Fundraising for quake victims

The day of the massive earthquake in China, a UCI graduate student heard his mother in China cry. They were talking on the phone as she watched video of the bodies of middle school children being pulled out of the debris of their building.

“I haven’t seen my mom cry for a long time,” said Wei Li. “Her crying really touched my heart. Tuesday I decided to do something.

“I called my friends and worked until 4 a.m. making posters, a donation box, banners and fliers.”

Early Thursday morning he set up a booth on the UCI campus, spreading word about the catastrophe and asking for donations. He wasn’t very hopeful. A few small donations trickled in here and there, he said.

Then medical professor Robert Detrano walked up and wrote a check to Li on the spot for $5,000.

“I had a trembling hand when I received the check. I thought, ‘Oh my god! It’s $5,000? Where am I going to put it? In the donation box?,’” Li said excitedly.

Detrano has been spending six months out of the year in China after founding the China California Heath Watch.

Detrano started the organization after a trip through the Chinese countryside convinced him that people in rural areas need help dealing with cardiovascular ailments.

“I saw this young man full of energy and inspiration trying to help his people, and I decided that if I’m asking people to give money to my organization then I should help his,” Detrano said.

Li sat at his booth all Thursday and Friday. He estimates a thousand people dropped by to give money during those days. A group of young children walked by and emptied the quarters and pennies out of their pockets into his donation box.

By the end of the weekend, he raised more than $30,000, which he donated to the Red Cross.

Li reports that he has been getting three to four hours of sleep each night, trying to balance his school work and his volunteerism.

Although Li’s family, living in Henan Province, wasn’t injured during the disaster, other students who joined in his effort knew people who died.

“I have a friend here at UCI; her friend’s mother was killed in the earthquake. It’s a really sad story,” Li said.

That friend was one of the more than 40 volunteers who helped Li raise so much money.

Li and his volunteers will hold a candlelight vigil 7 p.m. Sunday at the flagpole next to UCI’s Langson Library. People can still donate by e-mailing Li at wli3@uci.edu.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.