wfn.org | Cute red envelopes raise funds for charities in time for Lunar New Year

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3024~3025 Edition

>February 8~21, 2010

Cute red envelopes raise funds for charities in time for Lunar New  Year

>Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

>Written by Lydia Ma

It is typical for Taiwanese people to greet one another with the  words “Have a prosperous new

year” during Lunar New Year holidays and Christians are no  exception. Of course, Christians

also wish one another “Have a peaceful new year” and  many of our churches hold a New Year

thanksgiving service on Lunar New Year’s Day.

During Lunar New Year we can also expect adults to give out red  envelopes and children and

elderly people to wait expectantly for them, and the economy  usually gets a boost shortly

afterward because people’s purchasing powers have increased  if only momentarily.

Sensing this might be a good opportunity to help social  organizations stuck in a financial rut, 6

young adults with a passion for social welfare designed 6 kinds of  red envelopes to help 6

small non-profit social organizations. They began selling these  envelopes online as a

fundraiser to support such organizations. These artists felt it  would be fun if people could buy

special red envelopes and donate to charity at the same time.

During a press conference held at National Taiwan University on  January 30, these artists

showed off their artworks for all to see. According to the event  coordinator, Cheng Shih-yu,

lingering financial crisis and Typhoon Morakot led to so much  financial loss last year that

social organizations that depend on financial donations had  significantly lower revenues in the

past two years. Some of these organizations reportedly experienced  more than 30% drop in

revenue, forcing them to deal with unprecedented challenges and to  fight for survival. Such

circumstances also inspired these artists to come up with the idea  of designing special red

>envelopes to raise funds.

One of the beneficiaries of these sales is Garden of Mercy  Foundation, which cares for infants

with AIDS. The foundation’s CEO, Chiou Shu-mei, who is also  the wife of a PCT pastor in

Taipei, said that regardless of how bad the economy might have  been in the past, her

organization would somehow manage to raise NT$12 millions in  funds. However, Garden of

>Mercy only received NT$9 millions last year.

Despite a significant decline in donations during the past year,  Chiou said her organization

would continue to care for infants with AIDS by cutting down other  expenses. But she urged

people to support this fundraiser as a means of supporting the  work of social service

>organizations.

Other organizations helped by this red envelope fundraiser  included social service

organizations caring for physically disabled and developmentally  challenged children, as well

as those caring for prisoners, children of foreign brides, and  delinquent youth.

Printed on the surface of these red envelopes is a colorful and  cute tiger and buyers have 6

different designs to choose from. The designs were created by six  students specializing in

architecture, art, caricature, and film. Sales will continue until  end of February and each

package costs NT$90. Proceeds from sales will be donated to the  social service

organizations listed above. Please visit  http://www.love-forward.com for more information.

>********************

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local  languages.

You may translate and re-use our articles online only if you  acknowledge the source as

"Taiwan Church News" and list the names of the reporter and  writer.

Contact us before reprinting any of our articles for print  publications.

Direct comments and questions about this article to:  enews@pctpress.org

Visit our website for more news at: http://enews.pctpress.org/  (English)

>http://www.pctpress.org (Chinese)

>********************

> 
>