An Asian community center in Aurora was vandalized. In less than a week, the community tripled its repairs fundraising campaign goal

Shattered glass and broken pots littered the inside of Happy Living Adult Daycare center in the early morning hours of Sept. 22.

Staff at the center known for serving Asian elders in the community watched as Aurora police officers swept through the building with their guns drawn. The alleged perpetrator was gone. He had shattered the center’s windows and street sign.

“It’s just been so emotional the last week trying to figure out what to do and what makes sense,” said Annie Guo VanDan, president of Asian Avenue Magazine and Happy Living Adult Daycare’s program manager.

Repairing the center was going to cost thousands of dollars, according to VanDan. Though she and other center workers were wary of asking for help due to concerns of drawing more attention to the incident, they set up a GoFundMe campaign with the help of another Asian community nonprofit.

A week after launching, the campaign has more than tripled the $3,000 goal for repairs.

“Within 24 hours we were at $6,000,” VanDan said. “We’ve come out feeling more uplifted and empowered than before.”

VanDan’s mother, Christina Yutai Guo, is the owner and founder of the Happy Living Adult Daycare center. It originally opened in 2016 inside Aurora’s Great Wall Supermarket before re-opening in February 2022, taking over what used to be a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant.

The space houses five Asian-serving organizations: Happy Living Adult Daycare, Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network, Asian Avenue Magazine, Mile High Asian Media and Rocky Mountain Chinese Weekly.

“A lot of times individuals or organizations who don’t have funding, we provide the space for free,” VanDan…