China's regular social donation system has collected a total of 23.6 billion yuan in the past eight years since its establishment, which has benefited more than 400 million poor people, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).

MCA statistics show that in the past eight years, 28,000 social donation stations have been established in China's large-and-medium-sized cities and in small cities where conditions permit. Civil affairs departments at various levels received and handed out donated funds and items valued at some 23.6 billion yuan, including 12.6 billion yuan in cash and checks, and clothes and quilts worth 957 million yuan.

Donation activities mainly include three forms in China: counterpart assistance, concentrated donation and regular donation. Counterpart assistance means that economically developed regions give help to designated points in less developed, poverty-stricken regions, concentrated donation means concentrated organization and collection of money and materials to deal with emergent disasters.

In 1996, China began to popularize nationwide a regular social donation campaign with "heart-warming poverty-relief" as the theme, whereby funds and materials were received at any time through local donation stations.

The regular social donation system played an active role in solving the hard life of people in disaster-afflicted and poverty-stricken areas in the initial period after its establishment. In the past two years, the main recipients of help have extended from the above-mentioned two sections of people to cover urban SOE laid-off workers, employees of enterprises in difficulties and urban residents provided with basic living security. At the same time, the regular social donation service system has also expanded its work from solving the problem of getting enough to eat and wear to helping the masses with financial difficulties to solve the problem of getting medical service and sending their children to school.

In order to bring closer links between donors and needy populations, MCA recently established "Loving-Care Home" neighborhood service centers nationwide, which specialize in serving poor residents in urban communities. The first such center was established on September 10 in Fengsheng Hutong (alley) of Beijing's Xicheng District. The residents there deposited their donations at any time in the service center, the recipients can get their daily necessities free from the center by showing a related certificate issued by the community. The service center in Fengsheng Hutong has so far delivered donations worth more than 3,000 yuan to the poor residents in the community, said Li Shisan, secretary of the neighborhood working committee.

Vice-Minister of Civil Affair Yang Yanyin noted that civil affair departments at various levels will continue to strengthen construction of the regular social donation system and build a platform for exchange between the donor and the needy, which will make it possible for the donor to provide specific help to the needy.

By People's Daily Online