Melting pot concert fund raiser for Yirui a big success!

Last month, performers from around Columbia came together to provide an outstanding evening of entertainment. All proceeds from this event benefited the rehabilitation expenses for Yirui Wei. Approximately $1500 was raised.

Shown at left are Yirui and her parents, and two of the performers who sang at the concert.


For news coverage of this event, see:
http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f11-0063-9bd94c70b769/ccc2726d-80ce-0971-00b0-ab2c82afb572
http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f11-0063-9bd94c70b769/cbb4291e-80ce-0971-01f8-30a8b1a068ff

Also, videos of some of the performances are available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6grI8J6b7g

Thanks to all for attending this event, and especially to the performers who donated their time and talent!

Benefit concert for Yirui this Friday, 11/6/09

The past month has been another of great progress for Yirui Wei. She is back on campus several days a week, and working towards returning as a student. Her hard work will continue for some time, but friends and family are committed to daily support in her efforts. We are especially grateful for those of you who have donated toward these efforts over the last few months.

On Friday Nov. 6 at 7 pm, a benefit concert will be held to raise funds for Yirui's rehabilitation expenses. Many exciting and talented performers will be contributing their time for this effort. With a good turnout, we hope this will be one of our last events. This should be a fun-filled, family-friendly evening, so please come by to support Yirui.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or from Jerry Brightwell (BrightwellJ@missouri.edu) in the MU Chemistry office.

Yirui has reunion with ICU staff!

Yesterday, Yirui returned to the ICU for a joyful reunion with her doctors and nurses and other caring hospital staff. This time her visit to ICU was as a success story, not as a patient. The medical team was amazed and thrilled by her recovery, and (we hope) are very proud of themselves for making it all possible. Thanks team! In a few years, we hope to invite you all to her Ph.D. defense and graduation from MU!

A very special birthday!

Last week, Yirui celebrated her 23rd birthday, in the company of family, friends and faculty. After the past several months, this was a very special occasion for all. An authentic Chinese birthday cake (from a St. Louis bakery delivered to Columbia's Hong Kong Market) was among the many international dishes and treats brought by guests.

Happy birthday, Yirui, and many more!

Upcoming fund raising events for the fall:

We've organized a few more fund raising events for Yirui this semester. Hopefully these events will get us to our goal and then we can all celebrate (and relax).

October 24 - Shakespeare's pizza benefit day
November 6 - Benefit concert (details to be announced!) to be held at Missouri United Methodist Church in downtown Columbia. This will be an fun filled evening of international and local musicians and performers. Come join us!
November 20 - benefit evening at Deja Vu Comedy Club

A special thanks to the Heidelberg Restaurant and the MU Graduate and Professional Council, who sponsored a benefit evening for Yirui earlier this week. Turnout was great and we hope you all enjoyed the food!

Yirui is no longer an inpatient!

Last Friday, Yirui checked out of inpatient rehab, after making great progress during the past several weeks. This week she began the outpatient phase of her rehabilitation, which will probably last for a few months. Everyone is thrilled to finally see her out of the hospital (after more than two months) and begin to get back to a normal life.

Great job, Yirui! And a special thanks to all her wonderful doctors and care providers who have helped so much on her path toward recovery.

Another milestone reached in fund raising

Thanks to many supporters (and much hard work), our campaign has successfully raised enough funds to cover the very expensive inpatient part of Yirui's medical expenses. That means the rest of our job will be much easier - funds for a few months of outpatient rehab therapy and other minor medical expenses. We are still trying to get firm numbers for these projected expenses, but we expect to need less $10,000 to complete our campaign. In fact, another $6,000 or $7,000 may be enough.

This is great news for us all. With just a little more work, we can reach this goal and continue Yirui on her amazing journey of recovery. Our friends and supporters continue to grow, as Columbia Friends of China and the Mid-Missouri Chinese Association are both helping spread the news.

And, best of all, Yirui will soon leave inpatient rehab, a major step toward resuming her normal life and studies at MU.

Yirui visits MU!

Today, for the first time in two months, and after getting permission from her rehab team, Yirui visited her research laboratory and several other places on campus. In the company of many friends, she had an excellent time, recalling her studies and other fond memories from the past year.

Hopefully this will be the first visit of many this semester, as she continues to improve. Thanks to all of you who have helped make this possible.

More progress and other news from rehab

This week has been busy for all of us helping Yirui, as the new semester has started at MU and the "free time" of summer has ended.

Yirui is still on track to finish her inpatient rehab after one month. Her progress continues to be excellent. Over the next few months, she will need the continued support of all, as she transitions to from inpatient to outpatient care.

Earlier this week, Yirui had a surprise visit from David Currey (MU International Center) and his very talented, musical family. Their family band "Curreykorn" performed several songs for Yirui at the rehab hospital. By all accounts, Yirui and her parents were delighted by the performance. A donation to Yirui's fund was also presented, thanks to efforts of the entire family at the Columbia Farmer's Market last weekend.

Thanks Curreykorn!!

Check back here soon for more update on our fund raising plans and other news...

Rehab care helps Yirui make rapid improvement

After only one week in rehab, Yirui has made excellent progress, improving more rapidly than expected. Out of respect for her privacy, details on her condition will not be disclosed, but it is fair to say her team of care givers is very happy.

Yirui was well enough to meet with several visitors this week, including the Vice Provost of International Programs at MU, Dr. Handy Williamson, who wished Yirui a continued, speedy recovery. Some staff from ICU also visited, and continue to be amazed and thrilled at her improving condition.

Latest from rehab and progress on fund raising

The last day of a busy week here. Yirui is adjusting very well to rehab. She has a whole team of doctors and specialists working with her and they are keeping her busy. She is quickly becoming a favorite patient, just like she was in ICU. In fact, some of her ICU nurses stopped by this week to visit, they missed her so much!

To pay for this essential rehab, we are continuing our fund raising campaign. This week we had a very successful benefit dinner at Shakespeare's Pizza. About 200 people brought in the flyer for the benefit. Thanks to Shakespeare's for hosting this event!

Over the next few weeks, we are planning more exciting fund raising events. Check back here for details.

Yirui leaves ICU and enters rehab today

Another exciting event this week as Yirui has left the hospital ICU and transferred to an excellent rehabilitation center. This is a critical step on her road to recovery. We are so proud of her bravery and hard work in getting better, and so grateful to the staff of the ICU who took such excellent care of her.

Just as important are the funds from generous donor and supporters who continue to send money to pay for rehabilitation. We raised enough to get her in the door. Over the next week or so, we hope to learn more about the time frame for her stay and the extent of outpatient rehab that might be necessary. This will help us adjust our fund raising goal to provide the best possible rehabilitation care for Yirui.

In the mean time, we hope all of you will come join us at Shakespeare's Pizza tomorrow night, to celebrate all the good news this week! 15% of proceeds will benefit our fund raising campaign (see earlier post for details).

Critical milestone reached in our fund raising campaign!

We're happy to report that today a critical milestone was reached in our fund-raising efforts for Yirui Wei. As of tonight, the deposits in her donation account surpassed the $15,000 that we need to get her admitted into inpatient rehabilitation. This will pay for about 1/2 of the estimated one month stay that she will need as an inpatient.

This is an amazing accomplishment, due to the hard work and generosity of friends and supporters here at MU, in Columbia, MO, and around the world. We thank each and everyone of you.

Of course, our work is not yet finished, as the full extent of the rehab time and expenses are not yet definitively known, but at least we now know Yirui can enter rehab as soon as possible, perhaps even this week. After a few days to relax and celebrate, we will all need to get back to work to continue the fund-raising effort.

Check back here for more updates as they become available. And thanks again to everyone for their hard work. Together, we will make this happen!

A special thanks to our "Friends of Yirui" business donors who have contributed $250 or more to our campaign:

The Thai Kitchen

1111 E Broadway
Columbia, MO 65201-4909

(573) 256-2432

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant

2005 W Worley St
Columbia, MO 65203
(573) 446-3888

Next time you go out to dinner, consider dining at one of these
generous establishments!

PayPal now an option for donations

A PayPal account has been setup to accept donations for Yirui Wei's rehabilitation expenses. If you don't already have a PayPal account, you'll need to register for that first at: https://www.paypal.com/

To donate, go to: https://www.paypal.com/
Then click on the "Business" tab and directly underneath that from the "Send Money" menu choose "Send money online".
Once on the "Send money" page, enter the account email (umcoslfacss@missouri.edu ), your email, and the amount you want to donate. Under the donation amount are two tabs ("Purchase" and "Personal"). Choose Personal and then click on "Gift". Continue to the next page where you then enter your paypal account info and complete the transaction.

This option should make it easier for people across the country and world to donate to help Yirui. Thanks to FACSS for setting it up!

Join us for a benefit dinner at Shakespeare's Pizza!

On Thursday August 13, both locations of Shakespeare's Pizza in Columbia, MO will donate 15% of their proceeds to our fund raising campaign. Offer applies to lunch, dinner, take-out and dine-in meals. A flyer requesting that proceeds be directed to Yirui Wei must be presented at time of purchase. For a copy of the flyer, email: ranjan.singh@mail.mizzou.edu

Representatives from Chinese Consulate of Chicago visit ICU

Several representatives from the Chinese Consulate traveled to Columbia yesterday to visit Yirui Wei and her parents. The visitors were Maoming Chu, Deputy Consul General; Wan Cong, Consul for Education & Demin Wu, Consul. They expressed words of support for Yirui and her family and are helping to expand our fund raising efforts into the Chicago area. They also brought a donation of $1500 for Yirui, getting us closer to our goal.

Each day we are making progress toward getting Yirui the care she needs. Thanks to the Consulate for their concern and support!

We'd like to acknowledge some of our critical friends and supporters:

FACSS (Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars) at MU, sponsor of the fund drive: http://web.missouri.edu/~muoslfacss/
Fei Gao, President - email: fgz4f@mizzou.edu

Boone County National Bank and Joey Clemens (email: clemons_joey@yahoo.com): assisting with the fund raising and managing the donation account

International Community Church (Columbia, MO)

Columbia Friends of China
http://friendsofchina.missouri.org/

Mid-Missouri Chinese Association

Update on publicity and fund raising

Our media coverage expands to include radio (public radio station KBIA) and our fund raising efforts are paying off! We've collected nearly $10,000 of the $30,000 that Yirui will need for one month of inpatient rehabilitation.

Listen to the story about Yirui on KBIA: http://www.kbia.org/news/public-newsroom/

Many thanks to those of you who have donated. Let's keep those funds coming, so Yirui can get the care she needs.

We now have a tax deductible option set up for donations. See below for details!

Donors interested in getting a tax deduction for their gift should
contribute through:
International Community Church
c/o: Wing Lai
1107 University Ave
Columbia, MO 65201-5049

Checks payable to:
International Community Church
In memo indicate: benevolence: Ms. Wei

Upcoming benefit events in Columbia, MO:

Monday evening 8/3/09:
Thai Restaurant
1111 E Broadway, Columbia
will donate 10% of proceeds

Thursday evening 8/6/09:
The Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
2005 W Worley St
will donate 10% of proceeds

Please join us at these events to help support Yirui!

Recent media coverage:

Columbia Tribune 7/31/09

Missourian 7/31/09

World Journal (Chinese version only) - 8/2/09

After surviving a near-fatal drowning accident in late June, Yirui Wei is in need of expensive rehabilitation therapy to complete her dramatic recovery.

Join us to help Yirui and her family!

Please send contributions to:

c/o Joey Clemens
Boone County National Bank
720 E. Broadway.
Columbia, MO, 65201

Make checks payable to "Concerned Friends of Yirui Wei"