This year all of Lotus's proceeds will go to rebuilding communities destroyed by the Sichuan earthquake.

Lotus is a non-profit organization based in San Jose, CA with an office in Beijing, China. It is Lotus’s mission to foster cultural exchange, promote traditional Chinese culture and support international charities and relief organizations. Over the past seven years Lotus has hosted over 900 Chinese language learning students, worked with over one thousand local Chinese families, and donated over USD$200,000 to various international charities. Lotus is an experienced homestay provider that gives back to the community. Every year Lotus routinely organizes a variety of volunteer activities including making rice dumplings to support poor families, visiting local senior centers and teaching English at an orphanage in Tibet. It is Lotus’s main goal to help those in need, and thus all profit made by Lotus goes directly to international charities and relief organizations.

On May 12, the Chinese province of Sichuan was struck by a catastrophic earthquake. In the spirit of helping those in need we have decided to put all of Lotus’s resources into rebuilding schools, hospitals and homes in Sichuan. Already Lotus has donated USD$10,000 to Tzu Chi Foundation, a global charity organization helping in the Sichuan relief effort. Furthermore, many of our own staff members are currently volunteering at the tent communities helping hand out food, clothes and medicine. All of the proceeds from Lotus’s programs this year will be dedicated to rebuilding this broken province. In this way, by using our homestay program you will help build homes for the homeless in Sichuan.

More information on the Earthquake and the relief efforts click here.

To donate to the relief effort in Sichuan we recommend donating directly to Tzu Chi Foundation. To donate and receive more information on Tzu Chi Foundation click here .