Meet Christina Cheng-Patel | Mother, Collaborator, Nonprofit Founder and Researcher (mostly in that order)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christina Cheng-Patel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I don’t have a business per se but I do have a 501c3 nonprofit charity organization and I appreciate this opportunity to share about it. I have volunteered just about my entire teen and adult life. When I had my boys, I wanted to share the joy and responsibility to serve others with them but I found that oftentimes, those opportunities were not a good fit for us. The boys were either too young to volunteer or the times available didn’t fit my work schedule or their school schedule or for one reason or another, it just didn’t work out. Then it occurred to me that we didn’t need some predetermined guidelines to help and we didn’t need arbitrary conditions to serve. There is no set age limits or times or monetary requirements. We just needed to start somewhere somehow. We could simply just help when we could at the capacity that we are able. We could start something ourselves and serve directly. And that is exactly what we did. 9 years ago when my oldest asked how he could help children at the shelter I was volunteering at the time, we decided to try to host our own event and make it a family tradition each year if we could. I reached out to our local shelter to inquire if we as a family could host an event for their resident families. We were not an organization at that time so it was a bit awkward to explain but thankfully the shelter obliged and we have been hosting our Holiday Outreach event there each year since. Our Neighbor Outreach started 4 years ago when my other son wanted to give a gentleman a bottle of water. It has transformed into our weekly outreach program where we feed, clothe, and provide essentials to our unsheltered. We started with just a few bottles of water and snacks loaded in a wagon, pulled by my boys and now we serve 60-130 each and every week or more. My oldest loves basketball so we recently held our first free youth basketball mini camp and we will host our second this November. I was serving with my kids for years. One day, we ran into a wonderful nonprofit while serving and the founder and I connected right away. She encouraged me for months to file for our own nonprofit and that was the push I needed to finally do it. Our nonprofit, Under My Umbrella, is proof that an idea can be realized and that an initiative’s impact can be exponential if we build a solid mindful foundation, surround it with structure and perseverance, and work with an adaptive mindset and in collaboration with others.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I do work a regular professional job and my nonprofit is something I do in my spare time even though it is another full time job so it keeps me quite busy. I like to say that Under My Umbrella is small but mighty. We have no storage, no big equipment, no operating budget, no paid staff, no professional anything. Avi, our 13 year old co-founder created our website. Ishaan, our 16 year old co-founder helps me with the monthly newsletter that we create using a free version of Canva. We do everything in house, literally, in our house. But that also means that we have no overhead at all so every cent goes directly towards mindful outreach efforts. When the boys have a break between their chores or homework, they help prep for distributions or sort donations. I often do the administrative aspect of our nonprofit like emails and posts during my downtime or while waiting to pick the boys up from school or waiting in line somewhere. Efficiency is key to making this all run smoothly and being able to do what we feel is important work with the limited resources we have.

What I am proud of is when I see how our community comes together from all corners to help…from the person who has collected plastic take-out utensils, to our volunteer who picks up donations for us monthly, to our community business partners, to the senior who makes mini ornaments for our Holiday Outreach, to the youth groups who decorate brown paper bags that we use to put our shelf-stable meals, to our donors who contribute monetarily, to those who share our posts/information, to those who advocate on our behalf…each contribution is vital to UMU’s operations. I am thrilled when someone wants to help and I always ask them how they’d like to help and what ideas they have because that’s what UMU is about. There is no template. We are adaptable and we want to be inclusive of everyone who would like to volunteer so if we don’t have a way yet that fits someone’s circumstances, we will work together to create one. I think that’s what I want people to take away from UMU…absolutely every one can make a difference, we just need to figure out the how. That’s how we got started and that is full circle for us when we can find creative and effective ways for someone new to get involved in outreach.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Dallas is incredibly diverse…from the food to the culture. I would suggest to take a tour of all parts of DFW and try the hidden gems and the little mom and pop shops.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout is dedicated to my sons. I have the honor of teaching them and learning with them. I have seen them grow with our outreach and now that they are older, I am proud to see them take on more leadership responsibilities within our organization. I always say that they keep me tethered to this world because they remind me of the good in it. They have inspired and motivated me to be a better version of myself and I hope that they know what a gift they are not just to me but to our collective future.

Website: www.under-my-umbrella.org

Instagram: under_my_umbrella_dfw

Facebook: UnderMyUmbrellaDFW

Other: Email: UnderMyUmbrellaDFW@gmail.com