Donations program for children in rural Chinal

A Chinese journalist working for American news magazine Phoenix Weekly announced a plan to raise 40 million yuan to ensure students at 400 boarding schools in China's poverty-stricken rural areas would have free lunches by helping the schools build their own kitchens.


Deng Fei, wants to sponsor a "spring sprout nutrition project". The veteran journalist is also the founder of a charity program "Free Lunch for Children. "Wherever the Amway Charity Foundation builds a new kitchen through its 'spring sprout nutrition project,' we would follow their steps and offer preschool kids and teachers there free lunches, too, by allocating some money from the 40 million yuan in donations that we intend to raise. But we have a precondition: The aided schools must observe the regulations of the Free Lunch for Children program and open a micro blog on which they have to make transparent how they've used the free lunch funds."


In fact, the Chinese government has already allocated 16-billion yuan worth of nutrition subsidies to village schools in 680 counties. But Deng Fei said children who attend preschool classes and teachers there were not covered by the subsidies.

 This is why he has pledged to help them. Deng says he also will make relevant proposals to the country's educational authorities.

"For instance, teachers in these boarding schools ought to have meals together with the kids. This is a good format. Second, each school should open a micro blog that informs the public of its daily expenditures, exerting pressure on school management to keep them away from any opportunity for corruption."

After the Free Lunch Fund was launched in April last year by the China Social Welfare Foundation and more than 500 media reporters, including Deng Fei, it raised donations totaling more than 18 million yuan by the end of 2011 and provided lunches for 15,000 students from poor families.


But both Deng Fei and the China Social Welfare Foundation share the belief that they can do more if they team up with a private charity foundation. Miao Li, secretary general of the China Social Welfare Foundation, expresses her view.



"This is an important attempt to explore ways that publicly raised funding would be combined with a private charity foundation to advance the government's good projects to help it maximize the welfare benefits for people at the bottom of society."

Liao Yuling, who is in charge of raising donations for the rural students, says people can pledge contributions on the Internet through platforms like Sina's micro blog service and Tmall.com or a charity auction evening banquet to be held in mid-June.

Organizers of the two charity projects believe an adequate solution to the problem of providing meals to children in poor villagers requires not only the involvement of the government and welfare foundations, but also support from the media and more importantly, supervision by all members of society.

Man sleeps on the streets to raise donations for children in India

A web developer is sleeping rough on the streets of Bristol to raise money for a children's charity in India.
Glen Simister, from Teignmouth in Devon, started his challenge on Tuesday and plans to spend till the end of this week days sleeping rough.

He wants to raise money for the El Shaddai Charitable Trust, also known as Child Rescue, based in Goa. Mr Simister, 32, said he was existing on milk and compound supplements, rather than food. "It's OK but the rain's a bit of a nuisance," he said of his challenge so far.

"On Wednesday night I found myself a nice little snug area to sleep in, next thing I knew, the water had flooded my sleeping bag." Mr Simister said he came across the charity while living in Goa several years ago.

"I meant to do some volunteering for them but I never did," he said. "I haven't got any work on at the moment so I decided to do something positive."

Self-portraits of famous to donate to charity

 Singer Adele, chef Jamie Oliver and boyband The Wanted are among some of the most famous faces in the UK showing how they see themselves via a self-portrait charity initiative to benefit the Prince's Foundation for Children & the Arts.

Other celebs that picked up a paintbrush for the Face Britain effort include Cilla Black, Ronnie Wood and even Dennis the Menace. 

Earlier this month, a gigantic image of the Queen made up of thousands of self-portraits of children was projected onto Buckingham Palace.

Jeremy Newton, chief executive of the foundation, said: “We had to get the Queen's approval, of course, because we're projecting on to the front of her home.

“I'm delighted to say Her Majesty loved the idea and loves the imagery. She had a little sneak preview earlier this week and gave it her full approval.

“Face Britain is about empowering children to explore their identity creatively. In this project they have used the arts to communicate how they see themselves, giving us all a unique snapshot of our country's future generation.”

SOS Children hard work in Mali

In Mopti, southern Mali, there are currently 4,638 displaced individuals, and the figure is expected to rise to 10,000 in the coming weeks. Many children who have arrived are separated from their parents and are in the care of extended family members. 

Three children who now attend the SOS School in Mopti are amongst those who fled the violence in the north. They currently live with fifteen others under one roof. Mr. Cissé, the father of two of the children and the guardian of the other, took on responsibility for thirteen children in his extended family, taking them to safety in the south whilst the parents stayed at home. Their trip south was long and painful. The travelled by road from Kidal to Gao, in various trucks. 

They then took a “pinasse” (a traditional flat fishing vessel) over the river from Gao to Mopti, taking several days due to the current dry season and low water levels. On their arrival, staff from the SOS School approached the family to offer the children an education, and three of the children in the group now attend the SOS School in Mopti, where they get a free meal for lunch and a good education. 

Children evacuated from SOS Children’s Village Mopti Last month, the children and SOS mothers living in the SOS Children’s Village Mopti were evacuated as a preventive measure in the aftermath of the advances of armed groups further south. They are now living at the other two SOS Children’s Villages in Sanankoroba and Kita

Kate Moss donate artistic picture to children's charity

Kate Moss with her children

Kate Moss has donated an artistic picture of herself in a bid to raise funds for a children’s charity. 

The 38-year-old supermodel has ensured the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) auction at Bonhams in London will be a roaring success by gifting the organisation a photograph featuring her wearing a pair of sparkly trousers.

In the shot – taken by Norwegian photographer Solve Sundsbo – the sultry star poses seductively for the camera with only her arms protecting her modesty, the Daily Mail reported.

The supermodel shows off her figure in gold metalic trousers.

Moss, who is married to Jamie Hince and has a nine-year-old daughter Lila with her ex Jefferson Hack isn’t the only naked celebrity to feature in the auction, which will be held on May 17.

Patrick Demarchelier’s image of Christy Turlington taken in New York in 1986 will also be up for grabs. Pictures of other celebrities included in the auction include Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine by Israeli photographer, Nadav Kander, Twiggy by Barry Lategan and British actor, Oliver Reed snapped by celebrity photographer, Alistair Morrison.

Charity in the heart of Africa

It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child, which is why a group of local volunteers is hosting two fundraisers to raise money for Heart to Heart Africa – a charity aimed at educating women and children in a Tanzanian village.

Teachers Leslie Nimeth, Michelle Foote and Josie Kvas-Jemec all got involved with the charity about five years ago. Through various small fundraisers, they have raised between $2,000 and $5,000 each year to help build classrooms and a well in Kitonga. This year, however, they have set their sights much higher.
“We’re doing two big fundraisers,” said Nimeth, listing a three-course Tanzanian dinner this Sunday, and a boat cruise/dinner on June 15.

“If you’re looking (at) giving to a charity and getting value for your dollar, this is it,” said Foote, adding since the charity first arrived in the east African village, nearly half the girls now attend school. “The purpose is to educate no matter what the denomination. Anyone in the village is entitled to the education.”

Foote said although the organization started by building classrooms, it has since constructed a well and provided numerous containers full of much-needed items for the residents.

Heart to Heart Africa continues to return to the same village in hopes of helping residents become self-sustainable.

“You are starting with kids in preschool almost, and following them through their whole educational career,” said Nimeth. “Between the health care and education that comes in, the whole village can prosper rather than just doing a little bit of something and feeding them for a short time.
“There’s a longevity and they can sustain themselves with time.”

Gaza children get donation of 30000 books

As part of the Harvest of Knowledge initiative, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) to provide Gaza children with 30,000 books. The donation includes various collections of books issued by the foundation, as part of the Tarjem and Iqraa (Translate and Read) Programmes.

The Foundation is donating the books in support of the UAEBBY’s Children in Crisis programme, which aims to provide books for children whose lives have been disrupted by war, civil unrest or natural disaster, in addition to children with special needs, all over the world. 

They will be allocated to children in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, with the aim of benefiting culturally marginalised children by supporting reading culture through the provision of the necessary books to children, training courses to reading professionals, and by promoting the importance of reading among children.

Sheikha Bodour lauded this humanitarian initiative by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. She said that the difficult living conditions of children in unstable or war torn countries should not jeopardise their right to have access to reading and knowledge or to develop a culture of reading, adding that developing children’s awareness and knowledge through reading will help them to overcome the challenges they may face as a result of their circumstances.”