Silent Auction Donation for Wang YMCA 2024 Gala

110 Years in Red and Gold: Art, Community, and the Spirit of Chinatown

In November 2024, a vibrant artwork titled 110 Years in Red and Gold was donated to the Wang YMCA Annual Galaand featured in the evening’s silent auction. More than a beautiful piece for the wall, this artwork became part of something larger: a celebration of community, belonging, health, culture, and hope.

The piece carries the colors of Chinatown with pride. Red moves through the piece like celebration, courage, and good fortune. Gold rises beside it like memory, dignity, and legacy. Against a bright white ground, the composition feels open and full of possibility, honoring the Wang YMCA’s long history while looking toward the future with warmth and optimism.

The artwork was created as a tribute to 110 years of service, resilience, and community connection. Its abstract forms suggest lanterns, pagoda shapes, movement, gathering, and the living rhythm of Chinatown. The art feels joyful and energetic, but also deeply human. It reminds us that community is not built in a single moment. It is built over time, through struggle, generosity, healing, welcome, and care.

Funds raised through the silent auction helped support the programs and operations of the Wang YMCA, including life-changing initiatives such as the Cancer Survivorship Program and Membership for All, which helps individuals and families with limited income access the YMCA. These programs allow people to engage in healthy activities, build strength, reduce isolation, and find support during challenging chapters of life.

For people living with chronic illness, recovering from cancer, facing financial hardship, or seeking a safe and welcoming place to belong, the YMCA can become more than a fitness center. It can become a doorway back to confidence. A place where healing has room to breathe. A place where culture, wellness, and community meet under one roof.

In 2025, the Wang YMCA continued to welcome newcomers and serve people from many backgrounds, including those from diverse cultures, low-income households, and communities facing barriers to wellness. The support generated through the gala helped sustain this work, ensuring that more people could walk through the doors and feel seen, supported, and included.

110 Years in Red and Gold reflects that mission beautifully. It is a piece about endurance, but also about welcome. It holds the energy of a neighborhood that continues to grow, adapt, and shine. Its red and gold tones are not just decorative. They are symbolic: red for passion, strength, and life; gold for pride, gratitude, and the richness of shared history.

At its heart, this artwork reminds us that legacy is not only what we inherit. Legacy is what we choose to carry forward.

Through art, generosity, and community partnership, the Wang YMCA Gala transformed a single canvas into a source of support for many. And in that way, 110 Years in Red and Gold became more than an artwork. It became a bright thread in the ongoing story of Chinatown, the YMCA, and the people whose lives continue to be strengthened by both.

A canvas can hold color.
A community can hold hope.
Together, they can help light the way forward.