Dozens of young Chinese-Canadians organized a charity talent show in the Canadian city of Toronto on Saturday to give back to their local community.

Volunteer performers played traditional Chinese instruments, danced and belted out tunes in the two-hour show co-organized by Home for Young Immigrants(HYI), who helps Chinese youth adapt to their new environment, and CC90 in Action, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping youth suffering from organ failure. Together, they raised over 1,000 Canadian dollars for Sick Kids Hospital from their bake sale and ticket sales.

While HYI's core mission is to give Chinese youth a support system, co-founder Jiahua Li, 16, said they wanted to take the opportunity to contribute to local organizations as well.

“We're hoping to get people to take in the idea of helping their community,” she said. “We want immigrants from China to learn that in Canada, we are a really charitable country, we always like to reach out and help others.”

The two young organizations were both founded over a year ago and have been involved in various events, mainly supporting Chinese organizations. This charity show though, is one of the biggest ones they've organized, said Li.

Seventeen-year-old Lily Xu, HYI's other co-founder, said when CC90 in Action approached them with the idea, they were intrigued with the opportunity.

“I really think it's important for youth to try and give back to other youth in the community because we're given so many opportunities that they're not,” she said. “If you think about it, what if you were in their position? You would want some help too.”

It's been a hectic two weeks for the two groups, who've been brainstorming, putting together the show, selling tickets, and setting everything up in time for March Break, a week students in Toronto have off.

Clarence Chen, chairman of CC90 in Action, said it's been a learning experience for him as well.

“The most important thing is the leadership skills, I have to organize all the volunteers, organize all the actors and performers together and put everything in order, also it improved my management skills, build up my confidence,” he said.

Besides giving back to the community, Xu said they're hoping to take this experience into future events.

“I'm taking away the satisfaction of just helping these people, also the experience, because this is not the only event I'm going to do,” she said. “With this experience, you can eventually create more events that are bigger and provide more money to help these people.”

Source:Xinhua