “new” organization will be a catalyst to melting communities and cultures together and building more understanding.  In one or two decades, when the 2nd or 3rd generations of Chinese Americans become community organizers, this name will be even more fitting.

3.  The new name will help us operate more effectively.  With IRS approved  501C (3) status, we believe our new name will have broader appeal to the public for fund raising.  This will help support our charters (charity, education and culture exchange) as well as community services.  Our near and longer term plan includes:

• Organize and improve Chinese New Year Celebration and other Chinese festival activities
• Organize and promote culture exchange  in Kansas City from China and/or other states in the US
• Youth Summer Camp programs both in China and US
• Connect schools in Kansas City area and schools in China (such as sister schools)
• Support Kansas City Friendship School (which we funded and named) in China and other selected schools in the

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Feb.27 All-Star Performance – Embrace China

Hosted by KCCA, co-hosted by KU Confucius Institute and Edgar Snow Memorial Fund, all-star professional group “Embrace China” brings the best Chinese entertainment to Kansas City communities.

Date: Saturday Feb. 27th, 2010

Location: Blue Valley Northwest High School

Ticket: $10 (KCCA member and student), $15 non-member

If you haven’t already, SIGN UP for KCCA membership today and save on your tickets!

www.kcca-ks.org …

2010 KCCA Chinese New Year Celebration on Feb 6, Saturday 2010

Almost a year has gone by since we had the successful 2009 Show at Yardley Hall celebrating Chinese New Year. This means the 2010 Spring Festival celebration, the biggest event hosted by Kansas City Chinese Association (KCCA), is just around the corner. We anticipate another sold-out event. The 2010 celebration performance will be held in Yardley Hall again (at Johnson County Community College-JCCC) on Saturday, Feb 6, 2010. Tickets will be on sale starting January at our KCCA office inside of the 888 International Market (119th & 69 Highway) or on KCCA web site (WWW.KCCA-KS.ORG). Online tickets can be picked up at the KCCA office inside of 888 International Market before Feb. 6th, or at Yardley Hall on Feb. 6th. Members of Kansas City Chinese Association (KCCA) will enjoy discounted tickets as before (Member-$3/ticket, non-member – $10/ticket).

Purchase Tickets here…

不知不觉中，5-12四川汶川大地震已经过去一年了。巨大的自然灾难让汶川这个不知名的小城成为世界新闻报道的焦点的同时，也深深地触动了每一颗怜悯的心灵。得知灾情以后，大家纷纷表示要献爱心为灾区做点什么。为此，堪城中华联合会和堪城中华联合会希望基金组织了堪城华人社区最大的为灾区献爱心的捐款活动。截至至今日，捐款总金额已超过十万美金。在此，我首先要对大家的热情和对灾区同胞的爱心表示赞赏和由衷的敬意。

在二零零八年五月，在收到大家的资助以后，KCCA曾广泛地向大家征求关于如何合理利用捐赠资金的意见和建议，目的就是为了让捐赠所筹集的资金能最大程度 地发挥作用。我们所收到的大部分回复一致建议将筹集的资金用于重建一所因地震毁坏的学校。 为此，KCCA希望基金初选了四川省的三所小学作为我们项目的资助对象，它们是青川县的金子山乡中心小学，银沙村小学和营盘乡中心小学。

很遗憾的是以上三所学校都没有最后成为我们资助重建的对象。原因是多方面的，主要是因为在地震以后，受灾地区收到了来自世界各地的众多捐赠，许许 多多的捐赠在数目上较KCCA所筹措的资金多出许多。同时，这些捐赠同KCCA希望基金一样，都有着希望能为灾区重建校舍等教育资助方面的偏好。另一方 面，我们所初选学校的灾后重建预计所需的费用也超出了我们的预期，KCCA所筹集的资金不能为这些学校的重建提供足够的支持，也就不能完成任何一所初选学 校的重建，而只能完成学校的部分建设，比如图书馆或教学楼等等。在这样的情况下，KCCA就不能取得学校的冠名权，也就不能让所有的捐赠人得到我们希望能 够得到的承认，这样就有违于KCCA希望基金发起资助学校重建项目的初衷。因此，KCCA决定另行计议。

虽然四川汶川以及周边县市是受灾最严重的地区，但是有许多紧邻汶川的陕西市县也受到了严重的损害。可是由于不是处于震中四川境内，这些地区，如宁 强县，所受到的媒体关注以及得到的外界捐助却少了很多。灾后，宁强县政府以及当地的教育部门为了尽快重建校舍曾向外界广泛地呼吁关注并寻求支持。注意到这 些情况后，堪城友好学校项目的负责人蒋战鹏先生与宁强县的教育部门取得了联系。经过双方紧密、细致地协商，我们很高兴的告诉大家KCCA希望基金与宁强县 沈家坝小学签订了学校重建资助项目的协议合同。在KCCA资助之中，有500,000 RMB将会用于学校的重建，200,000 RMB由于奖学金以及教育互助项目。重建预计在2009年底完成，完成后可为约200学生提供校舍。

为当地重建校舍只是KCCA希望基金在陕西友好学校项目的开始。为实现一个可持续的、长远的教育资助目的，我们广泛地与我们的战略发展合作单位与 个人，诸如堪萨斯大学孔子学院，一起努力为项目的发展制定了详细的规划。我们邀请了西北大学（中国陕西）的史耀疆教授介绍他在关于陕西学生的营养、心理以 及学习等诸多方面的研究成果。史耀疆教授以及他的社会发展研究中心将帮助我们寻找能够丰富学生以及它们家庭生活的教育项目的机会。堪萨斯大学政治科学系的 John Kennedy教授也将把他对陕西的区域文化以及社会问题的深刻理解带到我们的项目中来。堪萨斯大学孔子学院是全球诸多孔子学院中的佼佼者、也是我们项目 的主要支持机构之一。她有丰富的远程教学经验、雄厚的师资力量、最新的现代教育通讯技术。孔子学院也将帮助KCCA希望基金在交换学生、老师等诸多方面我 们的项目提供支持和帮助。

在广泛地向堪城地区的商业机构和组织寻求经济上的资助和支持的同时，我们也积极地把KCCA希望基金的各项活动推广到堪萨斯城的各社区中去，特别 是在年轻一代的青年学生中举行宣传。今年暑假，我们有三位高中学生志愿者(Andy Yu, Yuqi Hou, and Edward Jiang)将参与到我们的学校重建项目的筹款活动中来。它们将到到宁强县去调查访问，并同当地的相关部门一起探讨深化学生奖学金项目。我们将会及时地与 您更新关于友好学校重建计划的情况。请大家关注。

我再次向大家表示我衷心的谢意，谢谢您们一如既往地支持和信任。我深信，KCCA以及KCCA希望基金将持续、长久地为堪城社区以及我们朋友带来希望和福祉。

魏成军
堪城中华联合会主席

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The Society for Friendship with China, the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department sponsored the Dragon Boat Festival with the assistance from Kansas City Chinese Association (KCCA), Tsinghua Alumni Association of Greater Kansas City, and the Kansas City Plaza Rotary Club.

Preparations for the race and other activities began early in the morning. I arrived late, around 9 am, to document the festival from beginning to end.

The rowers were to arrive for early practice, and to learn the rhythm of rowing, drumming and how to keep the boat straight. When the KCCA team arrived one member said: “ I hope we don’t go in the water, I don’t want to get wet.” Thus their fate was sealed. They slalomed back and forth hitting the side-walls of the creek. All of the teams would have this experience at one point or another before, during and after the race. The KCCA boat was coming down-stream and they headed straight for the wall. It looked as if moderate panic took over, because balance was lost and so were glasses, shoes, phones and other items one would carry in the pocket. The boat tipped and rolled over, everyone one went in. There were no injuries, I am happy to report, and a great story for the rowers. They pulled together, helped each other out of the water, got the boat out and bailed the water. The whole crew then placed the boat back in then everyone carefully re-boarded and rowed back to the dock.

The festivities on dry land began around 10:00am. There was a food booth selling zongzi, along with other food items, and various other booths selling fans, paper umbrellas, dragon boats, t-shirts, beverages and a photography exhibit depicting images of China. There were children’s activities such as making fans, boats, and they could have their own, dry, boat race. On the main stage the audience was delighted to watch the beautiful children drumming, doing dances from various Chinese minorities, an amazing martial arts demonstration, traditional Chinese music from the guzheng (古筝), lovely sounding Chinese singers and a fashion show to close the stage. Throughout the day one could purchase a wishing lily.

At one o’clock preparations were underway to “wake the Dragon”, a ceremony to open the races. The dragon was resting behind the stage waiting for the children to come and roust him and take him to the water. …