South Bay Teenagers Support Chinese Orphans

LOS ALTOS HILLS (CBS 5) ― Fifteen-year-old Peter Li and his 14-year-old sister Vivian are typical teenaged siblings who'd rather steer clear of each other, except when it comes to cooking up plans to help abandoned children in China.

"I wish we could do even more," Peter says.

It all started in 2005, when Peter and Vivian looked at a book called Mei Mei, meaning Little Sister. It contains photos of orphans in China, images that haunted the Los Altos Hills brother and sister.

"I've been raised in a well-off family and there's people in the world like those children portrayed in Mei Mei that have no home, no family," Peter explains. "They've been ditched."

"And I was like, really touched," Vivian adds. "Because if I was in their place what would I do, so I'm like, maybe we should help 'em out."

Peter and Vivian wanted to help thousands of Chinese babies abandoned in government-run orphanages every year, an unintended effect of China's one-child population control policy.

The Lis learned that Half the Sky Foundation. which has an office in Berkeley, works in 43 orphanages, training nannies to nurture and love the children.

So Peter and Vivian hosted a luncheon at their home in 2006, and raised three thousand dollars for Half the Sky.

Vivian recalls, "After we knew we reached three thousand, we were astonished and shocked!"

The next year, the pair raised ten thousand dollars at a larger luncheon. And last year, when a deadly earthquake and record-breaking cold hit China, Vivian called on big corporations to donate.

"My sister is bizarre," Peter laughs. "She has bizarre ideas. They work."

"I got many rejections, which was really tough, but Proctor and Gamble came through," Vivian says.

The corporation donated 30,000 diapers for hundreds of children in 30 orphanages.

At Half the Sky's Berkeley office, Communications Director Patricia King says Peter and Vivian are the foundation's top fundraisers among kids.

"Their dedication and ability to come up with new ideas of fundraising stands out. We put them on our website all the time, because they're so inspirational," she says.

Peter and Vivian also sponsor several orphans. And they're planning a fundraising auction for Half the Sky this fall.

The A-students, who've won a dozens of tennis, chess, and piano trophies, have discovered a joint passion for giving.

"I feel good helping people, so I keep on going," says Peter.

"Helping one another is very good," adds his sister.

Even if it means having to work side-by-side with your sibling.

For their creative and productive fundraising to support Chinese orphans, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Peter and Vivian Li.

By Sharon Chin

Related Link:

* Half the Sky Foundation

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)