China's orphans.

"I love kids," said Michele, who lives near Yardley. "I want to be involved."

Michele (pronounced "Mick-a-lee") is not Chinese. Nor are his children. But the import-export executive has a relationship with Asia that reaches back to his days as a soldier in Vietnam.

Today he is the Philadelphia-area volunteer for Half the Sky, one of a very few Western charities permitted to operate inside China's vast system of state-run orphanages. With parts of southwest China wrecked by the earthquake, Half the Sky officials say, aid workers have been unable to reach four orphanages near the epicenter and the fate of 400 children in those institutions is unknown.

The 7.9-magnitude quake in Sichuan province beginning at 2:28 p.m. Monday destroyed buildings, bridges, roads and schools. At least 15,000 people are dead, with thousands more missing, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The quake began in the farmlands of Wenchuan County, knocked out power 60 miles away in the provincial capital of Chengdu, and made buildings sway in Beijing.

Lou Yi, an editor at Caijing magazine and a former visiting journalist at The Inquirer, wrote in an e-mail that her parents ran from their Chengdu home as the quake began, then spent the night in their car. They joined millions forced onto the streets by fear of deadly aftershocks in a city best known as the home of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base.

In Philadelphia, the Chinatown neighborhood, often riven by politics and old-country disputes, is uniting to organize a fund-raising effort that will continue at least through the weekend. Community leaders have collected more than $20,000 in checks and pledges. One woman, real estate agent Mei Ren, pledged $5,000.

Traditionally, most immigrants to Chinatown came from southern China, near Guangzhou. More recently the community has been dominated by newcomers from Fujian province, far from the disaster in Sichuan.

"I don't think people are feeling like, 'Oh, they are a thousand miles from my hometown,' " said Steven Zhu, head of the Fujian Association of Greater Philadelphia. "People want to help. The whole Chinatown, people from the north to the south, want to do this for Sichuan."

The plan is to send volunteers door to door to collect money from homes, businesses and restaurants, Zhu said. On Saturday, collection areas will be set up at the Asian American Heritage Month celebration, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Franklin Square.

Donations can also be sent to the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund in care of the Conestoga Bank branch in Chinatown, 1032 Arch St., Philadelphia 19107.

Chinatown leaders plan to forward sums to the Red Cross Society of China, dedicating a portion to help school-age children.

"I think the money will keep coming," said Gene Wong, general secretary for the Chinese Community Council in Chinatown. "Time is very urgent."

Half the Sky (HTS) is a 10-year-old California-based charity that provides love and education to children, almost all of them girls, living in Chinese orphanages. In China, daughters are often abandoned as a result of the one-child birth-planning policy and the cultural preference for sons.

Michele travels to China and Asia four times a year for his businesses, Compass Imports International, which specializes in costume jewelry, and Retail Consults, which helps firms set up operations overseas. His interest in helping Asian children, he said, goes back to a day in Vietnam when, as an Army communications specialist, he came upon a Catholic orphanage ruined by fire.

"That was my life from that day on," he said. "That was my passion."

At bingo games at Holy Redeemer church in Chinatown, it's Michele calling out the numbers. At Christmas, he's the guy strolling the neighborhood in a Santa Claus suit.

The father of three grown children speaks some Mandarin and some Vietnamese. He has been involved with the March of Dimes, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and other charities. He learned of HTS 18 months ago and signed on as a regular volunteer, crucial to an agency that depends on unpaid help to raise awareness and money.

When powerful snowstorms hit China last winter, Michele persuaded HTS to depart from its normal operations and undertake a one-time collection of children's winter coats.

"He's incredibly passionate, energetic, hardworking, just a great guy who really wants to help the kids," said Patricia King, a HTS spokeswoman. "We're very lucky to have him."

HTS has no confirmed reports of children in orphanages being killed or injured, though it operates in only a fraction of China's institutions. Children in the Chengdu orphanage have been evacuated because of damage to the building.

Yesterday, Michele helped spread word that HTS had set up a children's earthquake fund, accepting donations to pay for emergency shelter, food and medical care for any children orphaned or separated from their families.

"It's all happening very quickly," Michele said. "It's amazing how many people donate and want to help."

Where to Give

Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund, care of Conestoga Bank in Chinatown, 1032

Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19107. Also, Half the Sky's Children's Earthquake Fund at www.halfthesky.org or 510-525-3377.