Ethel Walker School
On Saturday, September 26, international students from Walker’s organized a charity sale in the center of Shenzhen, China to raise money for ARTREE, an organization founded by Walker’s students Alice Gu ’22 and Alisha Zhu ’23.
Sponsored by the Chinese American Pathology Association, the mission of ARTREE is to provide free art therapy lessons for children with special needs in China, which involves the encouragement of free self-expression through painting, drawing, dancing and other types of art. The organization especially aims to help the children with autism, hearing impairments and those mentally affected by COVID-19. There are currently 30 members in the ARTREE team, including classmates Emily Wang ‘23 and Ten Zhong ‘23.
Alice and Alisha both participated in dance and music class for children with special needs last year, one of Walker’s community partnerships. While the class wasn’t offered this fall due to the pandemic, Alice and Alisha were inspired by the idea of helping children through art, which led to the creation of the ARTREE organization.
The charity sale on September 26 was organized to raise funds for ARTREE and introduce the organization to the local community. Students sold DIY phone cases, earrings, stickers, hair rings, and brooches. After three hours of hard work, ARTREE earned nearly 700 rmb ($100 US dollars), and all proceeds will be used to provide free art therapy lessons for children with special needs.
