Traditional winter charity month to warm hearts

The 27th edition of the city’s annual year-end charity campaign “The Greatest Love under the Blue Sky” will be held from December 19 to January 23, the Shanghai Charity Foundation said on Friday.

The city’s major charity foundations and volunteer organizations will hold 336 events around the city during the charity month, with the elderly population, disabled people and people living in rural areas the focus.

Shanghai Foundation for Elderly People said the poverty relief action in rural areas will expand to Jinshan, Qingpu, Fengxian, Songjiang districts and the Pudong New Area from Chongming District this year, with cash and materials worth about 4 million yuan (US$611,620) ready to be distributed.

Shanghai Disabled People’s Welfare Foundation said it has planned several programs with funds and materials worth 6.2 million yuan for the city’s disabled people in need.

A total of 180 families with disabled people from nine Shanghai districts will receive help worth 450,000 yuan, while a nine-month program will be launched later this month to help unemployed disabled people learn traditional Chinese art skills from masters.

To help physically disabled people live a better-quality life, the foundation has been cooperating with a tech company to provide them with smart supportive devices. So far, 25 people have received smart arms which can make 30 movements, and 29 paralyzed people have received smart mobility tools.

Also, in cooperation with a number of companies, the foundation will help mentally challenged people learn to create certain products and donate them.

The Red Cross Society of China Shanghai branch said it has prepared over 10 million yuan to help families in need, while over 460,000 families in Shanghai have been helped with over 277 million yuan since 1999.

Also, the organization said it will continue to support the city’s leprosy patients who often have deformed bodies and live lonely lives. There are about 260 patients with the disease in Shanghai and most of them live at home. They will be helped with over 180,000 yuan this year.

The traditional free medical consultation event, to be held on December 19 this year, will for the first time be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.