Christmas is for Giving - Help a Child in Taiwan This Year, Next Year, And Beyond

As you stroll through Hsinyi District in Taipei, it's hard to imagine that there are families in Taiwan that struggle to feed, clothe, and educate their children.  Reports like this one from BBC News earlier in 2013 highlight the difficulties facing a percentage of the population.

My personal frustration is my inability to help all the children I see that would be labelled "at risk" back home; the children who just need a little bit extra to ensure they find their full potential rather than falling the cracks and being that "burden" upon society.  For those of us that choose to live in Taiwan, I feel we have a responsibility to help at least one child while we are here. That's why I am sharing information about some of these charities.  I hope that at least one reader chooses to give to the children of Taiwan this Christmas.

Light Up a Life - now part of the CTBC Charity Foundation

China Trust supports several initiatives assisting children in Taiwan.  My personal favorite is Light Up a Life.  I think is due to the familiarity, after hearing about over the years on ICRT.

The Light up a Life fundraising campaign is Chinatrust Charity Foundation’s most important event each year. We have held the campaign annually since its launch in 1985. Light up a Life is the first activity of its kind held by a Taiwanese enterprise specifically to aid disadvantaged children and is also the longest-running charity fundraising campaign in the nation.

Many years ago, Chinatrust Financial Holding Company former Chairman Jeffrey L. S. Koo was in New York attending a Christmas party. After returning to Taiwan, he saw some children who could not enjoy the holiday because of their families’ economic difficulties. Their helpless eyes were in stark contrast to the magnificent, sparkling Christmas tree he had seen on display in Time Square. He was deeply dismayed and decided to launch the Light up a Life fundraising campaign. We can “light one lamp and brighten one life” each year as we raise funds to help improve the lives of Taiwan’s disadvantaged children.

If you give more than NTD3,000 before March 2014, you will get a commemorative umbrella courtesy of ICRT.  This money goes toward making sure children have what they need to get an education.


Taiwan Fund for Children and Families

Now a part of Child Fund (formally CCF), this group supports both local and international sponsorship of children.  The form is in Chinese. This link is for local sponsorship at 1,000 per month, but you can choose international sponsorship at 700 per month, also.  You can also choose to give a one-time donation.

My daughter's teacher has arranged for the class to sponsor a child together. She takes responsibility for paying the total amount each month. Children can bring in any small change and put it in the tin, where nobody knows how much each child gives.  This has empowered a class of second-graders to feel they can make a difference to someone's life, and made them feel they are a team with power to change the world together.

So, this Christmas, why not give back a little to the country you choose to live in?  Happy New Year to you all.