Upcoming Fall 2015 Events

FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN FROM ASIA EVENTS

For information about any of these events, or about the NCF FCC Families with Children from Asia group, please email ncffccfamilies@gmail.com.

Board Meetings

Tuesday, November 17, 6-8 pm

Tuesday, December 8, 6-8 pm

Coffee Talk

Wednesday, November 18, 7:30-8:15 am

CymplifyCoffee Company, 5408 NW 8th Ave, Gainesville

Join parents for casual conversation.

Family Dinner Night

Friday, November 20, 5:00 pm

Bring the family to a casual get together where the kids can play corn hole and tether ball while parents sit around the fire pit and get to know each other and catch up.  Just in case, bring your bug spray and sweaters.

Panda Book Club Meeting

Sunday, December 13, 2:00 pm

A book club meeting for all 4 - 6 graders (boys and girls). Read a book, discuss a book and decorate some holiday cookies! 

Almost Tweens and Tweens Gathering

Saturday, December 19, 12:30-2:30 pm

Hannah and Jessica (a high school student from China living with the Harbins) invite almost-tweens and tweens for dumplings, almond cookies, make-up, and hanging out.  

Looking ahead… 

New Year / Year of the Monkey Celebration

Sunday, February 7, 2016, tentatively 1-4:00 pm

Empowered to Connect

Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, 2016

Simulcast conference with Karyn Purvis, author of The Connected Child.  Several members attended this 2-day seminar in April 2015 and said it was completely worth taking time off work and family to attend.  April 8 is a public school holiday.  Stay tuned for more information.  http://empoweredtoconnect.org/

EVENTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO MEMBERS

Local Author Book Signing

Lee Phillips, Child of the Land (memoir about Chinese orphanages)

Friday, October 23, 5:30-7:30 pm

At The Perfect Gift in Haile Plantation Village

http://www.phillipslee.com/

Celebrate Adoption Fun Family Event by Children’s Home Society

Sunday, November 8, 1 to 4 pm

Tioga Playground, 105 S.W. 128^th Street, Newberry (Tioga)

Free, open to public, music, dancing, food, games, and more.

Help for Joey

Please take 5 minutes of your time to fill out this petition for Joey Xu, son of our former cultural liaison and teacher to many of our kids, Kathy Liu. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/bristol-myers-squibb-please-grant-10-year-old-juntao-joey-xu-compassionate-use-of-your-anti-pd-1-l1-immunotherapy-drug-he-has-exhausted-all-other-options-and-cannot-wait-for-pediatric-trials-to-begin  

A message from Kathy:

My friends, Joey needs your help. This is how bad Joey's tumors look. The solid black parts are brain, heart, bladder, etc and all other area in tummy, plevis, chest, airway, neck are his tumors. All these tumors are eating out his energy, nutrition and his tiny body.

Now there is one drug, a promising new drug, can possibly save his life. It's called Nivolumab from Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporate or MPDL3280A from Genentech. It's one of the anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapies. This drug has saved the lives of many late stage adults RCC patients. The pediatric trial of this drug was supposed to start in May, but now postponed to Oct. We cannot wait for the PD1 trials to start in children as they keep on being postponed and Joey needs treatment urgently. A lab in UF tested both Joey's primary tumor and lymph node tumors, they all tested positive to PDL1. His oncologists in Cincinnati Children's and Shands and an immunotherapy specialist in Harvard believe the anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapies, including Nivolumab, are the most promising option for Joey and they will request the compassionate use of the drug from FDA.

For the grant of it, there are two important things: The drug company must agree to allow the use of their drug outside of a clinical trial. The FDA oncology medical officer in charge of overseeing the new drug’s development must approve the use of the drug. My dear friend, who is a lobbyist, will contact Florida congressmen and senators and the general attorney of Florida and they will send my letter to the drug company. So please, if you happen to have some connection with government or this particular drug company, please contact me. Please spread the words. This is a very hard and long process, but we will try our best. I probably will run the social campaign, newspaper, TV station and online petition, anything we need to do. If you have experience or any suggestions, please let me know.

This is all very overwhelming to me and I hear the clock clicking. Joey is not doing well. He is very tired all the time. When he eats, he puts his hands on the stomach to make him comfortable. I can literally feel his tumors in tummy and neck. They are bigger. They are aggressive. Dr. worries about tumors by his airway and asks me to watch his breathing. I want to pull him out of school and rest. But he doesn't want to miss FCAT again this year. So I took him home after the test. Looking at his report card, I can't help crying and crying. All "A", he never bring a "B" home despite of so many absent and tardiness. I can't watch him eaten away by tumors knowing there is a promising drug out there, but we can't get it because of the system.

Please help us, any suggestion is appreciated! Again the drug is Nivolumab from Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporate or MPDL3280A from Genentech. I need contact in the government and this drug company. Thank you all for your supports! My contact is kathyoasis@yahoo.com.

New Year Craft Party - December 7

 

 Lunar New Year Craft Party 

Saturday, December 7, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
San Felasco Park

Help us prepare for Chinese New Year! Help make table centerpieces and other decorations to celebrate the year of the horse! Children of all ages are invited! 

Directions to the Park -http://mapq.st/18lo85d

Asian Cooking Camp - November 23

On November 23, North Central Florida FCC will be hosting an Asian Cooking Camp for children ages 4 and up. 

Our very own Saeng Raisch will be teaching the children how to make authentic Asian dishes. We will also have  Xiaoqian Hu  demonstrate martial arts to the children while they are waiting for their chance to cook.

Afterwards, all the parents are invited to lunch from China Wok and to sample the wonderful dishes the children have made.

We are very excited about this event and hope that you will be able to join us!

Grace at Fort Clark Church

9325 W Newberry Rd
Gainesville, FL 32606

Cost:

Children & adults, age 4 +

$6.50

Children under 4

Free

Families over 5 people

$32.50 per family

For more information and a copy of the registration form, please contact Ramona Miller-Ridlon at rmillerridlon@gmail.com.

2 Fun October Events!

Older Girls Group
4th grade and up

Beading Event!

Sunday, October 20th, 3:00 - 5:00 pm. 

Come to Bead all About It in Thornebrook Village for a fun afternoon of jewelry making! For about $20/girl you can get a very nice selection of beads with which to make bracelets and such. If interested and available, please e-mail Joanne Harbin at  jharbin@cox.net or call her at 352-331-8117 by October 10th. Joanne will bring snacks and drinks for the group.

Panda Girls and Boys
2nd - 4th grade

Book Club at the Pumpkin Patch!

Sunday, Oct 20 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Come join our book club and get ready for Halloween at the same time! Read a book, enjoy some snacks and check out the great selection of pumpkins.

Druid Hills United Methodist Church at the corner of Lake Weir Ave & 36th ST in Ocala.  

RSVP to Debby Baugher at debbaugher@hotmail.com, or call 702-497-8803

Autumn Moon is September 14

Join us for the 2013 Autumn Moon Festival!

When? September 14, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

At the Warrings' pool: 7106 NW 18th Ave., Gainesville 32605

Celebrate the Autumn Moon with swimming, moon cakes, a story, and of course the moon rising in the sky.

RSVP to Ramona Miller-Ridlon 352-378-6875 or rmillerridlon@gmail.com

Grace Lin is Coming!!!!

The AWARD WINNING AUTHOR and ILLUSTRATOR  - GRACE LIN -  from Florence, Massachusetts is coming to spend a special evening with our membership families on October 1st!  

We are "OVER the MOON" Excited about her special visit!!!!!!!!!!   

Many of you know her books from our Book Clubs over the years but over the next 9 weeks, in preparation of her arrival, we will be sharing with you tons more information about her and her books! We'll have Grace Lin trivia and contest opportunities to win books! Have you ever wanted to see how an illustrator creates her drawings or ever wanted to ask an author what inspires them to write a book?   We'll provide plenty of opportunities for our kids to buy her books, asking her questions, see her art work and we'll even be able to get photos and autographs at our event!    

Grace Lin is an author and Illustrator of picture books, early readers and middle grade novel.  Grace's 2010 Newbery Honor Book "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" was chosen for Al Rokers Today Show Kids Book Club and was a NY Times Bestseller.  Ling and Ting, Grace's first early Reader, was honored with the Theodor Geisel Honor in 2011.  An Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Nominee for the US, most of graces' books are about the Asian-American experience because she believes, "Books erase Bias, they make the uncommon everyday, and the mundane exotic! The book makes all cultures universal".

You can read more about Grace Lin at www.GraceLin.com or just wait until next week when we share more exciting information about her visit!   Mark your calendars and save the date for the evening of October 1st. It's just around the corner!!!

Please be aware that this is a MEMBERS ONLY event and is not open to the public. Are you interested in becoming a member? Please email ncffccfamilies@gmail.com and we will get the membership information to you immediately!