by: Joy Jiang
On November 3, 2019, the CAPA JRC attended a fundraising event held by the CCACC (Chinese Culture and Community Service Center), where many people, including us, sought to sell items to the public. In our case, we sold balance lamps. I originally thought that not many people would buy our lamps, but that was not the case.
When I first entered the rooms with vendors and tables of items, I noticed that the JRC was almost the only group who had come not to sell food. Many restaurants had come, as well as just ordinary people, selling items from sushi to egg tarts. I thought that since food could be more easily enjoyed than lamps, people would be more interested in that.
However, during the course of the event, many people came to buy the lamps. I thought that most of the lamps sold would be white lamps because white goes well with more colors, and red lamps might seem out of place and wood lamps were more expensive.
Later into the event, the lights turned off for a few seconds and the entire room was left in darkness. Everyone, including me, wondered what had happened. But what stood out the most to me in that moment was that the otherwise dark room was lit up by our balance lamps.
But what stood out the most to me in that moment was that the otherwise dark room was lit up by our balance lamps.
People turned toward us as the only light source in the room. Our previous selling strategy had been to simply fascinate others with the creativity and uniqueness of the lamps, but now everyone saw how useful they could be.
(Claire and Emily)
By the end of the event, fifteen lamps had been sold, which was more than the amount I predicted would be. Most of those lamps were red and one was wood. Perhaps this was because many Asians believe that the color red stands for good fortune.
My initial guesses had been completely incorrect. I like to think that part of why so many lamps were sold was because the lights went off and people saw the necessity of lamps, but we sold most of them before that happened. While some people may prefer food, this event proved to me, and probably many others, that our lamps are much more useful in the long run.
This article was provided by Chinese American Parents Association Junior Reporter Club (CAPA JRC) with members who interviewed, audio recorded, wrote, translated, and video recorded. CAPA JRC has 19 Montgomery County middle to high school students. They have created a bilingual platform delivering news and serving the community.
Instagram: @capa_jrc
Blog:https://capajrc.org
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