A young mother in Taichung has sponsored more than 100 foreign orphans and children from poor families since late last year after giving birth to her first child, a charity said yesterday.
The 29-year-old woman, surnamed Lin (林), sponsored her first foreign child last year through the non-profit Taiwan Fund for Children and Families soon before having her own baby. Soon after giving birth, she sponsored two more children abroad, using her husband’s and son’s names as sponsors, the foundation said.
downturn
At the beginning of this year, Lin, concerned about the effect of the global economic downturn on facilities and organizations that help orphans, signed up to sponsor another 100 children abroad.
“My husband and I decided to take care of 100 more children from abroad after we weighed our financial abilities,” Lin said.
The couple’s total sponsorship of 103 children means that they donate NT$72,100 to the children’s fund each month — NT$700 per child.
With their own child, Lin and her husband have 104 children scattered around the world, the foundation said. They are helping children in Gambia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Indonesia and Mongolia, the staffer said.
prank call?
The staffer said when the foundation received Lin’s phone call early this year volunteering to sponsor 100 more children, the person answering the phone did not believe it.
“It was an incredible piece of news, especially since the foundation has been receiving calls from sponsors who have had to terminate their sponsorships as a result of the recession,” the staffer said.
‘samaritans’
“I hope more good Samaritans will come forward to enable poor children to lead better lives,” Lin was quoted as saying at the time.
The foundation launched its foreign sponsorship program in 1987, seeking donations to help needy children abroad.
So far, 42,924 children around the world have benefited from the program, while another 45,941 children in Taiwan are receiving aid, the foundation said.
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