A CHARITY shop project of Haifu Community in Xin’an Subdistrict was awarded as an innovative charitable project for 2018 Shenzhen Charity Month at an awards ceremony held Sept. 5 to mark the third China Charity Day.

According to Cai Jianfeng, Party chief of Haifu Community, the charity shop, established in 2016, is oriented towards the needs of residents, and in particular those in the community who have the most needs.

To this end, the community workers spent two months visiting households to build a database on the needy population in the community. According to statistics, there are 686 disadvantaged residents in the community, accounting for 2 percent of the total population.

For the past three years, the charity shop has been collecting unused articles from residents and enterprises and offering them to those in need. So far, the shop has collected 1,246 pieces of clothing, 1,893 toys, 2,368 stationery products, 2,479 books and 2,834 articles for daily necessities.

In addition to the registered needy residents, a number of migrant workers and their families in the community are also major beneficiaries of the charity shop.

A woman surnamed Liu, who works in a factory in the subdistrict, said she and her fellow workers often go to the shop to collect stationery and toys for their children. “I tell my children that when we’re well off, we should also do our best to help other people,” Liu was quoted by the Bao’an Daily as saying.

Statistics show that 426 people have collected items from the charity shop and thousands of items have been given out.

In order to make material management transparent and standardized, the community has also formulated a strict registration system for donation and collection, and will publicize the information at the end of each month. (Zhang Yu)