Making the real difference

Program brings succor to natural disaster victims in rural areas

What is the best way to put charitable goods you collect to good use?

Song Boyang, Kai Zhongliang and Huang Doudou have the same answer: Deliver them yourself.

The three volunteers have arrived in Yiliang county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, with New Year gifts and warm clothes for children in the area, which was hit by a series of earthquakes in September.

Charity program volunteers write greeting cards for children living in rural areas that have been affected by natural disasters. The project, a special way to welcome and celebrate the New Year holidays with children who are victims of disasters in rural areas, was developed by Tencent Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like micro-blog platform. Provided to China Daily

After leaving Beijing on Dec 16, they drove through four cities, including Zhengzhou and Wuhan in Central China's Henan and Hubei provinces, carrying with them 2,013 packages filled with scarves, gloves and caps.

They stayed one or two days at each city, soliciting donations on busy streets or in front of big shopping malls to attract more attention to their charitable cause. After collecting gifts - including dolls, books and best-wishes cards - they continued their journey.

The project, a special way to welcome and celebrate the New Year's holiday with children who were victims of disasters in rural areas, was developed by Tencent Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like micro-blog platform.

"We planned to provide warmth for those who have long-term needs, which is why we called on residents to help by walking across the country," said He Tingting, a Beijing-based officer responsible for the Tencent program.

Since July, when the company published a micro-blog request for volunteers to join the "walking team", Tencent has received thousands of e-mails, and the information was also forwarded many times, according to He.

"Lots of volunteers showed their willingness to join and donated presents in a very short time. Finally, we selected the three representatives," she said.

"The Tencent micro-blogging service updated progress of the journey every day, while calling on volunteers in the four cities to help the team collect more donations.

"As volunteers walk across the cities, they can go on collecting gifts. Meanwhile, when they reach a place, they can also share donations and journey experiences with local residents," she said.