2022 Was a Year of Rapid Development for the US Select Colleges ABC Alumni Dating Group. In April of this year, we expanded from the MIT Alumni Dating Group to the Five-School (HYMPS) Alumni Dating Group. In June, the US Select Colleges ABC Alumni Dating Group was officially established, with the addition of the 123456 numerical group (also known as the mixed group), expanding to 23 colleges, plus medical/pharmacy/dental students. In August, we took it to the next level by adding the North American international student matchmaking series. The ABC matchmaking series expanded to include over 100 select colleges and officially established regional groups to facilitate parents in helping their children find matches in their local areas.
Currently, the ABC Dating Platform has 11 regional groups, bringing together over 3,000 Chinese-American families with matchmaking needs, with hundreds of volunteer parents providing various self-service matchmaking services. In just the RTD group, we successfully held 17 matchmaking events, sharing the achievements of many outstanding young people in academics, careers, and life, as well as their desires to find their soulmates.
Our volunteer writing team has published many articles related to matchmaking, including the popular “Ten Questions and Answers: ABC ‘♥️New Matchmaking♥️’, Parents Feel More Assured,” and volunteers have written nearly 50 FAQs to help group members clarify doubts. To familiarize parents with our matchmaking platform, we conducted two surveys in the RTD group, allowing parents to understand the distribution of regions, ages, and genders of young people. Before Thanksgiving, we also facilitated mutual information sharing among RTD parents who provided their children’s profiles and established an RTD+ display group to help parents solve problems and provide efficient matchmaking channels.
In addition to facilitating information exchange among parents in WeChat groups, another focus of our work is to help children establish offline friendship clubs in major cities/regions, reshaping the atmosphere of campus friendships and bringing children together to spark connections. So far, our online friendship clubs have more than 200 members, and 11 offline friendship clubs have nearly a thousand members, with dozens of children emerging as leaders. Since May last year, we have organized nearly a hundred offline activities, with nearly 60 children attending the most crowded event.
We sincerely thank the group leaders and volunteers for their dedication, as well as the enthusiastic participation and support of parents. Looking ahead, we are full of confidence. We wish the children in the group to find their ideal partners soon and tie the knot in the near future!
Various regional clubs have been gradually established, led by young volunteers, with voluntary assistance from parents in organizing offline activities. Here are some of the activities:
In the California region, organizing offline friendship clubs is as challenging as starting a startup, requiring joint efforts for success. The success rate of entrepreneurship in the United States is 1/10. Parents aim to be the successful 1 out of 10. Group leaders and parent volunteers collaborated to conduct experiments with a “divide and conquer” strategy, successfully establishing offline friendship clubs in the Bay Area within a month. The first event on July 23rd was hosted by a local enthusiastic mother who invited 20 single children to her home for a gathering, providing food and drinks, and ending with a group photo. The second event on August 20th was organized by the children’s leader Jason, who invited more than 30 children to Shoreline Lake Boathouse in Mountain View, California, for group chatting, pizza, kayaking, paddleboarding, and canoeing, all of which were enjoyed immensely. Subsequent outdoor friendship activities were held in November and December under the leadership of other children’s leaders, with around 32 and 24 children attending respectively. Currently, the friendship clubs in California are divided into Southern California and Northern California.
The Southern California Los Angeles Friendship Club held its first friendship event on September 17th in Irvine, CA. In October, an indoor rock climbing event was held, followed by an ice cream sharing session. The feedback from the children was positive, stating that having peers of the same age and background to interact with was a great experience. The latest activity was a hiking trip on December 17th (starting at 9 am, along La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove), where the entire route was flat pedestrian paths. We walked to the shallow beach of Shores to see starfish and touch sea urchins, which was a perfect spot for beautiful photos.
The New York ABC Social Club in the New York area held its third offline event! Time: Sunday, December 18th, 1 pm; Location: Walnut Grove Music Restaurant under the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan, limited to club members. According to feedback from volunteer organizers, the offline event in New York on Sunday was very successful. Everyone watched part of the World Cup live together. They all said that the environment at Walnut was excellent and they would like to come again in the future. From the photos, the boys looked handsome, and the girls looked beautiful. Activity photos were posted in the Facebook group for all members to see. Assisting organizing parents commented that the photos were really beautiful! They encouraged children to participate in more gatherings, as only those who attended the activities had the chance to meet so many handsome boys and beautiful girls.
The Boston New Boston Friendship Club held its first offline event on December 11th. The bowling party was a joyous occasion for the children, who had a great time chatting and are eagerly planning the next activity, followed by a hotpot dinner.
The Washington, DC Club includes the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Virginia areas. Three successful events have been held, with the highest attendance rate among children. The first event was held on November 8th at the US National Arboretum. After getting to know each other, the children toured the gardens and indoor bonsai exhibits, and then shared lunch in the lawn rest area. The second gathering was on October 29th in an activity room in a building on the west bank of the Potomac River. Everyone sat together, talked, got to know each other, and shared lunch. For the third event, a member in the DC area suggested a hike on the Billy Goat Trail on the 26th. Due to safety concerns and the possibility of bad weather this weekend, it is likely to be canceled. Another suggestion is indoor ice skating, which is still under consideration.
The Chicago Club has organized three activities and made dumplings together. The children interacted with each other freely and had good conversations.
New York parents spontaneously organized two activities. On Saturday, December 10th, twelve prospective in-laws from 11 families in New York gathered in Manhattan for a meeting, lasting about 4 hours. Prospective in-laws brought carefully prepared snacks and sincere intentions. Snacks included various handmade pastries and freshly ground soy milk in the morning. Some in-laws drove for more than two hours from Pennsylvania, while others came from overseas to see their children, dedicating time specifically for the gathering. Unlike the usual mothers’ meetings, three representatives attended this event. Everyone introduced their talented children and shared various feedback on our matchmaking platform. We need to continue our efforts to pass on parents’ enthusiasm to the children.
New Year’s Message: Parent Wendy first thanked the organizers and volunteers for their selfless dedication and contributions, allowing parents to have the opportunity to showcase our outstanding children on this special platform involving parents. For the common goal of our children’s future, we come together, and I cherish knowing all the parents in the group.
For parents interested in joining [the American Select Colleges ABC Alumni Dating Platform] to help their adult children find connections, please scan the QR code below.
2022年是美国名校ABC相亲平台迅速发展的一年。今年四月份，我们从MIT校友相亲群拓展到五校(麻哈耶斯普)相亲群。六月份又正式成立美国名校ABC相亲群，下设123456数字群(也称混合群)，学校扩大到23校，另加医/药/牙学生。八月份，我们再上一层楼，增加了北美留学生相亲系列，ABC相亲系列的学校扩大到100多所名校，并正式成立区域群，方便家长们在本地区帮孩子们相亲。
ABC相亲平台目前有11个区域群，汇集了三千多个有相亲需求的华裔家庭，有百名义工家长为大家提供各种自助式相亲服务。仅仅在RTD群，我们就成功地举办了17场相亲大会。分享了众多优秀儿女们在学业，事业和生活中取得的成就，以及对相亲的渴望。
我们的义工写作组发表了好多篇和相亲有关的文章，其中包括大受欢迎的【十问十答: ABC “♥️新相亲♥️”，有爹妈更放心】，义工们也撰写了近50个FAQ帮助群友答疑解惑。为了让家长们了解我们的相亲平台，我们在RTD群里组织过两次信息调查，让家长们了解群里孩子的地区、年龄和性别分布。感恩节之前，我们还让提供孩子资料的RTD家长们实现了互惠互利的信息共享。并增设了RTD+晒贴群，为家长们排忧解难，提供高效相亲途径。
除了让家长们在微信群里交流信息之外，我们的另一工作重点是帮助孩子们在各大城市/区域建立线下交友俱乐部，重塑校园交友的氛围，让孩子们聚到一起擦出火花。到目前为止，我们的线上交友俱乐部有200多位成员，11个线下交友俱乐部有近千位成员，涌现出几十多位孩子领头羊。去年5月份以来，我们已经举办了近百场线下活动，最多的一次来参加活动的孩子有近60人。
我们衷心地感谢群主们和义工们的爱心奉献，感谢家长们的热情参与和支持。展望未来，我们满怀信心。祝愿群里的孩子们早日找到自己心仪的另一半，在不久的将来喜结良缘！
各地区已经陆续建立俱乐部， 由年轻志愿者领衔，家长自愿者协助组织线下活动。以下是一部分活动内容：加州地区组织线下交友俱乐部就和创立startup 一样，需要靠大家一起努力才能成功。在美国创业成功的概率是1/10. 家长们以此为目标，做成功的1, 不做失败的9。群主们和家长义工们联手，用”各个击破”的战略先行做了试验，用了一个月时间，在湾区成功建立了线下交友俱乐部。七月二十三号的第一次活动由当地一位热心的妈妈邀请了20位单身孩子到她家里聚会相识，并提供了美食和饮料，最后孩子们还一起合影留念。八月二十号的第二次活动则由孩子领头羊Jason组织了30多位孩子到加州山景城的岸线湖船屋一起群聊，吃披萨，玩划艇、浆板和独木舟，大家玩得非常尽兴。之后十一月和十二月份在其它孩子领头羊的带领下又办了两次户外交友活动，分别有32和24位左右孩子参加。目前加州交友俱乐部分为南加和北加。
南加州洛杉矶交友俱乐部于九月十七日在Irvine, CA举办首次交友活动。十月份举行室内攀岩运动，分享冰激凌。孩子们反馈说能有同龄和背景的伙伴们一起交往，都是很好的活动。最近活动是爬山，十二月 十七日（ started out at 9am，along La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove）景点路线全程都是平坦的人行道。我们走到Shores的浅滩看海星，摸海胆，这里更是各位美女俊男必定要留下靓影的好地方。
纽约地区纽约ABC Social Club第三次线下活动！时间：12月18号周日下午1点；地点：曼哈顿中城帝国大厦下的胡桃里音乐餐厅，只限俱乐部成员。据义务组织者反馈，纽约周日的线下活动很成功。大家在一起看了一部分世界杯的直播。他们都说胡桃环境太好了，以后还想来。从照片上看，男生英俊，女生靓丽。活动照片在FB群里公布，成员都能看到。协助组织家长说照片真的非常好看！去参加活动才有机会见到这么多的帅哥美女，大家鼓励孩子多来参加聚会，只有参加活动的孩子们才有相互看对眼的机会。
波士顿地区新波士顿交友俱乐部线下活动在12月11日顺利举行。保龄球聚会孩子们玩得很开心快乐，谈的很投机，已经迫不及待地设计下一次的活动了，大家还一起去吃了火锅。
华盛顿特区华府俱乐部包括了费城，巴尔的摩，至弗吉尼亚地区。先后成功举办三次活动，孩子们参与率最高。第1次活动是11月8日在美国国家植物园 US National Arboretum。在互相认识和介绍以后，参观了园林和室内盆景，在草坪休息区，大家一起共享了午餐。第2次聚会是10月29日，在波托马克河西岸的一幢大楼里的活动室里举办的，大家坐在一起交谈，互相认识，共享午餐。第三次活动，DC地区有群员提议：26日在Billy Goat Trail 爬山。因担心安全问题，认为那地方有风险, 这周末天气不好，要下雪，估计会取消。另有提议是室内滑冰，具体还在待定中。
芝加哥地区俱乐部组织过三次活动，并一起动手包饺子。孩子们相互交流，放得开，聊得好。
纽约家长们自发组织了两次活动。12/10 星期六上午，纽约的来自11个家庭的12位亲家在曼哈顿聚会，时常大约4小时。亲家们带来精心准备的小吃和满满的诚意。小吃包括手工制作各式点心和早晨现磨豆浆。亲家有的专门开两个多小时车从PA赶来，有的从海外来看孩子，专门抽出时间来聚会。和惯常的妈妈聚会不同，这次有三位党代表参加。大家介绍了各家的牛娃和这些娃对我们相亲平台的种种反馈。我们需要继续努力，把家长的热忱传给孩子们。
新年寄语： 家长 Wendy首先感谢组织者和义工们的无私奉献和付出，让家长有这个机会在这特殊有父母参于的平台上展视我们优秀的孩子们。为了孩子们未来的共同目标，我们走到一起，我很珍惜认识群里所有的家长。随着时代和文化的变迁，由父母做主，媒人介绍，自由恋爱，到现在的网络主宰的相识，人与人之间的深度面对面交流越来越少，疫情更加恶化了这种现象。养育好孩子真的不容易，每个家长都付出了许多，现在孩子们学业有成了，选择合适的伴侣成了未来人生最重要的事情，这个相亲平台给孩子们一个相互认识的机会，他们能够接触到平常周边无法有机会相识的人，珍惜这种机会去结缘，家庭幸福比事业成功更重要，彼些都要真心努力付出和珍惜，才能得到别人的付出和珍惜。希望群里所有的孩子们，未来家庭生活幸福美满，那我们就尽到了做父母的职责了, 谢谢大家。
