On Monday, Su took Fifianna to the White House.
An unlikely invitation and a last-ditch fundraising effort by the Chinatown Community Development Center, a San Francisco nonprofit, enabled Sus to make a dream trip to Washington and attend the annual Easter Egg Roll of the White House on Monday. Fifianna spent the day hunting for Easter eggs, roaring with a model dinosaur and exploring the monuments of DC, thousands of miles further than she ever traveled from home.
“I hope he is inspired by all these new things,” Su said in Cantonese through an interpreter. “… His dream could grow bigger than [our] SRO.”
Su moved to San Francisco from Guangzhou, China, with her husband in 2012, she said. Sus, like many newly arrived immigrants, moved into a small room in a building with one-room occupancy — cramped apartment blocks where families make accommodations from 100-square- foot rooms and share kitchen and bathroom. They are often the only option for newcomers seeking not only affordable housing, but also a community to help connect them to job opportunities and overcome language barriers, says Malcolm Yeung, the executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center.
Su, who works as a receptionist, was with his wife Fifianna and his eldest daughter, Ruyi. The burdens of raising a family in a single room increased when the coronavirus confined everyone to their homes. Su felt trapped, he said. There wasn’t enough space for Ruyi and Fifianna to study at separate desks, and Fifianna was often unable to connect to her online classes due to the room’s poor internet signal.
As the pandemic subsides, Su’s concerns as a parent remain. He was “really” worried about expanding Fifianna’s world and showing her more than the four walls of their room, he said.
Then, on April 4, Su was offered the opportunity to visit the White House.
The invitation came from the Chinatown Community Development Center, which received three tickets to attend the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll from a fellow nonprofit, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development. Tickets are traditionally offered as a perk to nonprofit staff, Yeung said. But this year, he felt the urge to do something different.
“Something just hit me,” Yeung said. “… Everything we’ve been through [during] The pandemic made me think about what opportunities we can give back to the community.”
The Chinatown Community Development Center, which conducts outreach for SRO residents, chose one family from its network of hundreds at random and landed on Sus. Su was stunned and “overjoyed” when she found out, she said — but she didn’t tell Fifianna because she wasn’t sure how she could afford to fly across the country to attend.
On the same day, the nonprofit launched a fundraiser for Sus’ trip. Yeung wasn’t sure what to expect. The fundraiser asked for $6,000 to pay for flights and lodging for Su, Fifianna and an interpreter from CCDC, and it was raised less than a week before the Egg Roll. But donations poured in, and a article The San Francisco Standard shared the family’s story. Within two days, the fundraiser surpassed its goal.
Su requested that CCDC use the remaining money from the fundraiser, which ultimately raised more than $10,000, to help other families pursuing similar opportunities.
“I’m so happy that everyone is pouring their hearts out to help us,” said Su. “I know there’s support for us and they’re there for us, I’m just really thankful.”
Su and Fifianna arrived in DC on Sunday night — Fifianna’s first trip outside of California — and checked into a room at the Hyatt near the National Mall. It was about three times the size of their SRO apartment and, finally, the Sus had their own bathroom and shower. They were very happy but went straight to bed, said Sandy Jiang, the interpreter who was with them. Su had just finished the night shift before boarding the flight.
They arrived at the White House early Monday morning. On a sunny South Lawn, they saw President Biden and first lady Jill Biden give speeches. Su then whisked Fifianna off to the educational booths and activities set up for the 30,000 attendees. This year’s theme for the Egg Roll, “EGGucation,” appealed to Fifianna, who loves art and math. His highlight was watching a “rocket science” demonstration put on by an instructor creating smoke from dry ice, he said.
The Sus spent the rest of the day on the Mall, stopping at the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial. They planned to return in San Francisco on Tuesday with lots of souvenirs — candy and chocolate from Egg Roll and a collection of pictures of flowers that Fifianna stopped to pick up on a trip for her older sister — and the rush of an opening experience that Su always wanted. his daughter.
“I think Fifianna today, she was very inspired,” said Jiang. “She tells me she wants to be a librarian and read books to other kids, too.”
Su said she hopes to move out of the SRO building her family lives in, adding that she has been on the waitlist for affordable housing for several years. Fifianna never complained about living there, but she wanted to one day have her own room, Su said.
Fifianna has one more wish — to take her mother to Italy or France one day when she’s older.
“He knows that his dream, his future, his life is more than what he is,” Su said. “And more than space [we’re] live in the moment.”
