Guidelines for Participating in “Food of Love Day”
In order to have a successful execution of “Food of Love Day” on the May 10th, the Project Coordination Committee has set forth the following guidelines and explanations for all interested participants.
1. Who can join?
Anyone is welcome! Civic organizations, companies, committed individuals or local leaders, a Facebook group or a WeChat group, etc. And it does not have to limit itself to Chinese Americans. The Project Committee will designate a local participating team or team leader for a certain locality, district or a city. Any people who want to join in should contact the local “participating team” or directly through the UCA office for the purpose of better coordination, execution and fun.
2. Who is a participating partner
Any organization, company, or a local group of people set up for this project will lead this Project in their localities as “participating partner” or “participating team”. The Project Coordinating Committee will work with our partners to designate a “participating team” for each region or city.
3. On what date is the project carried out?
The date is set for May 10th. The meal is set for lunch. However, any participating team can decide on their own if they would like to add meals on May 9th or May 10th.
4. Why May 10th?
May 10th is the date 151 years ago when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed, due in large part to the hard work of Chinese laborers. This makes for a great opportunity to highlight the contribution of Chinese immigrants to this country.
It’s truly heart-warming to see many Chinese groups and restaurants are already doing food service to local needy people. However, if we can do it together on such a national scale, it will have a much bigger impact and raise the visibility of our community engaged in the relief efforts. It will also get the much more attention of the local and national media outlets and their enhanced chance of covering it.
5. What exactly should we do on May 10th?
Any participating partner or team can decide on their own what to do regarding the following action items:
- Free lunch meals on May 10th (number of free meals to be decided by local partner);
- Free delivered meals for local homeless shelters, senior centers, soup kitchens or hospitals;
- Organize a local food drive for local food bank or food pantries, and
- Organize an online fundraising drive for food banks.
The local partner can decide for themselves how to participate in any or all of the above action items.
6. Where does the money come from?
Our local partners are, in principle, responsible for raising the funds for the project. UCA will provide some technical support for raising such funds if needed. UCA has set up a special fund to support certain regions or cities where there are very few Chinese Americans.
We are also encouraging participating partners to look for local or regional commercial sponsorship.
Of course, if a restaurant or commercial entity would like to donate food for this project, it is greatly appreciated.
7. Who is organizing this project?
United Chinese Americans (UCA) is working with many outstanding Chinese American organizations, companies and restaurants across the country (all partners will be publicly listed, and a congressional letter or certificate of commendation will be issued) to bring this historic event to its fruition. The Project Coordinating Committee is ultimately responsible for major operation decisions, while fully respecting the autonomy of our participating partners and their teams in how to carry out the project.
8. What will UCA do for the participating partners?
Without the strong support and enthusiasm of our partners across the country, it would be simply impossible to pull off such an amazing historic event.
When the event is over, participating partners and restaurants will receive a Congressional certificate of commendation, signed by Chinese American Members of Congress.
UCA is also looking at the possibility of sponsoring a Congressional resolution to designate May 10th as the Chinese American Food of Love Day.
9. How do we get the story out to the media and the public?
UCA will set up two professional teams to help tell the stories to the press in Chinese communities and in general public. We shall provide our partners with a press kit, some contacts when it is possible, and technical support and other resources to this end.
Should we try to find corporate sponsors for this project?
The answer is an absolute yes! And you can tell them about this amazing high-visibility and high-impact charitable event. You should also let them know that UCA is a 501(c)3 civic organization. Any donation for this project is tax deductible. Our tax ID is 82-1111498.
10. How do we find the relevant information and contact the organizers? What else should participating partners be aware of?
Well, we hope all partners and participants should try to collect the event flyers, photos and videos of the activities your local team. We will provide a link for uploading those photos or videos soon. We should do it for ourselves and for our future generations.
We also encourage our partners to provide, after the event, a total amount of how much you have donated and how many people participated.
You can find more information about this project under https://ucausa.org/food-of-love/. You can email us at info@ucausa.org (we read email messages frequently). Or if you would like to talk to someone, please call (202) 642-5060