关爱贫困学生：雅色点亮“小桔灯”

Volunteers from Shenzhen-based real estate developer Gemdale Group visited households door to door in northern Guangdong Province on October 27 and 28, offering one-on-one assistance to impoverished young students. The first batch of 19 students from 17 families in Yase Village, Heyuan received donations from the Gemdale Little Orange Lamp project.

Shenzhen Press Group has a long tradition of helping Yase villagers. Throughout the years, the company has channeled funds into building roads in the village and renovating three rundown bridges. Another 15 projects including the construction of a village office building and a cultural plaza are also underway.

Following the example of Shenzhen Press Group, more and more local enterprises have joined the campaign to assist poverty-stricken students. The Gemdale Little Orange Lamp project, which plans to subsidize 97 students in seven schools around China, is one of them.

A simple donation ceremony was held in Yase Primary School on the afternoon of October 27. Nineteen students from Guzhu Middle School, Yase Primary School and Shuangkeng Primary School became the first beneficiaries of the project this year.

Each kid will receive an annual 1,000-yuan (US$154) subsidy to help cover school fees and buy books until they graduate from high school. The volunteers of Gemdale will maintain close contact with all the recipients to ensure their needs are taken care of.

Xiao Fan, a first grader in Yase Primary School, is one of the subsidized students. His mother suffers uremia, a costly medical condition that is an insurmountable financial burden for the family of five, as his migrant worker father is the only earning guardian.

The volunteers have also brought used books donated by Shenzhen students to the village children.

First launched in 2009, the Gemdale Little Orange Lamp project has extended help to 37 cities around China, building three schools, seven students’ service centers and 18 libraries. So far, 16,000 students have benefited from the project.

(Chen Xiaochun)