Taiwan Church News 3278 Edition December 22 - 28, 2014 Headline News Do Not Forget Social Welfare Groups In Cold Winter Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong An annual end-of-lunar-year charity buffet, held specially for the poor and the homeless, has been run by Genesis Social Welfare Foundation(GSWF) over the past 25 years, but 70% of its budget still can not find the sponsors this year. On December 17th 2014, the renown Peh-Chi Musical Band, once the charity ambassador for GSWF, urges their fans and the public in a press conference to donate or do volunteer work to carry on this charity buffet. Ms Yu Li-jen, Deputy Director of GSWF, remarks that the evident decrease of charity donations among Taiwan's social welfare groups is probably due to 2014 Kaohsiung Big Blast squeezing the annually stable income of the donations. Money-raising for this end-of-lunar-year charity buffet, started from November till now, only reaches about 30% of its budget. "Many volunteer workers and our colleagues are very much worried about this financial shortage", says Ms Yu. The same financial problem occurs to Huashan Social Welfare Foundation(HSWF), whose primary ministry is serving the disabled, dementia and lonely elders for free, offering scheduled visit, house-works assistance, medic-care accompany, bathe on bath chair, festival care and etc. On December 16, the famous Amerasian actor Benji, together with 11 foreign students from Taipei Normal University, bring the warm soup and hot foods for the lonely elder Grandma Ju and help to clean her house. These young men urge Taiwan public try utmost to donate and support HSWF for her ministry, even though her current charity income only reaches 30% of the budget. You can reach GSWF by ext. 119 at 02-2835 7700; HSWF, by ext. 215 by 02-2836 3919. Translated by Peter Wolfe |