MAY 9, 2008

Dear Friends,

I have some very exciting news to tell you. Today we reached the goal for my Build a School for a Dollar project! 

I want to sincerely thank everyone who has sent in a donation, whether it was a dollar or a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars. Honestly, the amount of money that you donate isn’t important. It’s the feeling behind it that matters most to me and a single dollar donation means just as much as a larger one. It makes me so happy that my fans love and care for these poor children in China.

Back in August, 2006 we posted the idea for the Build a School for a Dollar project onto my website and immediately I began to receive donations. In the beginning the donations came mostly from children, but soon everyone started to get involved. I was so amazed at the creative ways that people thought of for raising money! And I was very touched when I read letters from children who told me that they were sending their birthday money or their snack money so they could help kids go to school.

Over the past two years, donations have come in from almost every country in the world. Sometimes envelopes containing a single dollar arrive at our office with no note or name. Other times I get donations attached to drawings or letters and photos from fans who want to tell me about how they’d raised the money. I have seen with my own eyes every one of the donation drawings and letters that have come to our office. If I am traveling when they arrive, I have my webmaster take photos and send them to me. I will keep all of the drawings and mount them on the wall of my museum so that I can remember how generous my fans are and so everyone can see all of the lovely pictures.

I think that the Build a School for a Dollar project has done a lot to teach children about charity and to let them know that even donating a small amount of money is meaningful. They are learning that they have the power to help make a difference in someone’s life. There’s no such thing as “too little” when it comes to donating for charity.

When my webmaster told me the good news, she asked me what I wanted to do next. Did I want to continue with the project and start raising money for another school or did I want to stop? Of course I said that we have to continue! In less than two years we’ve raised enough money to build one school and I know that if we keep going we’ll be able to do it again and again.

So I want to say congratulations and thank you to all of you who helped with the project. Your kindness has touched my heart and I look forward to the proud day when I can attend the opening ceremony of the school that my generous and caring fans made possible. I hope you will continue to support the Build a School for a Dollar project.

Love you all,

Jackie Chan

Note:  We will begin our second round of fundraising with US $5,884 because of the extra money we received this past month. To read about the Build a School for a Dollar project, click here.

Text and photos ©2008 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.