The Square and Circle Club was founded in 1924 in San Francisco Chinatown by seven young women to aid flood and famine victims in China. The Club’s first benefit that year was a dance featuring jazz music that raised $250 net. From that time on and to this day, the Club has continued its tradition of supporting and caring for the needs of the community. The Club has grown and evolved through the years into a multi-tasking philanthropic organization.
After 1924, Square and Circle Club’s international philanthropy continued in 1926 with its annual Benefit Hope Chest Raffle to aid Chinese flood victims again. Below is a list of more recent international aid given to the victims of the:
- 2008 Sichuan earthquake
- 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami
- 2015 Nepal earthquake
Locally, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Club has held fund-raisers in the form of dances, variety and fashion shows, carnivals, raffles, and rummage sales to support and raise money for the Chung Mei Home for Chinese Boys, the Ming Quong Home for Chinese girls, and various tutorial programs in Chinatown. The following is a partial list of organizations that the Club has recently supported:
- Angel Island Immigration Station
- Asian Women’s Shelter
- Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center
- Chinatown YMCA and YWCA
- Chinese Hospital
- City College of San Francisco, Chinatown/North Beach Campus.
- Chinese Education Center
- Chinese Historical Society of America
- Gum Moon Women’s Residence
- In Search of Roots Program, Chinese Culture Foundation
- Laguna Honda Hospital
- On Lok Senior Citizens Health Services
- Self-Help for the Elderly