Help Tian Laoshi reunite with her daughter.

Chao Tian is an amazing educator who currently teaches in the Chinese Immersion program at Heritage Elementary in Layton, Utah. She is an absolutely incredible teacher and gives her full heart and soul to her students. She goes above “above and beyond” to help her students and to be a leader in her school community. In addition to teaching 47 students each day, she is also a coach on the school VEX Team, does traffic duty before and after school daily, leads on the Sunshine Committee, is chair of the Chinese New Year Committee, serves on the school’s Guiding Coalition Committee, and is a mentor teacher leader for the other Chinese Immersion teachers at Heritage. She is an incredibly strong woman and never complains, always asking what she can do to help, and uplifts others through her quiet example. She says that she stays busy to keep her mind off of missing her family in China.

Chao left her family in China- including her husband, young daughter, and elderly parents- to come to America and teach Chinese immersion. Her parents and family were able to come be with her here in America for a short time, but then while here, her Mother was diagnosed with cancer and had to go back to China for emergency medical care as they did not have American insurance. They decided that they should also take Chao’s baby, Selina, with them back to China since Chao had no way to work full-time and also take care of her baby while here in America. She has not seen her husband or her daughter in person since before the 2020 Pandemic!

We want to reunite this mother and child. It has been a dream of Chao’s to have her five-year-old daughter, Selina, come join her and her older daughter Kennedy here in America. She has been working hard for months to achieve that dream, but it has been one hard thing after another. After countless hours spent on the phone, filling out paperwork, getting Visas, arranging interviews, and many other endeavors- Chao finally got the clear to be able to buy airplane tickets to have her husband bring Selina to America! Her dream was finally within reach.

Literally the week that they got the “okay” and were about to buy airplane tickets, Chao’s mother became critically ill. She had to have open heart surgery and spent a week in the ICU. She was then kicked out of the hospital due to lack of beds and transferred to a private hospital that does not take insurance. Chao will now have to pay for her mother’s hospital care which impacts her ability to pay for airfare for Selina. Chao’s husband can no longer leave to bring Selina to America as he has to stay and take care of Chao’s mom. Chao feels helpless- she cannot return to China herself and is left here in America worried about her mother and desperately missing her daughter.

We want to help Chao bear this burden. We have arranged for a family friend to travel to China and bring Selina to her mother, but we need help in covering the cost of airfare. We would also like to help Chao pay for some of the medical expenses for her mom. We cannot think of anyone more deserving of this gift. Please help us pull off this miracle for Chao.

-This fundraiser is for a good friend and her family.

-The funds raised will be used to purchase airline tickets for Selina and her father to fly to Utah. They will also help purchase items for Selina to get setup at her home in Utah (bedroom and school supplies... bed, clothes, shoes, backpack, etc.) Any additional funds earned will be used to pay for medical expenses for Chao's mother.