In order to help these children, the Bay Area Asian Unity, a student organization founded by student Mingbo Gong, in July 2008, with 30-member high schools in the US, decided to make and sell T-shirts to raise money to assist these earthquake orphans and to raise earthquake disaster awareness. To do this, Mingbo Gong borrowed $3,500 from local families and the Pinewood School to make over four hundred "5/12 China Earthquake Relief" T-shits which sell for $10 each. The BAAU organization is selling these T-shirts at 9 local high schools: Los Altos HS, Mountain View HS, Pinewood School, Los Gatos HS, Saratoga HS, Mission San Jose HS, Irvington HS, Homestead HS, Monta Vista HS, and Gunn HS in the San Francisco bay area. In addition, many student volunteers are also selling the shirts at their local communities.

When Mingbo Gong was asked why he takes on such an overwhelming task, he responded: "As an international student, I know how it feels to live without parents. But for me, I know my parents are in China, and I will be able to meet them when I go back. What about those children who lost their parents during the earthquake? They will never ever meet their parents again, and they will never know what it is like to be with parents."