AFICC News and Updates

Event Thank You’s

Summer and Fall brought us many opportunities to connect with our supporters and new friends at several events. Thank you to those who supported AFICC to make the June Race Against Time Gala and the October Walk the Wall a success! Thank you to Rotary President Chen Ni and the Kearny Mesa Rotary Club in San Diego for hosting a day to celebrate ICC’s work and for supporting Walk the Wall!

We were excited to partner with RODS (Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome) in their Down Syndrome Awareness Campaign. RODS works to raise funds for adoption grants, and several of our ICC waiting children have RODS grants! Thank you, RODS, for raising awareness and providing financial support so children can have families.

As we look to 2022, if you have interest in serving on one of our event committees, please reach out to robin.dunn@chinaconcern.org (Gala/Events) or tiffany.nangle@chinaconcern.org (Walk the Wall).

Lord's Grace Community Church after their Walk the Wall on Oct 3

Lord’s Grace Community Church Recognition

Lord’s Grace Christian Church (LGCC) in Mountain View, California, has been a faith partner to ICC and our Walk the Wall events. Since 2014, LGCC has been hosting Walk the Wall, making it possible for our community in the Bay Area to have a welcoming place to walk and support ICC. Each year LGCC Children’s Ministry raises funds during their Vacation Bible School to sponsor HengBo, a child in our care. Their love of ICC and its mission radiates in all they do as a church family. This year Robin Dunn, AFICC Executive Director, honored LGCC on October 3rd at their Walk the Wall event with a plaque.

Karen Norman New FPP China Manager

Karen Norman, who has been a long- term ICC International Volunteer, has

accepted the new role as our Family Partners Program China Manager. She

will work closely with David Bondy, FPP Program Director, and the managers of our two FPP centers in Changsha.

Karen’s experiences within ICC are an asset! She has held leadership roles

within the Long Term Volunteer team, and has extensive experience working

with children in our Care Centers.

ICC has been invited to expand our Family Partner’s Program (FPP) within Hunan Province—potentially serving 7000 families! This new role will give us a solid foundation for our expected growth. We now have 3 Cross Care teams with a fourth team coming soon! Our FPP Centers in Kaifu district and in the newly renovated Lighthouse building are also both growing. We are excited that Karen will be helping lead the way in addition to her Changsha Project Liaison role!

Kay Ekstrom - New AFICC Board Member

We are excited to welcome Kay Ekstrom to AFICC’s Board. Kay brings a wealth of experience in Non-Profit leadership! She is the founding member of the National Association of Christian Child and Family Agencies and served as the Association’s

Executive Director. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Action Alliance, Steps of Faith and Adoptive Families Coalition. Kay’s passion for children stems from her own experiences as a foster and adoptive parent. Kay and her husband Chuck, who passed away in 2016, have four daughters, three sons, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Kay resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Thank you Kay for joining the ICC Family—we are thankful for your giftedness and passion for children!

Bryan Klein - New AFICC Board Member

Bryan Klein is currently a Research Director at Gartner Inc., focusing on Quality and Supply Chain Management. Prior to joining Gartner, Mr. Klein worked in a variety of industries while living in China, Africa and North America, helping companies establish systems and processes to increase performance and efficiencies.

Most recently, Bryan directed a nonprofit malnutrition initiative in Southeast Africa that manufactured fortified peanut-butter for malnourished children. Some of Mr. Klein’s previous work experience includes the International Crisis Group in Beijing, China and Spire Research & Consulting in Shanghai, China. Bryan studied international affairs at Georgetown University, focusing on US-China relations, and at Fudan University, receiving a Masters in International Politics.

Hong Zhang - New AFICC Board Member

Dr. Zhang has been working in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years. She has extensive experience on preclinical drug development for anti-cancer therapies, starting from early-stage research, project initiation, all the way down to late-stage toxicology evaluation. She has led and participated in multiple projects which have successfully advanced into clinical trials, including both small molecules and biotherapeutics. She published numerous papers in world top journals and presented at various international meetings. Recently, she has been focusing on the development of COVID-19 treatment since the outbreak of the pandemic. She joined Sorrento Therapeutics in 2013 and is currently an Executive director of Toxicology and ADC drug development. Before that, she worked at Biogen Idec, Conforma Therapeutics and Dupont Pharmaceuticals.Dr. Zhang received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Pittsburgh. She did her post-doctoral research at the Burnham Institute in San Diego.