Chinese New Year celebrations typically begin with a lion or dragon dance and a “toss to prosperity,” in which the guests at a dinner table use their chopsticks to send shards of lettuce and slivers of salmon flying.
Legend has it that the good fortune one will enjoy in the months that follow is based on the length of the lion or dragon and the heights that the salad ingredients reach. The longer and higher the better.
The 10th anniversary Nathan Yip Foundation Chinese New Year Gala, held last Saturday at the Marriott Tech Center, was a bittersweet occasion in that while a full decade has passed since that December night in 2001 when Jimmy and Linda Yip’s only child lost his life in an automobile accident, a wrenching tragedy for one family has brought good fortune to thousands of children living in rural and impoverished areas of China, Mexico, Africa and Colorado.
Shortly after Nathan’s death, Jimmy and Linda started the Nathan Yip Foundation to carry out their son’s dream of educating and providing basic needs such as food and clothing for youngsters whose plight he had witnessed firsthand. That the foundation has been able to build seven schools and two orphanages in China and support projects ranging from a school dormitory in Mexico to a four-year scholarship to the University of Denver brings considerable joy and comfort to his parents and their worldwide network of friends.
Five hundred of them were on hand for the gala, which got underway with lion and dragon dances that featured super-sized versions of each animal. And the toss to prosperity? The waitstaff is probably still removing bits of salad from the banquet room ceiling.
The immediate good fortune, according to co-chairs Diana Docktor and Susan Bailey, is that the gala raised at least $300,000 — a figure that “could go much higher. We haven’t finished counting yet.” In addition, the sale of red envelopes containing either a valuable prize or a piece of chocolate brought in $6,000 for Denver’s Escuela de Guadelupe and a special appeal conducted by auctioneer Gary Corbett netted almost $50,000 toward the $60,000 it will cost to build a cafeteria at the Nathan Yip School of Hope in Lizi, a remote village in China’s Guizhou province.
Lizi is largely made up of the Miao people, one of China’s largest ethnic minority populations, and at least three of the guests were wearing traditional Miao clothing and adornments. Mieko Bailey purchased hers when she traveled with the Yips to China; Nina Williams and husband Bill Sidley collect Miao clothing and were attired in vintage items they had acquired over the years.
Edna Chang-Grant and her daughter, Rory, were accompanied by Edna’s sister, Dr. Cheng-Hsin Chang of Los Angeles. Edna and Cheng-Hsin are honoring their parents by funding a cafeteria or library to be built at a Nathan Yip School of Hope.
Nathan Yip’s godparents, former Denverites Stephanie and Kevin Tung, flew in from their home in Shanghai and told friends that they will be hosting the foundation’s first fundraising gala in China. It will be held June 4 (Nathan’s birthday) at the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai.
Keith Bell had been friends with Nathan since they were seventh graders at Kent Denver School, and was one of several friends attending the gala for the first time. After serving as a pallbearer at Nathan’s funeral, Linda and Jimmy Yip gave him $50 in a red envelope. Bell used the money to have Nathan’s name tattooed on his back. “Nate always had my back,” Bell explained. “Now he’s with me every day.”
Read more about the gala, and who was there, in my Seen First blog:
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and
