Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

When I hear people claim, “I’m so busy,” I’m skeptical.

My mother is in her 70s. She did absolutely everything when I was growing up. It was her and three guys -- bums really, for we sat while she served. The rest of the time she founded several tennis leagues and bridge clubs, took a leadership role in countless charitable and community groups, and when there weren’t opportunities for her kids, she created them. Junior Davis Cup, KQED tote board, neighborhood watch program. Just a few of the many things she did. She now takes care of my elementary school-aged niece. She allows herself to catch up on General Hospital, but that’s pretty much it.

She makes time. I don’t know how, but she does.

Recently Facebook and Chase ran a program that gave a million dollars to the top five charities voted by users. The Center for Pacific Asian Families in Los Angeles shot videos with many API notables encouraging people to vote. The 10 seconds it took for users to vote won them $25,000. But they were clicks shy of the big money. Likewise, Harvard’s Jeremy Lin could have earned one vote toward the Bob Cousy Award had he received the highest amount of public votes. We landed him in second, but he didn't get that vote.

Here are some opportunities we haven't yet missed, requiring very little effort and time, for which results can be amazing:

Pepsi and Facebook have joined for Refresh Everything. Each day you can vote for 10 ideas that will “have a positive impact.” There are four levels of idea categories; you can even submit an idea yourself.

www.refresheverything.com

Vote for the book you want to be donated to kids in Mongolia. Run by the Asia Foundation, for every vote cast, the foundation earns $1 up to $10,000. There’s little than a week left, and they aren’t even ¼ of the way there.

http://bookvote.asiafoundation.org/

ThePetionsite.com sends you periodic emails tailored to your causes. After filling out a short form, all you do is click on a cause sent to you. Sometimes your comments are delivered to Washington, and you will get a response.

You can possibly save a life. Connor needs a bone marrow transplant before the end of the year. He is five. Fill out a form to get a free kit. This is through the Asian American Donor Program which is a nonprofit that enables registering for free due to the low number of minorities on the registry. Connor’s parents ask that you put “Saving Connor” in the ‘Notes’ section.

You’ll get a simple cheek swab test in the mail. It takes ten seconds to swab your cheek. Okay, cumulatively that is more than ten seconds. If you’re a match for Connor or someone else, the donation process will be longer. But did you know that a needle does not necessarily have to be stuck in your lower back to donate? You can also donate marrow by being hooked up to a machine that retrieves the stem cells from your blood.

People of Asian Pacific Islander descent are severely underrepresented on the marrow registry. Because of the low number, only 30-40% of ethnic minorities are able to find a match. This is compared to 80% for Caucasians.

Nick Glasgow did not find a match. Elyse Yu did not find a match. Nancy Sakukura did.

Can you help Natalie Nakatani? And Connor?

www.SavingConnor.com                                                                                                                     

Watch a video of Connor on Youtube.

Can you find the time to save a life?

Photo from SavingConnor.com