In what has undoubtedly been one of the most successful fundraising efforts among the expat community here, Shanghai institution Sasha’s Restaurant and Bar, along with the popular blog Shanghaiist teamed up last month for a night that raised 228,336 yuan.

More than 700 people packed the patio area of the restaurant, with one long-term employee commenting that she had never seen a crowd that size there before.

“Had the event not been for charity, we probably would have shut the doors at about 400 people, but the idea was we were making money for charity, so no one seemed to mind,” said Sasha’s Manager Steven Burns. More than 700 people bought tickets and cycled through during the night.

The 180 yuan entrance fee included the expat-favorite all you can eat BBQ as well as free flow Stella beer, which were all donated by various companies. Also, other community businesses contributed more than 30,000 yuan in door prizes.

While there was no problem drawing a crowd, even on a Wednesday night, Mr. Burns commented that pulling the event together in such a short timeframe presented some challenges.

“It took up all my time the past week from Friday to Wednesday as well as [co-organizer] Tiffany [Lemay], fielding phone calls and arranging things,” Mr. Burns said. “Luckily we had so much support from so many companies donating, as well as all the chefs, and staff who volunteered their time and managed to serve up all that beer.”

Due to the crowd underestimate, the 20 donated Stella kegs and 20 cases ran out by about 9 pm, so 15 more kegs of Carlsburg were tapped and served until the 10 pm cut off. Clearly, people’s thirst when drinking for charity knows no bounds.

Burns believes that all of the logistical issues that night were caused by the huge crowd, so set-up would be the main thing he would do differently if he had the chance.

“We would have more bars set up, more people selling tickets, and more lead time on the event,” he said. “We also could have sold tickets in advance because…many people commented they would have bought them, even if they couldn’t attend on a Wednesday night.”

The timing seemed just right, though, and fully captured people’s still fervent willingness to give and take part in a night of charity, as well as revelry.

The team chose to donate the benefits (which were matched 50 percent by an anonymous donor) to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, which came recommended by the American Chamber of Commerce. The charity organization focuses on long-term needs of the quake community, such as school and hospital rebuilding.

Editors’ note: More information about donors and the event can be found here: http://shanghaiist.com/2008/05/22/benefit-update.php

This is the second article in our series, “Corporate’s Social Response,” about company contributions toward earthquake relief in China.

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    Channel: Vital News     |