The government has set up a dedicated bank account to accept overseas donations for the disaster relief effort in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York said yesterday.
Expatriates wishing to contribute to the fund can remit their donations to the “Ministry of the Interior Donation Account” at Mega International Commercial Bank. The account number is 007-09-087816 and the SWIFT code is ICBCTWTP007, the office said.
Various fund-raising campaigns have been launched by Taiwanese-American organizations in New York, including the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, the Taiwan Center, the New York branch of the Tzu Chi Foundation and the New York branch of the Buddha’s Light International Association.
In the UK, the Global Federation of Chinese Business Women will hold a charity sale and set up donation boxes at Ming-Ai (London) Institute at 2pm tomorrow.
At 2pm on Tuesday, British-Taiwanese organizations will hold a street fund-raising event at London’s Chinatown to coincide with a Song Jiang battle array performance by students from Shih Chien University.
In related news, Microsoft Taiwan yesterday dismissed a rumor that the company would make a donation to the relief effort for every MSN user that added a sun symbol to their nickname.
The company said it has set up a special section on its Web site to encourage users to add a sun, but that it was purely meant to encourage concern for victims of the disaster.