Hella Good lunar launch party celebrates KC’s rising Asian culture, bringing ancestors to the night market

Béty Lê Shackelford hopes Hella Good Deeds — the nonprofit sister organization of the popular Vietnamese coffee shop Cafe Cà Phê — makes members of Kansas City’s Asian community feel held and hugged, she said.

“Hella Good Deeds is here; we love you; and we’re really open to collaboration,” explained the founder and executive director of the nonprofit, which boasts a mission to elevate the growing presence of Asian culture in Kansas City.

A celebration of the organization’s efforts arrives 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25 at The Guild KC, 1621 Locust St. The official launch party coincides with the annual Lunar New Year Night Market.

Click here to register for the Hella Good Deeds Launch Party X 2nd Annual Lunar New Year Night Market.

Shackelford reflected on the first Cafe Cà Phê community outreach event, recalling a snapshot moment that resonated long after the gathering.

“My favorite (photo) is this little girl and her — I assume that’s her mom or her guardian — and (her sign) says, ‘Proud to be Asian,’” she said. “That’s not something I felt growing up and I love seeing the next generation have that sense of pride. Part of Hella Good Deeds is, ‘How do we take care and nurture that pride so it becomes inherent versus something I’m still learning to do?”

Jackie Nguyen, Cafe Cà Phê, and Béty Lê Shackelford, Hella Good Deeds; courtesy photo

Hella Good Deeds began in 2021 as the Community Outreach Program of Café Cà Phé in response to the Stop Asian Hate Movement that followed a 2021 Atlanta spa shooting, Shackelford explained. But last summer, organizers decided it was best for everyone to officially form a 501c3 nonprofit. 

“We learned that it’s not sustainable for Cafe Cà Phê as a business, or for community outreach, unless it became a nonprofit,” she said.

“I definitely want Cafe Cà Phê and Jackie (Nguyen) to be able to thrive and keep growing and I also want Hella Good Deeds to have a deeper impact on the community,” Shackelford added. “We are hoping as a 501c3 that we open ourselves up to more funding opportunities, so we can reach more people.”

Shackelford — who was previously Cafe Cà Phê’s community outreach coordinator and left her job as KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas’ campaign manager and political director to focus on the nonprofit — has known Nguyen, the founder of the coffee shop, since they were both in their twenties, she shared, when they were both performing together in Los Angeles.

“We’ve — not purposefully, very coincidentally — found ourselves landlocked in Kansas City and are passionate about the same things,” she explained. “So it’s really been beautiful to see how our relationship has grown organically from performers to organizers.”

Honor in amplification

Hella Good Deeds abides by three temples, Shackelford said: honoring their ancestors, descendants, and community.

“We honor our ancestors by celebrating them, the culture that they gave to us, and the language that they gave to us,” she explained, noting they do this through events like the Lunar New Year celebration, the Mid-Autumn Moon festival, and AANHPI Heritage Month celebrations.

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Béty Lê Shackelford, Hella Good Deeds; courtesy photo

Descendants are honored by amplifying their narrative and lived experience as Asians, Asian Americans, immigrants, refugees, residents, and adoptees, she continued.

“We really wanted to be intentional about including all the different sectors of the lived experience of being Asian because it’s so different,” Shackelford said. “I want to let our entire community know that regardless of your ancestors and your heritage, you belong. And we’re here to celebrate and be with you and hold your hand and hug you through anything that you want to learn and be a part of.”

The group honors the community by cultivating connection within the city’s Asian family, but also with the greater Kansas community at large through allies and education, Shackelford noted.

“The first event we ever did was in 2021,” she explained. “It ended up being roughly 500 people that showed up, which, to me, just showed me the need for this.”

This year, Hella Good Deeds plans to add events to celebrate Songkran New Year (Lao, Cambodian, and Thai New Year) in April and to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, she said.

“A lot of Vietnamese refugees, when they relocated, came to Columbus Park in Kansas City,” she explained. “So we just want to make sure that community feels seen by Kansas City and to honor that really traumatic time in their lives.”

The nonprofit also plans to host health fairs focusing on the older Asian generations and its Hella Growth Series events that address things like mental health, financial literacy, self defense, and business aid for the Asian community, she added.

An immersive Saturday night

Hella Good Deeds’ 2024 night market in the West Bottoms drew 1,100 people, Shackelford shared.

Saturday’s event is expected to feature a community altar, she said, so all community members — not just the Asian community — are encouraged to send in photos of their ancestors.

“I am gonna make them into these little magnets,” Shackelford continued. “The hope is, once we have a physical space, that we will always display these images because we want to honor our ancestors. Everything that we do is with them in mind and thanking them.”

2025 is the year of the snake, she noted, and attendees will be greeted at The Guild KC with a giant snake balloon installation by Up, Up and Away! Balloons. 

“So that you really get that sense of how important this snake is,” she added.

Also planned: lion dancing by Pho Hien Lion Dance Troupe, traditional Lunar New Year activities including Li Xi tree and lucky raffles, photo booths, food trucks, and performances by co-emcees actor/comedian Elizabeth Frances and singer/songwriter Richi Ramos, featuring DJ N.A.M. and DJ WilliWow, K-Pop Dance Group Ethereal, Bollywood Dance Group MI Square Dance Academy, and Kansas City’s Japanese Barbie Lana Luxx.

A kids activation area — sponsored by Foreign Language Academy’s Chinese Immersion Program — is planned for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with interactive cultural and heritage learning activities like making play-dough dumplings.

“I feel like this type of event is both for those in the community who have celebrated this event before and know what to expect,” she noted, “but also for our allies and supporters to bring them in and have it less be about education and more about experience.”

The night market will also feature around 30 small businesses.

“Unless you’ve been to a night market in Asia, it’s not something you can easily experience,” Shackelford said. “So how do we replicate that to give a taste of it in the Midwest?”

The launch party portion of the event will include a ribbon cutting ceremony for Hella Good Deeds.

“I’m excited to share a collective celebratory toast and be like, ‘We’re here and we want to amplify, elevate, and support however we can,’ knowing that we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Shackelford said. “There are other nonprofits in the community who are serving the Asian community, and my goal is to bring us all together and see how we can pool our resources to really be there for each other.”