Hsiao-jung will be glad when Mid-Autumn Festival finally arrives, more so than most people. Like everyone else, he's been working eight hours a day, five days a week for a long time now and could use a break. Unlike most people, though, he's been busy making tens of thousands of mooncakes for the upcoming holiday. When Mid-Autumn Festival finally passes, Hsiao-jong can forget about mooncakes for a while.
His workload may not be different from most people's, but unlike most people, at 35-years-old Hsiao-jung has the mind of a child. "I'm tired of mooncakes," he said, "And it's not even Mid-Autumn Festival yet!"
Hsiao-jung is gainfully employed thanks to the help of the Children Are Us Social Welfare Foundation (
Established in 1995, the foundation has since opened a score of bakeries and restaurants in Kaohsiung, Taipei and Hsinchu that employ a number of persons with developmental disabilities, providing them with the skills they need in the workplace and the confidence they need outside it.
Despite its name, there are no children on the payroll at any of the Children Are Us bakeries or restaurants. "The name comes from the fact that these people will be children
forever," said Wu Ting-fang (
They've made some headway. Since the foundation first began, it has not only employed dozens of persons with developmental disabilities at its own establishments, but helped several more find work at other service-industry companies like Pizza Hut and 7-11, where they usually prove to be model employees.
"A-hsien is on time to work every day and doesn't stop working until he goes home," said Chen Chao-te (
But as happy as Chen is to have A-hsien on staff, A-hsien himself is even happier. "I like working. I like to keep busy," he said without taking his eyes off the shelves he was stocking. "Sometimes I miss the bus and have to wait another 20 minutes. It's bad to be late."
His single-minded diligence to his work is what has made Children Are Us one of the most successful social welfare programs in Taiwan. Where traditional foundations might receive most of their funding through government subsidization, Children Are Us derives some 55 percent of its income from its own bakeries and restaurants. That's after paying salaries to the very employees the foundation works to assist.
Profits are then used to pay for various welfare programs. Children Are Us receives another quarter of its funding from private donations and another quarter from government assistance.
This principle of self-empowerment rather than dependence is even written into the foundation's mission statement: "We would rather give them a fishing pole and teach them how to fish than give them fish. However, the most important thing is that we lead them to the fishpond; that is the marketplace and community where they can get lots of fish."
RSS