A Celebration of All-Things-English: St. George's Day Charity Dinner and Care for Children

For the last three years, St. George’s Day Charity Dinner has donated proceeds to English charity Care for Children, a charity that works to place orphaned children in families. We spoke with Martin Budzinski, co-founder of the Dinner, and Robert Glover, CEO of Care for Children, about eating and laughing for a good cause.

Just to clarify for all those non-Brits out there – what is St. George’s Day?
RG: We actually have to educate some of the Brits as well.
MB: The national day of England (as well as other countries). Our dinner is a celebration to publicize the holiday in England rather than group us in amongst the Brits.

Do you set off any fireworks?
MB: Nope. We typically just wear red roses and wave St. George’s flag around.

So how’d this dinner get started?
MB: A group of us were sitting at the Irish Ball wondering why we’d been to Irish, Scottish, British and Welsh events, but had never attended anything in Beijing organized by the English. And as St. George’s is now a celebration of all-things English, we decided to form a network to promote it. Three years ago, we decided to grow the Dinner as a vehicle to support charities as well. We’ve been honored to work with Care for Children.

What does “a celebration of all-things English” entail?
MB: We’ve invited the British school choir to sing typically English songs, and two English comedians to emphasize what being English is all about – wit and a sense of humor, amongst other things. As for refreshments, we’ll have Pimm’s, gin and tonics and a five-course dinner prepared by English chefs at the Westin Chaoyang.

English cuisine doesn’t have the best reputation.
MB: You’ll be surprised – the quality of English food is far better than the publicity it gets.

Fair enough. Why else should we attend?
RG: By going to St. George’s, you’re doing good for the community. I think everyone’s here for various reasons. A lot of people are here because they’re making money or furthering their career. But we’re all getting something from China, and we all have an obligation to give back. There’s no better way to do that than to help orphan children, some of the most disadvantaged people on this planet. We believe the best gift you can give an orphan child is a family. What we see when children get families is a holistic change in their life.

The story I always share is about a girl in Chengdu with a hole in her heart. She was very, very weak and probably would’ve died. We were asked to place her with a family. Later we went back and she was a picture of health. Her parents – you should’ve seen the attachment between her and her mother. The girl was practicing her ballet in the hospital. Everyone said it was amazing that she’d improved so much. We called the doctor to do some tests on her heart in preparation for her operation. The doctor came out, wiping tears from his eyes and saying, “I can’t explain it, but her heart has healed itself.” It became a huge story – a broken heart healed by the love of a mother.

That’s why you should come to St. George’s Dinner. We need more stories like that.

Tell us more about Care for Children.
RG: What we’re doing with USD 10 is placing a child in the family – and that’s the best USD 10 that anyone can ever give. When a children gains a family, he’s also gaining a sense of identity, community, love, value – everything that a person needs to grow up to become a decent adult. I think we blame institutions for creating dysfunctional, dependent people, but in the end, every little boy and every little girl needs someone special to take care of them. There are thousands of children in China who still need mothers and fathers.

What we like about St. George’s is that they’ve stuck the term for three years, which helps to develop a project. I’m very critical of the ones who give for one year – they start a project and get us the funding, and then the funding is taken away and it’s hard to continue.

Can we go even if we’re not English?
MB: Absolutely. We’re not Scottish, Irish or Welsh – come and find out what we really are.
RG: Yes, come and experience English culture. Does anyone know what it is? The only thing anyone really knows about England is the football team. What else? Oh, and the Queen.

Get your limey on at the St. George’s Day Charity Dinner on Apr 23 at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang. Purchase tickets now at the Lehman Brown offices (Selina Li), Pomme O'Sheas (John) or the Westin Beijing Chaoyang (Vivian Cang). If you have any questions, you can email selinali@lehmanbrown.com or peter.butterworth@ahkgroup.com.