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Foreign firms aid the poor
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Winton Dong
EIGHTEEN oil companies based in Shekou, Nanshan District, yesterday donated 1.4 million yuan (US$170,000) to China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is struggling to recover from brutal winter snowstorms.
On behalf of the Inner Mongolia side, Shenzhen Red Cross yesterday accepted the donation. The local charity organization has been authorized to supervise the use of the funds.
According to Ronald Morris, managing director of CACT Operations Group, the cash will be used mainly to rebuild five primary schools, provide cold-weather clothes and finance underprivileged children in pursuit of further education in the autonomous region.
“Actually, the donation campaign was initiated by CACT, but it was later widely supported by all the oil producers and service companies in Shekou,” Morris said.
Morris also revealed that 4,200 articles of clothing and blankets were transported to the snow-stricken areas several months ago.
“We hope that people in Inner Mongolia will feel warmer and stronger because of our support,” he said.
On behalf of the local government, Deputy Secretary-general of the General Office of Shenzhen Municipal Government Wang Min extended his sincere thanks to those donors.
“Just when people in Inner Mongolia needed relief the most, oil companies in Shekou extended helping hands,” Wang said.
The oil industry in Shenzhen has a long tradition of charitable activities throughout China.
In the summer of 1998, when China was ravaged by the worst flooding in half a century, the companies organized a campaign and donated three million yuan to build three hospitals in flood-ravaged Hubei and Jiangxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
According to statistics, oil companies based in Shekou have so far helped build nine hospitals, seven primary schools and two temporary residential shelters in China.
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