Tang Li

    ECHOING the endeavors of local expats offering help to quake-affected areas at the Shenzhen Daily “Yes We Care” charity event, The Terrace bar and restaurant in Shekou joined hands with the Shenzhen Daily and held a charity party Saturday evening to raise even more funds.

    The party, which started at 9:30 p.m. Saturday and ended early Sunday morning, raised 24,342 yuan (US$3,477) and HK$560. The money has been handed over to the Shenzhen Red Cross and will be donated to people in the disaster-hit areas.

    Leon Durupt, the Canadian general manager and part-owner of The Terrace, got to know about the “Yes We Care” party from Thursday’s Shenzhen Daily. He then contacted the newspaper and asked that The Terrace be made a sub-venue of the same event.

    The Terrace purposely selected Saturday, its busiest day, for the event, according to Durupt.

    “We are really shocked at the tragedy and it’s an honor that we could do some help,” said Durupt, who have been in China for 11 years.

    Funds were raised at The Terrace by charging a 50-yuan entrance fee per person, charity sales, and auctioning CDs of the bar’s own band Sugar Rush, T-shirts, wines and whiskey. Durupt made sure guests were fully aware of the scale of the tragedy and its aftermath, by making repeated announcements, which inspired donors to give more.