About The Society For Friendship With China, Inc
The Society for Friendship with China, Inc. was formed in 2004 as a 501(c)(3) organization for the purpose of officially conducting friendship activities, trade, tourism and educational exchanges, and for promoting better understanding between the people of China and the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Our most immediate goal is to provide a better understanding of Chinese culture in Kansas City by holding the Annual Kansas City International Dragon Boat Festival along Brush Creek and by providing a Chinese New Year or Spring Festival Banquet each Lunar New Year. Our long term goal is to develop a Chinese Garden in Kansas City. You can learn more about these projects under separate headings on the homepage.
For membership information, send an e-mail to
Christopher Graham
Board Members:
Bob Chien - President of the Board, President of Kansas City-Xi’an Sister City Committee
John Phillips - Executive VP, Partner, HuschBlackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP
Jeannette Nichols - VP - Community, Miller Nichols Foundation
Joyce Cox - VP - Grants, President of US - China Peoples Friendship Association
Christopher Graham - Treasurer, CPA, Graham and Associates
Fang Shen - Secretary, Partner, HuschBlackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP
Teresa Chien -Director- Culture, China Commissioner of Ethnic Enrichment
Don Breckenridge -Director, CEO, General Manager, InterContinental Hotel and Sheraton Suites on the Plaza
Cary Clark -Director, Sam Walton Fellow at UMKC Innovation Center
Carolyn Kadel -Director, International relation
Our pledges to you - 义
The heart of our organization's purpose is to share cultural mindsets to enrich people of our nations and through that find mutual benefit -- through trade, etc.
With that in mind, I would like to share a little bit of the Chinese tradition that infuses many aspects of Chinese business and personal life. It is how I feel about our sponsors and those who support our Society, and perhaps you will find meaning and value in it too for your endeavors, especially during these domestic and global economic times.
In China, people -- whether they be businesses, friends or family -- find peace and meaning in their work when they...
Yi is a virtue of loyalty, of friendship. It is an honest pledge from one to another. A pledge of shared purpose and goals, of common understanding between people, between organizations, that you have a sincere interest in the betterment of the other.
These times are a good time for me to bring up the concept of Yi, because it is something we all naturally seek. Someone to offer resources, to help, to encourage, on our side in challenging times and in good ones too.
In these times, when organizations struggle, it is most fitting for me to say thank you to our sponsors who are more than sponsors of a single event. When you are a sponsor, you show your gift of Yi to our organization. Without your financial support, we could not enrich our collective community. What your financial support really says to us is your intention of a shared interest in and a shared belief that together everyone achieves more.
Your support in any way is about a bigger purpose. Our loyalty -- our Yi -- extends to you in gratitude far beyond the direct benefits of any one event. As our sponsor, our benefactor, we accept your gift as an intention of shared mindset in the greater good of everyone. And we return our Yi to you in ways that show we share the intention of your greater good -- of business and personal prosperity. Yi has no time limit, it is not transactional. Your intention with funding opens a bridge that lasts, a bridge to friendship whose benefits arise in ways that are unexpected and ongoing.
This is really what our Society is about. It is a friendship society. Your sponsorship, your time, your efforts, your actions are Yi. This value is immeasurable and for it Yi is returned to you. It is a law of nature, it is what makes our lives meaningful and prosperous if we live by it. To you, our sponsors, we extend our greatest gift, our Yi. It is the triple win and with it, an abundant, fulfilling year.
Advisory Board Member
Tammy Breitenbach
President
Catalyst Partners, Inc.
Ph. (816) 726-0579
Fax (866) 929-7170
Joyce and China
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Joyce Cox has always been fascinated by China. After her first trip there, she joined US-China Peoples Friendship Association and soon was invited to the Signing Ceremony for the Kansas City-Xi’an Sister Cities Committee. That day she received a promise from Bob Chien to find her a teaching position in China when she retired. With the help of An Wei, the Xi’an representative to the Sister Cities Signing Ceremony, she immediately established a Sister School relationship and a pen pal program between Center High School and Fu Feng School in China. When she retired from teaching, just as he had promised, Bob Chien found her a position teaching English at Northwest University in Xi’an, China. She taught English and her students taught her Chinese history and culture. They escorted her on many excursions including a trip over the Silk Road to Kashgar and a visit to Yan’an, where Edgar Snow first met and interviewed Mao.
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Upon her return, she became very involved in the Kansas City-Xi’an Sister City committee, representing them for several years on the Association Board. She was instrumental in the campaign to buy adjustable desks with the purchaser’s name on the desk for An Shang School and helped with the establishment of scholarships for students in three schools near Xi’an. She also joined the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation and served as President of the Kansas City chapter of US-China Peoples Friendship Association for 13 Years. She also served on the Midwest Region USCPFA Board both as member and President. Joyce has been a frequent visitor to China and has helped other teachers find positions there. She helped found The Society for Friendship with China, Inc. and has served on the board, first as Secretary and then as Vice President for Grants. She has been influential in promoting The Society’s New Year Celebrations and exchange programs and worked from the very beginning in developing the Kansas City International Dragon Boat Festival. At the 2013 Chinese New Year Celebration, Joyce was presented with The Society’s Bridge of Friendship Award for twenty years of service.
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