Dance Party Fundraising by Ruth Paget

Dance Party Fundraising by Ruth Paget 

One of the quickest ways the Inner-City Youth Tour to China raised money was with dance parties in 1978 – 1979. 

The way this worked was that you paid $5 if you brought something to eat or drink for the party. If you just showed up, you paid $10. Wrists were marked with “paid” stamps like they are at small club shows as a receipt. Homes in Detroit are large. 

You can easily fit 100 people in a living room with a full dining room off the side. We could raise between $500 - $750 in an evening with a dance party – an absolute win-win fundraiser. 

People are not finicky eaters in Detroit. I think the standard party dish is onion dip with Lay’s potato chips and soda. If you make onion dip yourself, it is super cheap. 

Detroit has a huge Eastern European population that came to the city to build cars, which means that sour cream is plentiful and inexpensive in the Motor City. 

The hillbilly contingent to the workforce (including my dad) mixes dry French onion soup mix with sour cream to make onion dip. This is great with plain potato chips or the ones with chives and sour cream. I taught the Puerto Ricans on the tour how to make this. 

Dance parties were a huge hit, because this was the Disco Era when we were raising money to go to China. We danced and sang into the night to Donna Summer, Lionel Richie, Gloria Gaynor, Sister Sledge, Chaka Khan, Santana, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. 

The Inner-City Youth Tour to China did go to China, and the dance alumni of our fundraising efforts went on to make beach parties at Daytona Beach, Florida a huge success, too, I think. 

One of the co-leaders of the youth tour went on to found and edit People en Español as a lasting cultural impact of our fundraising efforts. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget

50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget 

When I joined the Inner-City Youth Tour to China in 1978 when I lived in Detroit (Michigan), my family and family friends used 50-50 raffles to help pay for my trip to the Peoples’ Republic of China with 21 other young people. 

Fundraising for this trip was difficult, because the United States would only diplomatically recognize the Peoples’ Republic of China on March 1, 1979. Potential donors asked me, “Why do you want to visit a Communist country?” 

I thought that question was an evasion answer. Detroit was in a recession in 1978, which meant auto plant closures. People did not have a lot of money to spend on fundraisers to buy chocolate bars even, which I also sold to help finance my trip to China.  

50-50 raffles worked very well in a recession situation as a win-win fundraiser. For example, you can sell raffle tickets for $1 for an hour. At the end of the hour, you draw a winner and evenly split the jackpot. If you raise $50, the organizer and winner get $25 each. If you run six 50-50 raffles in an evening, you can raise $150 for six hours work with the minimal financial outlay of buying raffle tickets. 

50-50 raffles are not legal in all states. You have to check with your local supervisor’s office or mayor’s office to see if these raffles are legal or what you need to do to petition to make them so. 

These 50-50 raffles helped make my dream of going to China a reality in 1979. Slow and steady income also keeps morale up for big fundraising events as an added benefit. 

Even in non-recession times, 50-50 raffles are a quick way to make money, which local governments might consider for non-profit organizations to earn money. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Teen in China, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Hawaii Trips by Ruth Paget

Hawaii Trips by Ruth Paget 

The first trip I made to Hawaii was in 1979 after spending a month in the Peoples Republic of China as part of a youth tour from inner-city Detroit, Michigan. 

Tropical Honolulu reminded me of Guangzhou and Hong Kong after flights from wintry Tokyo and Beijing. Peking had recently changed its name when the PRC resumed formal diplomatic relations with the U.S. We had to fly from Tokyo to Honolulu, because there were no direct flights from Beijing to the U.S. at the time. 

The youth tour members were staying in Honolulu with host families before our long trek home to Detroit. The house I stayed in was surrounded by trees with two-feet leaves, which looked like swaying teeth. 

My host family was native Hawaiian. I liked taking a long shower and letting my hair dry in the warm, tropical Hawaiian breezes. As they made dinner, they teased me about tourist eating all the Hawaiian food. I ate roasted pork, pineapple, mangoes, and macadamia nuts. I had recently learned to like Chinese food and was learning to like Polynesian food, too. 

The entire youth tour was treated to a beach luau prepared by our host families. Afterwards, we made our first presentation about what we had learned from our travels in China to the Honolulu chapter of the U.S. – China Peoples’ Friendship Association. 

Before we left Hawaii, one of the Japanese members of the U.S. – China Peoples’ Friendship Association gave us a presentation about immigration to Hawaii. The Japanese and Portuguese were the largest groups, who made up the farmworkers on the pineapple plantations. 

My next trip to Hawaii came decades later with my husband Laurent and daughter Florence. We went to Honolulu and rented a car. Florence drove all week around O’ahu. 

The first place we visited was Pearl Harbor. I noted that ports tend to be in working class neighborhoods. We drove from Pearl Harbor and went to a golf club for cheeseburgers. 

Florence had a Moon touring guide and made a checklist of places to stop at and photograph and film with the video function on her phone. 

We spent the week eating poke – a kind of seasoned sushi with sesame seeds, visiting the Dole Plantation and eating sweet-and-sour pork made with pineapple and shave ice there, and eating grilled red fish with tropical fruit sauces at the hotel. 

We began our days at Wailana Café, which served coconut milk as creamer, unctuous Portuguese sausage, and sweet Portuguese bread. 

I have had grand times in Hawaii and discovered that I really like coconut milk in my Kona coffee. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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