Project: We Care Act
Sichuan is the fifth largest province in China. Eighty million people live there. In 2008, an earthquake struck just 50 miles north of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. Tens of thousands of people died and millions more were left homeless.
Over 8,000 miles away near Pearland, Texas, 8th-grader Grace Li and her family watched the tragedy unfold on television. Grace’s parents grew up in poor areas of China like the ones damaged by the Sichuan earthquake. Feeling a strong connection to the people affected, Grace decided that she needed to help.
Over the course of the next six years, Grace encouraged her family to raise funds and collect donations to help young victims of disasters around the world. Grace and her siblings went door-to-door to ask for donations. They organized silent auctions, which allowed people to bid on a variety of items and experiences (such as being a guest host on a radio program). In the very first month, she raised $4,500 and collected books and school supplies. She and her family travelled to Sichuan to deliver their donations directly to young schoolchildren affected by the earthquake.
Grace knew that while she had made a difference, it was just the start of much more she could do. She also knew that while raising money was good, it was not a long-term solution. Having met a lot of young people affected by disasters, Grace realized that when young people are given the opportunity, they are eager to serve, learn, and teach others. That realization became the basis for We Care Act, a nonprofit organization Grace founded to manage her charitable efforts.
By 2014 We Care Act had become a multinational organization with Grace as its chief executive officer (CEO). By connecting with individual students or schools in places that experienced natural disasters, We Care Act helped schoolchildren recover. The organization operated programs throughout the world—workshops for children in China to learn English, a letter-writing campaign to boost the spirits of Japanese children affected by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, donations of stuffed animals, clothing, food, and books for young victims of a typhoon in the Philippines.
From aiding the victims of natural disasters to running events to raise awareness about autism and child hunger, Grace and We Care Act sought to lift the spirits and improve the lives of children around the world. The organization even ran training programs to teach young people how they could have a positive impact on the lives of people both within and beyond their own communities.
After graduating from Glenda Dawson High School in Pearland, Grace received an academic scholarship from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Majoring in organic chemistry and considering a career in either medicine or law, she turned most of the day-to-day duties of running We Care Act over to her two younger siblings. However, she still made time for the organization when she could.
Though she was a winner of numerous awards for her service work, Grace didn’t paper her dormitory room walls with evidence of her accomplishments. Instead, she taped a printout of an email she received from a 2nd-grader on the other side of the country, telling her that he chose her for his school’s first ever Young Changemaker Award. For Grace, knowing that she had inspired the next generation of philanthropists was the best reward of all.
