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BAR HARBOR – Jackson Laboratory employees presented a check for nearly $10,000 to the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross on Monday to help aid the victims of China’s recent earthquake.
Lab software engineer Lei Wu and her fellow Chinese employees raised the money by holding an “authentic Chinese takeout dinner” a few weeks after the earthquake. They served homemade Chinese dishes that employees could take home or sit down and eat.
“It is this sort of grass-roots effort that makes us proud to be here,” said Patrick Adams, interim executive director of the Pine Tree Chapter. He accepted the check in the lab’s auditorium.
The money will be used to provide clean drinking water, food and basic health needs to those affected by the quake, according to Adams.
Wu said she was horrified when she heard the earthquake had rocked the central part of her homeland in May.
“My first thought was how can I help,” she said during the ceremony.
Besides arranging the dinner, the group put together a craft sale that raised $1,600 of the $9,550.05 total donations.
“The lab has a long tradition of helping those in need,” said Charles Hewett, lab vice president. “There is a tremendous sense of community here.”
More than 200 people attended the dinner while 180 submitted orders for takeout, according to lab communications coordinator Alice Grindle.
The big turnout was unexpected, Wu said.
“The Chinese community on Mount Desert Island really came together, and almost every family made food for this event,” she said.
The dinner was so successful that Wu ran out of food and had to order 14 trays of food from a nearby Chinese restaurant.
“We were lucky we had them for a backup,” said Wu, who even had her children making dumplings in preparation for the event.
The crafts were as popular as the food.
“They were authentic crafts from China,” said Yun Wang, who organized the craft sale for the fundraiser. “People just seemed to like them a lot.”
All those involved stressed that the money could not have been raised without teamwork.
“The thing that makes me proud is that this was a group effort,” Wu said.
mdabrieo@bangordailynews.net
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