About Us

Introduction

Established early 2023, Lantern Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of children who live in rural China through increasing educational opportunities and expanding medical access. Many kids that live in rural China face various degrees of poverty and challenges due to the under-resourced and underdeveloped infrastructure, which limits their access to opportunities and essential services. Because these kids lack the chances for social improvement, they are often trapped in a cycle of poverty that affects future generations too. Gradually, they lose the belief in the importance of education and the necessity of maintaining strong health.

Because of the limited economic prospects for families in rural China, many parents often travel to big cities like Shanghai or Beijing for work, leaving their children in rural areas under the care of distant relatives or grandparents. These kids are known as left-behind children in China. The lack of parental figures creates damaging effects for the kids. They face worse educational outcomes and experience increased mental health challenges, such as low self-esteem and high levels of anxiety.

Through donations, events, and campaigns, we want to spark awareness, create an impact, and be a part of the solution for kids in rural China. Since we have launched our foundation, we have achieved many milestones, from being officially recognized as a nonprofit organization to establishing long-term partnerships with international organizations and expanding our volunteer and donor base to creating a tangible impact on the lives of kids in rural China. With your continued support, we vow to continue making a difference

Our Goals

Learn

Understand the underlying causes, the main challenges, and potential solutions of rural disparities and poverty. Educate ourselves through speaking with volunteers and experts, reading about government policies, and researching about the underserved kids in rural areas. Only when we understand the problems that kids face can we find effective solutions.

Inspire

Encourage others to make a difference in addressing the challenges and poverty children in rural areas face. Empower other people to join our efforts, lead their own initiatives, and advocate for our causes. By creating a community that is focused on addressing and solving the same issue, we can amplify our impact and help even more kids.

AID

Make an impact in the lives of China’s left-behind children and of kids that live in rural areas, all of whom face many obstacles that we may not recognize. Create change with your donations, participation at our events, and continued interest in our work and campaigns. Even if it is just one kid, we must do all that we can to support them.

Why You Should Care

Although China has taken some initiative to decrease the poverty rate in recent years, the disparities between rural and urban areas still exist. For example, although the Chinese government provides free education from first grade to sixth grade, the schools in rural areas are severely underfunded with less experienced teachers and lower quality materials. Or, although the government offers public health insurance for everyone, insurance in rural areas covers significantly less treatments and necessities while the health of people in rural areas is statistically worse. These disparities impact kids the most, due to their increased health vulnerability and dependence. A greater percentage of China’s ethnic minorities live in rural areas as well, which causes ethnic minorities to experience a greater proportion of these challenges.

Around 3 out of every 4 kids in China live in rural areas (Source: REAP)
Approximately 69 million children in China are left-behind children (Source: UNICEF)
Almost 100 million children in China experience poverty (Source: UNICEF)

Our Impact

1,000+

people reached through our socials and events

Website, Youtube, Instagram, WeChat, Community Events

50,000+

received through donations

These donations have gone toward covering medical treatment costs, purchasing school supplies, providing nutritional needs, paying for doctors’ travel expenses, supporting rural schools, and more

293+

kids in rural China impacted across 6 different provinces

Anhui, Henan, Gansu, Shanxi, Guangxi, Tibet

800+

school supplies, personal care products, gifts and toys have been donated

Backpacks, pencil cases, pens and pencils, toothbrushes, shampoo and lotion, puzzles, Lego boxes, bracelets, water bottles, clothes, and books.

Meet Our Founder

Hi, I’m Valerie, the founder of Lantern Foundation. My passion for helping children in rural China began with stories from my grandparents about their challenges growing up in rural communities. Their experiences sparked my curiosity and drove me to learn more about this issue.

In 2018, I attended a charity event hosted by Love Foundation, an organization in Hong Kong that focuses on helping the left-behind children in China. This event deepened my understanding of the challenges in rural China and prompted me to watch countless Youtube videos about kids in rural China from a variety of channels that I stumbled upon.

In ninth grade, while preparing for my AP Chinese exam, I read about Stanford's REAP program researching underserved rural Chinese children. After discovering their website, I read many of their old journal articles and studies about rural China. Combined with my passion for public policy, I started researching about China’s policies and initiatives regarding rural development to understand the main problems that kids in rural areas faced.

As I learned more about the hardships kids in rural China faced, I also realized that there were very few organizations in the US that addressed this issue. Many people only knew about China because of its tense relationship with the US or because of its economic and technological developments. These realizations inspired me to initiate Lantern Foundation starting in October of 2022

With Lantern Foundation, I hope to raise awareness about the millions of kids that live in rural China and make a meaningful impact on their lives. Meanwhile, I want to create a community that works alongside me to tackle this issue. I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together!

Contact me @ [email protected]

Our Partner Organizations & Businesses

Below are some of the organizations, businesses, and companies that we work with! If you have a business or organization that would also be interested in working with us, send us an email, and we can provide you with more details.

International & US Organization Partners

Beijing SmileAngel Children’s Hospital
Shanxi Education Foundation
Linxia Rural Medical Center
San Francisco Youth Peace Association
American Entrepreneur Association

Local Business & Corporate Sponsors

Whether for organizing an event, establishing a fundraiser, or hosting one of our donation boxes, the support and contributions from these businesses are crucial to our success and are just as important as our partner organizations and volunteers.

Kajiken
Ti-Bear
Sekaido
Venus Café
MIND Coffee
Pop Kitchen
Teavoli Boba

Sushi Garden
Noodle Dynasty
Mayflower Restaurant
Myeongrang Hotdogs
H.L. Peninsula Restaurant
Just Perfect Relax Center
Elite Real Estate & Financial Group