HSICF’s Charity Poker Tournament

The Han-Schneider International Children’s Foundation hosted its first charity poker tournament on November 18 at the Greenbar Distillery in the Arts District of Downtown LA which was attended by over 90 supporters and friends. The evening started with cocktail hour where our guests enjoyed small bites and an open bar. Before the tournament officially kicked off, Arthur Han and Zachary Lopez spoke about milestone achievements and the impact the foundation was making on their Operation B.O.O.K program, which serves over 5200 orphans and children around the globe with educational and nourishment programs. A heartfelt video presentation on their most recent mission trip to Mexico was also showcased.

The tournament kicked off shortly after on the distillery floor amongst the copper stills and barrels that made this such a unique venue. The tournament allowed for re-buys, and a one-time, special add-on to allow those knocked out early to still have a chance to win it all.

As the players were busy on the distillery floor, attendees in the Diamond Lounge were treated to wine tastings from San Antonio Winery and complimentary bingo games to win prizes.

The final table was spotlighted in the diamond lounge where all guests watched in excitement to see who would win the poker tournament and the grand prize of a one week stay in Cabo San Lucas. When the dust settled and the final hand had been dealt, our inaugural Charity Poker Tournament winner David Yang was crowned. While the top four players took home prizes, it was our children who were the real champions that night. The evening raised over $10,000 for our programs in Cambodia, Mexico and Tanzania.

Thank you to all our sponsors, donors and all guests who made this event a success!

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2017 Mission Trip Recap

The Han-Schneider International Children’s Foundation continued its mission trip program in 2017 with a trip down to Ensenada, Mexico. Our mission trip program first began in 2013 with a trip to Tanzania, Africa to allow our friends, family and supporters a chance to meet and interact with the children whose lives they are impacting through their generosity. This is the second time that HSICF has traveled to Mexico, but it was first time we participated in a summer camp for orphans with our partner, Rancho Genesis.

The team from HSICF, which consisted of 10 members, was paired up with Casa Hogar La Gloria, an orphanage located in Tijuana, Mexico. La Gloria sent 14 beautiful children ranging in age from 5 to 12. This trip offers a unique experience in which every team member is paired with a “nino” (or two) for the week and the children were able to participate in outdoor activities that they don’t normally have the opportunity to experience.

Each morning the team from HSICF served the children their meals, played on the campsite’s playground and then head offsite for a special activity. For example, one day the group took the children offsite to a trampoline park, took a boat tour of Ensenada Bay and then concluded the outing with a tour of the fish market and an ice cream treat! Another day’s outing consisted of a trip to a local ranch where we had a photo scavenger hunt which was followed by horse rides, archery and swimming. The highlight of the week was a trip to the beach where we collected seashells, played in the sand, and swam in the warm, blue waters of Ensenada.

Meanwhile at the campsite we bonded with the children with other fun activities like arts and crafts, decorating cupcakes, making slime, enjoying an outdoor movie night and even a concert where the dedicated staff of Rancho Genesis played songs of worship. It wasn’t all fun and games, however, as our group also did some construction work to help improve the campsite. We worked together to put up a wall, shore up a fence and begin a project for a special room that other groups will be able to use in the future to escape the sun.

Every day concluded with a campfire with the children where we talked about our favorite parts of the day and reflected on the special memories that we would be taking back with us. The week allowed the children to forget the circumstances that lead to them being orphaned and just be a kid – play, laugh and love. There is no doubt that this week had a profound impact on their short lives but the impact they left on every team member was even greater. We as an organization look forward to not only pairing up with La Gloria next year at Rancho Genesis but hope this is just the beginning of a long, beautiful relationship.

To help similar children across the world, please consider giving a gift to our organization.

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4th Annual Sam Han Classic Recap

On June 16, the Han-Schneider International Children’s Foundation hosted the 4th Annual Sam Han Classic charity golf tournament. This year’s tournament had a change in scenery and was held at Brookside Golf Course. The switch of venues paid off with this year’s tournament drawing a record number of participants – 95 golfers of varying skill levels.  The 4th Annual Sam Han Classic kicked off at 1pm to allow our supporters to get a work day in.  We also switched from a post-tournament reception to a pre-tournament barbecue, which was met with great enthusiasm.

Each golfer received a goodie bag filled with a HSICF branded golf towel, coozie, balls and tees.  They were also automatically entered into the three in-tournament contests consisting of a long drive competition, closest to the pin and the featured $10,000 cash hole-in-one sponsored by the Riboli Family Wines of San Antonio Winery.  This year, the Sam Han Classic introduced a bull’s eye contest where players could wager $5 to win 1, 2, or 3 raffle tickets depending on where their ball landed in the bull’s eye.

Even in the midst of a heat wave, the Arroyo Seco, where Brookside is nestled, provided our golfers a nice, cooling breeze. The tournament also provided all participants with unlimited refreshments throughout the course donated by Classic Distribution and Tsingtao Beer.
When the scorecards were added up the team of: Jordan Lopez, Evan Richardson, Reed Henderson and Manny Olaiz took the much coveted championship bobblehead trophies along with a several other prizes with a team score of 54 (-16).

Raising nearly $20,000, our ongoing programs under Operation B.O.O.K., will continue to flourish by further developing our educational and nourishment programs for children across the globe. The 7,500 children and orphans we serve will receive daily education along meals to keep them active and provide a healthy lifestyle.

Thank you to all of our sponsors and participants who made the 4th Annual Sam Han Classic the biggest and most successful tournament to date. Our children are truly fortunate to have a family like you!

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Love, Hope & Harmony – Recap

On November 19, the Han-Schneider International Children’s Foundation and WorldArts Gives collaborated to host the “Love, Hope & Harmony” concert to benefit the children served by our organization. The event was held at the WorldArts Studio in Culver City.  The event was emceed by comedian Blake Wexler and was attended by over 175 guests who enjoyed the live music, catered food, drinks and the silent auction featuring more than 50 items ranging from vacations travel packages to sporting events.

Avonlea, an up-and-coming 16-year-old singer/songwriter kicked off the concert and wowed the crowd with her original songs. She was joined by special guest, Trenyce, who put on a dazzling performance covering songs by some of the most iconic artists of our time including an impressive rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” After a brief break, Reverse Order, of America’s Got Talent fame, took the stage to rock out.  The musical performance aspect of the event was wrapped up by Interscope recording artist and GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Candice Pillay whose unique sound and passion for the children not only entertained the crowd, but rallied them to help the foundation raise over $3,000 via a text-to-donate campaign.

When the music stopped, it was evident that not only did all the attendees have an amazing time, but the event was a
success. Through ticket sales, raffle tickets, donations, silent auction and the text-to-give campaign, the event raised over $15,000 that will help the organization run its programs in 2017.

We want to thank WorldArts Studios for hosting the event, Avonlea, Trenyce, Reverse Order and Candice Pillay for performing, all the sponsors and donors for making the night possible and all those who attended the event. We are forever grateful for all the compassion and support needed to make “Love, Hope & Harmony” possible.

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The Gift of Hope

The plight of marginalized children is, sadly, one of the world’s most overlooked situations. While large-scale aid and development projects pour millions of dollars into developing countries, at the community level where those dollars seldom reach, children and young people often cope with challenges that define the nature of their existence. Malnutrition, disease, and the lack of access to education rob young people of the basic, precious element of hope. Often, in desperation to find an escape from this vacuum, where hope and aspiration no longer exist, young people place themselves in vulnerable or exploitive circumstances.

The issues of hazardous child labor, commercial sexual exploitation, and bonded servitude reside hand-in-hand with the poverty that permeates the lives of children at the edges of their societies.

The numbers of young people living in desperate poverty and social isolation are impossible to count with any precision. Quite simply, we do not know for certain how many children live in dire poverty. Census takers generally do not reach distant squatter communities or penetrate into the slums of the inner cities. However, we do know through the efforts of the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and The World Health Organization, as well as several other non-governmental organizations, that the number of children struggling to exist on less than $1 a day reaches into the millions. UNICEF has estimated that, of the 2.2 billion people in the world below the age of 21, approximately 1 billion – nearly half – can be classified as living in extreme poverty. No country, no region, has a monopoly on these conditions. According to UNICEF, 30,000 children around the globe die each day due to conditions associated with poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

We believe that even one child devoid of hope, of aspiration, of the dreams and wonderment that should define childhood is one too many. These voiceless, often forgotten children are the targets of the Han-Schneider International Children’s Foundation.

The Foundation’s projects involve the provision of basic services to young people who have no other avenue of subsistence. We commit ourselves to providing, first, a place where abandoned, orphaned or abused children might live together comfortably, safely, and securely, knowing that they are loved and cherished for who they are. Once these children are safely housed, they can begin to recreate for themselves their sense of a future, with promise and dreams. The Foundation encourages each childcare center to provide basic services, as well as educate, socialize and offer vocational training. We encourage, too, the teaching of what some communities term “right living” – the notion that each of us belong to one another and that we must act in accordance with the principles that instill health, safety, good hygiene and respect for ourselves and the world around us.  The Han-Schneider International Children’s Foundation, at its inception, is targeting some of the most impoverished nations such as Cambodia, Tanzania, and North Korea, but we are global in scope. We anticipate that our work – the sponsoring and maintenance of centers that provide marginalized children the opportunity for safety, good health, affection, and most significantly, the precious commodity of hope – will expand to various other countries as we move forward.

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