The New York Chapter of the Association of Asian American Yale Alumni (AAAYA-NYC) rang in the Year of the Ox with its first annual Lunar New Year Banquet on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at Ping Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown. Co-sponsored by the Yale Alumni Association of Metropolitan New York (YAAMNY), the event was also a fundraiser to support the AAAYA-NYC’s Summer Internship Program. For the past two years AAAYA-NYC has supported three Yale undergraduates with internships at NYC Asian non-profit organizations such as The Museum of Chinese in America and The Korean American Community Foundation. This year, our $6000 goal will support interns at The New York Asian Women’s Center (NYAWC) and The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW).
The evening kicked off with a cocktail hour where new friends were made, old friends were reunited, and one former dean and director of the AACC was spotted. Over a sumptuous 10-course meal that included Peking duck, lobster, and steak, 76 alumni, families, and friends learned more about AAAYA-NYC from Rocky Chin, President of the New York Chapter. Leadership from this summer’s internship host sites, Donna Lee, Chair of the Board of Directors at NYAWC and Ken Chen, Executive Director of AAWW, headlined the evening with an introduction to their respective organizations and joint recognition of AAAYA-NYC’s commitment to strengthen the contributions of Asian-American students and alum in society.
The evening concluded with a raffle with prizes ranging from piggy banks to sake sets. Thanks to the generosity of the guests, we raised $3500 in donations and pledges in one night! with its first annual
It is not too late to help us raise the additional $2500 needed to reach our goal of $6000 – allowing us to support two summer interns to these deserving organizations.
To donate, pledge, or create a matching donation, please write a check to “Yale University” with “YACSF/AAAYA” in the memo section and mail it to:
Rockwell Chin AAAYA-NYC P.O. Box 674 New York, NY 10008
All donations are fully tax deductible! For more information about the AAAYA-NYC community service internship program, contact Rocky Chin at chinrocky (at) gmail.com
The first annual Lunar New Year Banquet/Fundraiser was made possible by the hard work and enthusiasm of the Boards of AAAYA and YAMMNY. Thanks to all!