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CCS gets $50,000 from Asian community
Donations drive aims to garner $250,000 in a month
By KEVIN FAYLE
In yet another demonstration of how the different ethnic communities within Cupertino can come together in support of the common good, an offshoot of the Cupertino Community Services capital campaign aimed at gathering donations from the city's Asian-American population has garnered over $50,000 in its first week of activity.
The new segment of the campaign began on May 18 and ends June 30. City Councilman Michael Chang and Hsing Kung, who have organized the effort, have made it their goal to raise a total of $250,000 from the Asian-American community in that period. They plan to ask both individuals and businesses from Cupertino's large Asian American population to contribute toward the campaign, which has an overall target of $1.8 million.
The money from the capital campaign will go toward new office and service space for CCS within the organization's upcoming affordable housing development. The nonprofit group will break ground on the project in September. The development will have 24 units of affordable housing with a total price tag of $7.2 million, and will benefit low-income individuals and families from across the West Valley area.
In addition to the capital campaign, the project has received funds from numerous public and private entities, including Santa Clara County and the city of Cupertino.
Kung, who learned of the campaign through his activities in the Cupertino Rotary, sees the goal of $250,000 in a little over a month as a realistic one, given the success the new push has had so far. "I feel very confident that we will reach our goal," he said.
Kung said he and Chang have sent out press releases about their efforts to the Chinese-language newspapers in Cupertino and the surrounding areas in the hope of reaching as many people as possible. "We're going to use that vehicle to let people know that there is a very significant campaign going on," he said. After that, they plan to send out mailings and call people personally to ask for contributions.
Kung has long participated in Cupertino community activities, from his involvement with the Rotary to his work as a member of the Fremont Union High School District Board of Education. "I always like to support CCS," he said, adding, "affordable housing is something that people really need."
Kung also hopes the campaign will spread the word about the organization among the Asian American community. According to Jaclyn Fabre, executive director at CCS, the help the organization gives to Asian Americans makes up roughly ten percent of the total aid given. The 2000 census results show Asian-Americans as 44.4 percent of Cupertino's population, however.
"That's another task we have," Kung said. "We would like to serve more of the Asian-American community."
Don Allen, who heads the capital campaign, praises the work that Kung and Chang have put into the drive for Asian-American contributions. "They've really seized upon it as though it's their baby, and they really want to support it," he said.
Allen also lauds the Cupertino community in general. According to Allen, since the capital campaign began on Feb 22 "we have not had a single person turn us down. I think that speaks extremely well for Cupertino."
Kung shares this glowing assessment of the diverse fabric of Cupertino life, especially as he considers recent surveys showing negative attitudes towards Asian-Americans, and especially Chinese-Americans. In Cupertino, however, "we have a very harmonious community," Kung said, "and I'm glad to be a part of it."
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
