Nostalgia. That was the first word that popped into my mind after the long, tiring day. I can still recall how I created the club two years ago, clueless about its future.

On November 28th, 2020, Charity Art Club (hereafter CAC) went on a fundraiser event at the Mega Mall plaza in Sanduo Shopping District. As usual, we sold student-designed handmade stickers and pins at a charity concert hosted by our very own school’s Street Art Club (SAC). As the club founder and now consultant, I took on the role of helping the club to contact printing companies and selling on the day of the event. Through the process of communicating with the companies under time pressure, I felt rejuvenated: I saw my tenth-grade self stressing out about products arriving on time. On the day of the event, I finally realized that the club was not what it was two years ago. It has grown to become bigger with more members willing to give a hand and selling stickers regardless of how awkward it might be to promote to strangers or how tiring it is to stand for four and a half hours straight. I was amazed by the determination we had. With such a high cost of production (3112NT for pins + 8008NT for stickers = 11,120NT; around 390USD), all of us were determined that we must at least breakeven (although the school does cover the cost if it is for charitable purposes). And guess what? We really did it. We made 11370NT, or around 398.7USD, in total, just enough to breakeven.

Throughout these sales, I realized the power of indirect service in terms of the financial influence on the organization we are donating to. I admire SAC’s determination to have a full understanding of the organization they are donating to. In other words, the fact that they actually visited the nursing homes of Hondao Senior Citizen’s Welfare Foundation was impressive: they know what they are doing instead of blindly conducting what is already seen as a noble cause. However, it also worries me that these stickers, although aesthetically pleasing and cute, are creating unnecessary waste for the Earth. I began to ponder the best way of doing charity through art: are fundraisers the only way out? Why can’t we use art to spread awareness of a particular social issue? Nonetheless, with the club growing day by day, I am more than glad to witness younger members passionate about “creating art with a cause.”