From the New York Times,  a heart-warming article about Yao Ming and his continued outreach with the earthquake-devastated areas of the Sichuan province in China.

The earthquake which measured a deadly 8.0, occurred May 12, 2008 and by the official count, killed nearly 70,000 people, with another 20,000 missing. Many of which were children trapped in schools.

Since then, Yao has donated over $2 million dollars and  built a foundation dedicated to building awareness,  rebuilding schools that were damaged, and helping find shelter for homeless children.

NBA stars Steve Nash, Baron Davis, Greg Oden, Raymond Felton, Andris Biedrins, Marko Jaric and Marcus Williams along with WNBA player Diana Taurasi have made donations to the foundation.

“We have a long way to go to create a new place for the people who don’t have a place to stay right now,” Yao said. Yao has also filmed public service television announcements through the Red Cross for the relief efforts, and led the Coca-Cola 600 crowd (NASCAR) in a moment of silence for China‘s victims.

So after training, participating and carrying the flag in the opening ceremonies for China in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Yao spent significant time in September 2008 in the most devastated areas of the province.  Yao helped to passs out books, played games, and tried to keep hope alive for all his displaced people.

After hearing all about the widespread damage with buildings and schools in complete ruins, thousands of deaths, seeing it in person was still eye-opening for the 7-6 giant, “Ten times worse than I expected,” Yao said. “Shocking. It is very hard to put into words how difficult it is to see this kind of destruction.  My thoughts and actions are now focused on helping to rebuild the schools that were destroyed in this tragedy and I hope that others around the world will join in our efforts.”

One N.B.A. Star and 150 Bridges to Sichuan
Last week, Yao visited with many of the Earthquake survivors in New York.  Among them was Mu Zinjian, whom lost eighteen relatives in the disaster including his grandfather and brother.

Mu was amongst 150 students that were selected for a program called SUNY China 150.  Following New York Gov. David A. Paterson trip to New York City’s Chinatown to learn about the earthquake, he committed the state’s university system to further improve its long contact with China.

And the Houston Rocket center’s contributions have inspired, “I love Yao Ming,” said Mu.“(Yao is) humorous, he tells jokes better now. He’s a very good person. He’s a very good symbol.  He gives us confidence,” Mu said. “He was the only yellow man in the N.B.A., the only Asian. The league is mostly African-American, and he showed us that an Asian man can play there, too.”

“No. 1 right now is to save people’s lives,” Yao said. “It’s more than just the money.”

Links and Resources: Yao to donate money, create foundation to aid earthquake victims (ESPN), Yao Ming determined to help people in China’s earthquake tragedy (IHT), One N.B.A. Star and 150 Bridges to Sichuan (New York Times),