Karen Chung, who has organized the Christmas in the Park Toy Drive in Oakland's Chinatown for the past 18 years, says donations this year were alarmingly low, with just 10 toys collected at first. I was so sad and heartbroken, I was crying at nighttime, Chung said. She even vowed to eat instant noodles for a month to save money and pay for the toys out of her own pocketbook.
When we came to America in '89, I remember getting two toys as a child, and it was the best thing ever. This is my way of giving back, said Tee Tran, owner of Monster Pho, who donated a carload of toys collected from his customers after hearing about the situation.
Other contributions have poured in from across the Bay Area. Viewers sent packages via Amazon, while local organizations like the Oakland Chinatown Lions Club pledged hundreds of toys. Stewart Chen, president of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, noted that even the Little Saigon community in East Oakland also committed to delivering a large batch of donations.
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