CWU Launches Charity Project to Help Underprivileged Teenagers

Participants at the opening ceremony [China Women's University]

A ceremony was held on campus at China Women's University (CWU) on April 15 to mark the launch of the Qiangwei Assistance for Parentless Children charity program.

The initiative is the first of its kind designed to assist underprivileged teenagers in China who have lost their parents and have no other siblings. Many such children typically live with their grandparents and encounter a number of difficulties in their daily lives.

The opening ceremony was co-sponsored by the CWU Committee of the Communist Youth League (CYL), the Star Volunteer Association (SVA), the CWU Research Center of Family Development, the Alliance for Caring Parentless Children from Single-child Families, the Qingsong Qiangwei Club, the Alliance of CWU Students Associations, and the CWU Association of Young Volunteers.

Zhao Hao, member of the CWU Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), gave an introduction on the origin of the project, credited the CWU Committee of the CYL for its efforts in helping college students build partner assistance relationships with target children, and conveyed her wishes to the 103 participants that they would provide further interactions with teen beneficiaries.

She emphasized that the charity event was a concrete action taken by the CWU's faculty staff and college students to stick to the CWU's original mission and their inspiration to serve the nation as well as its people. The initiative is a living example which demonstrates their close attentions to social issues, keen social responsibilities and strong enthusiasm in public affairs, added Zhao.

Secretary of the CWU Committee of the CYL Han Yan further briefed participants about the charity initiative's objectives and content. She called on volunteers to provide parentless children and their grandparents with more love and care through the university's volunteer system and professional resources, and bring about an integration of traditional methods into modern means.

Miao Xia, former president of China Population Welfare Foundation, said relevant government departments should also work more closely for the better implementation of bringing multiple means of assistance to those families who have lost their only child. She urged more volunteer college students to get involved in relevant charity affairs and extend a hand to those who are underprivileged.

Xie Haishan, vice-president of the Chinese Young Volunteers Association (CYVA) and head of the SVA, gave a lecture about college students' volunteering and the standards of their services. He noted that the charity program has put more spotlight upon the lives and difficulties of target children and their grandparents, and hoped that the nation would roll out more policies and measures to assist them in the future.

Feng Lizhu, president of Hengshui Association of Mutual Assistance Amongst Special Families, shared his personal experiences and difficulties in raising his granddaughter after the death of the family's single son and the participation in issuing assistance in other similar cases.

Meanwhile, Feng Yatong, granddaughter of Feng Lizhu, conveyed deep gratitude to her grandfather, volunteers and other warm-hearted individuals for their love and care, and pledged she would repay society through multiple means of assistance and by working hard in her academic studies.

On the opening ceremony's sidelines, Zhang Jing, director-general of the CWU Research Center of Family Development and founder of Qiangwei Assistance for Parentless Children, lectured volunteers about how to better help teenage beneficiaries.

Zhang talked about her decade-long engagement in the assistance of underprivileged children and shared personal insights into the accumulation of necessary knowledge of aiding parentless children in a drive to provide relevant volunteers with guidance in the process of their work.

The event drew the attendance of four target families from Tangshan and Hengshui in north China's Hebei Province and 110 volunteers from SVA as well as the CWU Association of Young Volunteers.

A teenage beneficiary gives a speech at the opening ceremony. [China Women's University]

Representatives from sponsoring organizations and teenage beneficiaries at the opening ceremony [China Women's University]

Participants at the opening ceremony [China Women's University]

(Source: China Women's University/Translated and edited by Women of China)