Charity boost for island residents in need
Residents in need who live in Chongming District received over 4 million yuan (US$620,000) worth of items and cash over the weekend thanks to an annual charity event.
The annual “Greatest Love under the Sky” event is organized by Shanghai Charity Foundation in cooperation with six other social and government partners.
Chongming District, which comprises Chongming, Changxing and Hengsha islands, is one of the lowest-income districts in Shanghai.
Residents in need, including elderly and disabled people, received items that included food, wheelchairs and furniture as well as cash.
Chongming residents pick up charity goods at Chongming District Cultural Center on Saturday morning.
On a ceremony on Saturday, two companies donated about 350,000 yuan worth of rice and cotton slippers to Shanghai Charity Foundation which will distribute the goods to people in need in future programs.
Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, 3.74 million yuan was collected in an annual charity auction of Chinese art held at Longhua Temple which was organized by Shanghai Charity Foundation.
The money will be donated to charity programs that fund cataract operations for elderly people and treatment of congenital heart diseases for children, according to the foundation.
Also, Red Cross Shanghai announced that it will distribute 10 million yuan of goods and cash this year to 20,000 cancer patients, people disabled by leprosy, mental disease patients as well as people and families living in poverty due to accidents or diseases.
In the past 18 years, the society has provided 220 million yuan worth of goods and cash to 380,000 people of above categories, it said.
