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.
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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
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 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
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Performance at New Life Senior Day Center, Paramus NJ |
Outdoor Family Fun Day |
Meet Fort Lee at the library |
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Recreational programs for seniors |
Fort Lee Night Out |
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.
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 Bergen County's Lunar New Year celebration |
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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 |
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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.
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MOCA |
JCC |
AMC Private Screening |
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 |
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 Chinese Folk Dance class |
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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)
Feb 18th 2023 - FLCA organized a Chinese history tour in Manhattan:
- 11:00AM Visited Museum of Chinese in America
- 12:30PM Lunch at Chinatown
- 2:30PM Watched performance Memorial
Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) aims to engage audiences in an ongoing and historical dialogue, in which people of all backgrounds are able to see American history through a critical perspective, to reflect on their own experiences, and to make meaningful connections between: the past and the present, the global and the local, themselves and others. The museum moved to 215 Center Street in 2009 and has about 14,000 square feet space. Its collections are mainly artifacts from Chinese families in the United States in the past 200 years, including: news reports on Chinese people, faded signs, sewing machines, used washboards, irons that used to be heated by fire, hand-embroidered slippers, scales used for gold panning, some yellowed family photos etc. From the life of the Chinese during "Chinese Exclusion Act" in the United States to the present, you can imagine the blood and tears of the Chinese in the United States... The collection also highlights various fields where Chinese made great achievements, including: martial arts star Bruce Lee, the first Chinese-American state governor Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the first Asian-American rapper Jing Ouyang who signed with a major U.S. record company…
It’s unfortunate that On March 23, 2020, the collection warehouse of MOCA suffered a fire. Nearly 85,000 precious artifacts were soaked by water during the rescue process, making it difficult to restore.
Everyone carefully reviewed various collections in the museum one by one, felt the hardships of the Chinese Americans in those years, and was also moved by the spirit of the Chinese who struggled and reborn from the challenges. This is a place worth visiting for all Chinese. The younger generations need to understand the roots of residual issues from history, and make persistent efforts to open up a new chapter.
Memorial was performed by five characters with distinctive standpoints and personalities. It embodied the doubts, obstacles and beliefs encountered by Chinese-American designer Maya Lin when designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the United States.
Feb 10th - Feb 21st - After the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria, FLCA launched a campaign to collect relief supplies for the victims on February 10. By February 12, our members delivered abundant relief supplies, including toiletries, hygiene products, bedding, clothing, hats, scarves, gloves, baby milk powder, diapers, sleeping bags, tents, etc. After the advance team confirmed that the designated collection site was open on that day/Sunday, FLCA delivered supplies right away. The staff on-site was so grateful and said “Xie Xie” to FLCA board members in Mandarin.
On February 17th, FLCA confirmed a new donation channel through Paterson Mayor’s Office: https://njearthquakerelief.org/. Subsequently, on February 19th, a joint collection event for disaster relief was held with One World Anchor, and the materials were delivered to Mayor Paterson on February 21st. Many thanks to our kind and generous members who sent love in the cold wind! Also thanks to all the student volunteers for their support!
Feb 3rd 2023 - The cold weather of minus 10 degrees did not stop everyone from participating in the Lantern Festival Celebration held by FLCA. About 150 friends attended the event. FLCA prepared many games, including Lantern Riddles, Drumming and Passing Flowers, I Do You Guess, Song Singing, Radish Squat, Taboo and so on. Everyone had a fun night!
