NBA All-Star Jeremy Lin is scheduled to appear on Aug. 8 alongside other famous artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China in a charity event in Beijing entitled "Beyond Dreams." The event will be hosted by the POP's Foundation, which is headed by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ken Yeung.
According to a blog post from Skip Vaccarello of the website Finding God in Silicon Valley, Yeung, the founder and CEO of Prince of Peace Enterprises, felt a calling from God to help special needs children throughout China. He started a charity event to meet that calling, which is scheduled to take place Aug. 8 in Beijing.
"We will share how being a blessing to others bestows blessings on the giver, the receivers and the communities in which they live," a brochure advertising the event stated.
Yeung told Vaccarello that in addition to the Charlotte Hornets point guard, movie stars and singers from Taiwan and Hong Kong are scheduled to make appearances at the event. He added that it will be held in one of the city's Olympic Stadiums, the Worker's Stadium in downtown Beijing.
"The best thing is that it's going to be televised, live stream, by the Tencent Internet Company, to 100 million viewers throughout China," Yeung said.
Although Ken pointed out that "it's not specifically a Christian event," everyone scheduled to speak at the event adheres to the Christian faith.
"It is sponsored and funded by overseas Chinese Christians and the majority of the people going there will be Christian. However, we are not holding a so-called evangelistic meeting," Yeung said. "We will be sharing life-changing stories and just the personal witness of these people, and embracing the awareness that they need to help their own people."
Yeung hoped that about 6,000 people would show up at the stadium. He added that the proceeds from the event will "help children with special needs and orphans throughout China."
"The majority will be to other kids with special needs throughout China," Yeung said. "It will be authorized and supervised by the government."
Yeung asked for prayers from the Christian community, given that it would be the first time such an event was held in China with government permission.
"We don't want to just do it one time. We pray that it would be a success and the government would invite us back," Yeung said. "That we would really show a good image that Christians all over the world care about China and that we are people they can trust."
According to Zhang Jiamin of Women of China, the other organizers of the event included Hong Kong-based UBG Foundation and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. Xu Jianzhong of UBG Foundation stated in a press conference that Chinese people around the world "are willing to devote time to the charity cause."
"Our foundation, together with our partner, the overseas POP's Foundation (headquartered in the U.S), exerts efforts to financially help abandoned and physically impaired children here," Xu said. "I hope that the charity event can tie all Chinese people's hearts closer to contribute to the cause of children's rehabilitation and recovery."
Liu Wenkui, secretary-general of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, told Zhang that all donations from the event will help adopted children and the needy, especially those who require rehabilitation surgery.
"China has some 700,000 orphans and almost 8.2 million disabled children," Zhang wrote. "Among those orphans, physically challenged children account for a large proportion. Many were abandoned by their families and have never received any effective rehabilitation treatment."
According to Zhang, the best time to treat children for rehabilitation was 14 years old and under. However, high costs have prevented many families from seeking treatment; early intervention would lessen the financial burden and increase recovery rates.
"If the child has not been treated effectively before then, for the most common problems, the possibility of his or her total recovery will be greatly reduced," Zhang wrote.
