Announcements

Dear friends,

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you! In 2023, your generous donations and contributions have made us feel warmth in difficult times. Each instance of support has deepened our sense of community unity and strength, serving as a trust in us that motivates us to strive for even better.

Despite challenges during the pandemic, FLCA has reconnected with our communities, continued to organize more multicultural events, promote local events and offered more benefits to our communities in 2023. Please find a summary of our key accomplishments below.

Disaster Relief and Donations | 救灾与捐赠

FLCA has organized multiple drives to collect donations and delivered the goods to surrounding institutions periodically. We received an abundance of goods this year, including 100+ pairs of new shoes, tents, school supplies, 1000+ pieces of winter jackets and accessories. Our circle of influence extended to surrounding areas including Fairview, Hackensack and Paterson in northern New Jersey.

February drive for Turkish-Syrian earthquake victims; delivered to the mayor of Paterson

Delivered school supplies to the Paterson school district in September

Donated canned food and drink to Epiphany Community Food Pantry at Cliffside Park.

New shoes donated to Bergen County Housing Shelter

New shoes donated to Franciscan Development Center in Sep 2023

500 gloves, hats, scarves, winter coats, etc. donated to the Franciscan Development Center in Nov 2023

Scholarship and Awards | 奖学金及义工奖

As an annual routine for the 4th time, FLCA awarded a total of $4,000 scholarships to 4 Fort Lee High School senior students in May. What’s new this year is that FLCA collaborated with OWA and other organizations to assist the municipal government in launching the Fort Lee Make a Difference Award volunteer award. 

High School Scholarship Awardees

The Fort Lee Make a Difference Award

Community Events | 社区活动

FLCA continued to support and promote a variety of local community events in our membership that benefited various groups, including:

• led volunteers to perform at senior centers, arranged weekly recreational programs for seniors;
• outdoor family fun day
• Meet Fort Lee at the library where different public services/resources were shared
• Fort Lee Night Out and Fort Lee Youth Color Run

Multicultural Celebrations ｜多元文化节庆

We celebrated both traditional holidays and local holidays in person that was highly welcomed by our membership. Just to mention a few,

• The Mother’s Day celebration had over 300 attendees at Fort Lee Recreation Center,  including government officials from the House of Representatives, the county, and Fort Lee. 
• We were honored to showcase some of our traditions (dumpling making and paper cutting etc.) at the American Dream Mall and interacted with other ethnic groups during the spring festival.
• FLCA also brought in top-notch performances to the Lunar New Year celebration hosted by Fort Lee Public Library and sponsored the event with funds and gifts.

At Bergen County's Lunar New Year celebration event, FLCA was honored to receive the Community Contribution Award from the county for the first time. 

New Year Celebration at CAFC

FLPL Lunar New Year Celebration

Bergen County's Lunar New Year celebration

Lunar New Year celebrations at the American Dream	My Chinese New Year Art Contestants	Lantern Festival celebration
Mother’s Day Celebration	Mid-Autumn Festival & Member Meeting	Dragon Boat Festival & Father’s Day Celebration

In addition, FLCA partnered with other institutions/business to host events and appreciate more diversified cultures, including:

• visiting the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City
• watching play Memorial about Maya Lin
• mutli-culture celebration at JCC Tenafly
• private screening of recent popular movies from China at AMC - Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms and Chang ’An.

Educational Programs (教育项目）

Ongoing education is essential in our culture. FLCA started to offer free classes to our community this fall: Ten weeks of free Chinese language courses for non-native speakers and children's folk dance classes. The first season was successful. We’ll continue to offer more classes in the future. 

In addition, FLCA hosted multiple seminars this year online or in person, covering topics that our members are mostly interested in:

• K-12 Education Overview, getting to know team sports for children
• Home Improvement Emergency Fix & Tips 

FLCA supported One World Anchor (OWA) to organize multiple events that would benefit youth, including “Show Your Talent” fundraising event and free tutoring programs for students in need in Paterson etc.

Show Your Talent Fundraising	K-12 Education Overview	Home Improvement Emergency Fix & Tips
Chinese language class	Chinese Folk Dance class

Upcoming Events | 即将来临的活动

• Lunar New Year celebration (01/28/2024)
• 2024年1月28日龙年春节联欢会

Once again, thank you to each and every community friend because with you, our goals become more steadfast, and the path ahead becomes broader. We look forward to building a brighter future together.

Fort Lee Chinese American Community Association (FLCA)