The recent economic downturn is so severe and pervasive that the annual sale of moon cakes by many charity organizations to raise funds has been receiving lukewarm response.
Tsui Pin, director of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation’s public relations department, said it was clear that charity organizations were having difficulty promoting their hand-made moon cakes because of the economic slowdown.
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival will fall on Sept. 14.
Tsui said in a telephone interview earlier last week that her foundation has set a target of selling 15,000 moon cake gift boxes this year made by about 40 physically and mentally challenged people at three Eden shelter factories.
“But at best, sales are expected to total only 10,500 boxes this year, which means a big drop from last year’s 25,000 boxes,” Tsui said.
She said that because of the economic stagnation, people are reluctant to help the charities. She said that since it takes longer for the disabled to prepare the moon cakes, the orders should be submitted at least one month in advance.
However, to date, two of the foundation’s shelter factories have orders for only about 2,000 boxes, Tsui said.
Enterprises that customarily place orders every year have been relatively conservative this year, and some of them have even told the foundation that they have no funds to order moon cakes as they have made donations to survivors of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, Tsui said.
She said that in addition to the poor economic situation, there are more social welfare organizations trying to get a piece of the shrinking pie by selling moon cakes during the festival season.
To promote sales, the Eden foundation is cooperating with OK-Mart convenience stores this year to make its hand-made moon cakes available to a wider market, though that means the price will increase, she said.
The Children Are Us Foundation, a social welfare organization that helps people with Down syndrome fit into society by providing them with professional training courses, has also forecast a drop in sales this year.
Jalen Zou, chief of the foundation’s public relations section, said its target this year is 80 percent of last year’s NT$20 million.
People with Down syndrome participated in the moon cake production process, including the making and packing, Zou said.
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