Before leaving for a trip across China and Tibet in April, then 13-year-olds Olivia Price and Hannah Miller never thought it would be Tibetan orphans who would make the trip most memorable.

After returning home in May, Price and Miller felt they had to do something to help the kids at Dickey Orphanage in Lhasa, Tibet. So far the two have helped raise $3,500, and are starting a non-profit organization to keep the funds coming.

Price and Miller made the three-week trip in April as students at Evergreen School, a private k-8 school in Shoreline.

In China, the class visited historical sites like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. They rode bikes around the countryside. After a week touring China the class traveled to Tibet, where Price said the people were much more visibly poor.

"We saw tons of people begging on the streets," said Price. Their third day in Tibet, the students went to visit Dickey Orphanage.

Price was shocked by the bareness of the building that housed and fed 78 orphans, ranging in age from two to 14 years old. The building was just one story and enclosed a small brick courtyard. There were seven rooms for the orphans to sleep in, each with four bunkbeds. Many of the older orphans had to share a bed.

Mavis Tsai, a parent chaperone on the trip, said, "These children have none of the comforts that the kids I know take for granted."

The class spent over an hour at the orphanage. The orphans loved the superballs and stickers the students brought, said Price.

"I don't think they had any toys besides the ones we brought them, but they were still so happy," said Price.

The next day the students met the orphans at a park for a picnic. Miller was sick the day before, so it was there she got to meet the orphans for the first time.

As the students got ready to leave the orphans after playing some typical American playground games like duck-duck-goose, and ring-around-the-rosey, the two groups lined up facing each other to say goodbye.

"Their customary way of saying goodbye is to gently touch your cheeks with their hands and gaze into your eyes," said Tsai. "Quite frankly, they just stole our hearts."

A few weeks after getting back home, Price and Miller were talking about the orphanage, and how they wished there was something they could do to help. That's when they came up with the idea of having a bake sale, and Tibetfest was coming up.

At first, Price's and Miller's parents didn't take them seriously. Then the girls got down to work. The two planned all summer. They made brochures and posters. They determined the sale's overall costs and got things donated by local businesses.

Miller found contact information for the Tibetfest organizers on the Internet. After she told them about what she and Price wanted to do, the festival donated the booth space.

The two ended up with a lot of help.

Olivia's mother, Annee, did the baking and also helped publicize the fundraiser. Annee has owned a coffee shop, and has had plenty of experience with event planning through her marketing position with Microsoft.

Price's father helped with planning the bake sale and made sure they had everything they would need for it all to go off smoothly. Hannah's mother helped the girls set up. Friends helped sell their wares.

"As soon as I knew they were really going to take a lot of the onus on themselves," said Annee Price, "I had no problem-and Hannah's mom was the same way-jumping in and helping them where they needed help, because they're only 13 and they don't know everything."

At Tibetfest, selling cookies, baked breads, and cards with pictures of the orphans, they were able to raise $1,500.

With the help of other parents who went on the trip, Price and Miller have decided to start a non-profit organization, the Tibetan Orphan Fund, to keep raising money for Dickey Orphanage. Tsai talked to the other parent chaperones from the trip and has been able to collect $2,000 from them so far.

Miller said that once the idea got moving, it wasn't hard to get people to help.

"I think they wanted to help because as soon as you see the orphans' faces, you just fall in love with them, they're so cute, and they were so nice when we were there," said Miller.

Price and Miller were as affected by the orphanage's founder as they were by the orphans.

Dickey Orphanage was founded in 2002 by Tamdrin, previously a successful businessperson. A devout Buddhist, she had attended a speech by the Dalai Lama. He asked her to stay afterward, and then told her to open an orphanage for Tibetan orphans.

That's just what she did, with the equivalent of $36,000 of her own money.

Last year the orphanage received only $900 from the Chinese government. Occasional private contributions help feed and clothe the orphans otherwise. This leaves a lot wanting for the kids. For example, the kitchen used to feed all 78 orphans is small, and has only one stove with four burners. They also need a new electric water pump for their well.

"She is giving them so much," said Miller, "but she is doing it very little."

Right now, the fund's non-profit status is in the paperwork stage, but is accepting donations.

Price, now a 9th grader at Blanchett, said the experience has made her more compassionate.

"I just think it will get people aware about help needed in Tibet," said Price.

Miller, now a 9th grader at Lakeside, said meeting the orphans has made people's struggles much more real to her.

She said, "If you see pictures, and you watch it on TV, it's somewhere far away. You think maybe it's not really happening. But when you go there and you see people begging on the streets, and you see the Tibetan orphans and where they live, you really see how they live, what they go through every day. When you really see that, you understand."

For more information about the Tibetan Orphan Fund, visit their website at: www.tibetanorphanfund.org.