Send the Mills Dragon Team to the 2025 SF CNY Parade!
Donation protected
We’re requesting your financial support for the Mills Dragon Team. The Mills Dragon Team was on hiatus from 2020 to 2023 due to COVID-19, with our last performance in the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade in February 2020, right before the world shut down! Since then, an entire generation has passed at Mills without the opportunity to participate in the Dragon until it was recently revived in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Since then, Wayne Phillips (former Faculty Advisor) has finally (fully) retired, which is why we’re specifically asking for your support. In the past, Mr. Phillips largely funded the Dragon team operations out of his own pocket, which to our analysis, was at least $15,000 a year. All of which we have to raise this year. The major cost drivers now are:
- facilities fees for the team to practice on the weekend (in order to train a brand new team, we’re looking to start practice starting fall semester, ~$3000 for the year)
- transportation costs to bring the dragon and students to San Francisco (at least $4000 before the dinner Mr. Phillips usually throws in is included)
- repairs and updates on the outdated equipment (~$2000-4000)
The school, Millbrae Lions Club, Millbrae Community Foundation, and the Millbrae Cultural Committee have contributed generous grants, but we’re still facing a $5000 shortfall to attend the parade. We’re asking for however much you can contribute to ensure this unique experience lives on for future generations and help shoulder the tradition Mr. Phillips has kept alive for over 20 years. For transparency, all of the coaches and faculty are working on a volunteer basis, and any funds not used in this year’s SF parade will be held by Mills for the team to use in future years.
We plan to send a newsletter at the end of the 2025 academic year with updates on the dragon and the parade's success! If you're not stoked to use this site but still want to give, you can write a check to the Mills High School ℅ Mills Dragon Team and drop it off or mail it to the Mills High School front office.
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. Please share this fundraiser widely with your friends and family; every dollar counts to bring this new generation to the SF Parade!
Sincerely,
Mills Dragon Team 2024-2025 Leadership
Coby Chen ‘26, Co-Captain
Don Huang ‘26, Co-Captain
Kelly Deng ‘26, Co-Captain
Mitchell Ng ‘26, Co-Captain
Erick Lee ‘01, Coach
Kaitlin Chin ‘09, Coach
Nick Ueng ‘13, Coach
Kali Chong, Faculty Advisor
Organizer
Nicholas Ueng
Organizer
Millbrae, CA