Orphans from more than 10,000 families who have lost parents to
AIDS will each receive annual stipends of 1,000 yuan (US$130) from
the Children's Foundation of China next year, the foundation's
deputy head said.
The foundation will be collecting donations during its annual
Charity Days for Chinese Children campaign, which starts next week
and will run through the end of the year.
This year's will be the sixth campaign. The foundation collected
more than 600 million yuan (US$78 million) in years past.
"Our immediate goal is to offer financial aid to more than
10,000 orphans whose parents died of AIDS. We also want to help
1,000 needy students finish high school, arrange for 1,000 poor
schoolgirls to receive job training and provide treatment to 1,000
children who are suffering from amblyopia (lazy eye)," Cheng
Shuqin, vice-director of the foundation, said during a press
conference for the campaign.
The foundation will also use the donations to set up 100
boarding schools, 1,000 music and dancing classrooms, 1,000
community libraries and 1,000 community moral education centers in
poor areas.
"We expect to raise more than 100 million yuan this year," Zhang
Ying, director of the Guangzhou Office of the Children's Foundation
of China, told China Daily.
On December 1, World AIDS Day, the foundation will collaborate
with the All-China Women's Federation and Ministry of Health to
collect donations for orphans.
(China Daily June 28, 2007)