Helping Winter Wishes Come True

On November 26, Bellaire High students Katherine Jan and myself, Melanie Fung attended a media conference as representatives of the FASCA’s (Formosa Association of Student Cultural Ambassadors) Houston Chapter. At the conference, we introduced a collaborative project with the Trio Oriens, a Houston-based chamber music group featuring three musicians from Taiwan.

The project itself was a toy drive co-hosted by Houston FASCA and Trio Oriens. Trio Oriens, a Houston-based chamber music group, held a family concert with their own rendition of the Carnival of the Animals at the Unitarian Fellowship of Houston building. The donated gifts will be given to Child Advocates who will then pass them to children in need. 

FASCA Vice President Melanie Fung and President Katherine Jan.

Child Advocates is an organization that works to protect and advocate for the rights of abused and neglected children. They provide a range of services including legal representation, case management, and support for children in the foster care system. Child Advocates isn’t getting the attention it needs to reach its goals, one of which is being able to fully support abused children throughout their lives until they become adults. Donating toys and gifts would be a great way to help support those kids through the wintertime and make their holidays a bit more festive. 

We chose to work with Child Advocates because both our organizations need more help getting their messages out where people can see them. As high school students, we’re still kids and supporting others who could be our age or younger, and most likely going through something horrible that we’ve never even thought about, makes us feel much more involved in this issue.

Olive Chen, Shih-Ting Huang, I-Ling Chen, Yvonne Wang, Melanie Fung, and Katherine Jan before the conference.

FASCA is a program that aims for second or third generation Taiwanese American high school students to foster their connections with Taiwan. Through it, they participate in many volunteer events, one of which is currently a collaboration with Trio Oriens. As cultural ambassadors, they place a strong emphasis on their core values: leadership, culture, heritage, and service. In the past, they have helped the community to a vast extent, and they continue to do so in the present.

Such projects include tutoring students at Ed White Elementary on English and Math through step-by-step explanations and dedicated teaching and participating in packing and distributing backpacks containing school supplies to students who do not have enough resources to purchase them. They’ve also recently conducted a Thanksgiving Family Helping Family Food Drive, distributing numerous food items to families in need for the holidays. 

Trio Oriens (Olive Chen, Shih-Ting Huang, I-Ling Chen) holding the concert poster.

FASCA President Katherine Jan declared, “Through our partnership with Trio Oriens, we hope to further help the community by accumulating Christmas present donations to give to children who have experienced abuse through the Child Advocates organization, giving them the joy of Christmas and holiday cheer.”