Join us next week with Susan Blumberg-Kason as she discusses her book “When Friends Come From Afar: The Remarkable Story of Bernie Wong and Chicago’s Chinese American Service League.” The afternoon will feature a conversation with longtime civic leader CW Chan, moderated by Grace Chan McKibben, Executive Director of CBCAC. At once intimate and broad in scope, this book traces one woman’s life to reveal the story of a vital Chicago institution.
📅 Saturday, August 2, 2025, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
📍CAMOC FL4, 238 W 23rd St, Chicago, IL 60616
Born in Hong Kong, Bernie Wong moved to the United States in the early 1960s to attend college. A decade later, she cofounded the Chinese American Service League (CASL) to help meet the needs of the city’s isolated Chinese immigrants. Susan Blumberg-Kason draws on extensive interviews to profile the community and social justice organization. Weaving Wong’s intimate account of her own life story through the CASL’s larger history, Blumberg-Kason follows the group from its origins to its emergence as a robust social network that connects Chinatown residents to everything from daycare to immigration services to culinary education. Blumberg-Kason also traces CASL activism on issues like fair housing and violence against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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📝 Susan Blumberg-Kason (@susanbkason) is the author of When Friends Come From Afar (2024 Zibby Awards winner) and Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon (2023 Zibby Awards finalist). A regular contributor to Asian Review of Books, Cha, and World Literature Today, her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and PopMatters.
🏅Grace Chan McKibben (@grace4mom) is Executive Director of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (@cbcacchicago), focusing on civic education and leadership in Chicago’s Chinatown. With a background in higher ed, government, and policy, she has earned honors including the University of Chicago Alumni Diversity Award, the Mayor’s Medal of Honor, and Crain’s 2025 Notable Leaders in Philanthropy.
📢 CW Chan 陳增華 is a retired entrepreneur and longtime civic leader with over 50 years of service to Chicago’s Chinese American community. He founded or led major organizations including CASL (@caslmedia), the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce (@chinatownchamber), and CBCAC. His leadership has advanced civic engagement and helped make Chicago’s Chinatown one of the most thriving in North America.
