Ridgewood June 12, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 9 Friends fund operations for Chinese orphans by John Koster Ridgewood’s Katy Wong and her friends -- Sophia Candrilli, Amanda deVera, Charlotte Pillow, and Mariya Bahrenburg – recently hosted a fundraiser to help pay for an operation for a Chinese orphan. The child was the third they have helped through a charitable effort they organized. Wong, who was the principal harpist for the New Jersey All State Youth Orchestra and is now the harpist for the New York Youth Symphony, last year led the founding of the Ridgewood High School chapter of Sophia Candrilli, Katy Wong, Amanda deVera, Charlotte Pillow, and Mariya Bahrenburg are the founding members of Ridgewood’s chapter of Half the Sky. Half the Sky, a charity that raises money for medical procedures for Chinese orphans. The organization has been in operation across the nation and around the world since 1998. Ridgewood’s Half the Sky club hosted a variety of school events and sales and raised money for two surgeries in Beijing, including one for XianJian, a boy from eastern China in need of hernia surgery and one for Chaofan, a boy in southern China born with glaucoma. During the 2012-13 school year, the Ridgewood Half the Sky group hosted a variety of events, including an Adoption Celebration at the Ridgewood Library, two musical benefit concerts, a gift-wrapping service at a local store during the holidays, a school prize giveaway featuring donated items, and many sales of baked goods at Ridgewood High School and Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Since Wong is a sophomore, the club is expected to be on-going in the future, bringing much-needed medical help to additional children.