Volunteer workers at the Pingtung Commonality and Associate for the Mentally Retarded on Saturday heaved a sigh of relief as a potential loss from a last-minute downsizing of a massive order for mooncakes was remedied by generous members of the public.
Volunteer Lee Chung-chieh (李忠潔) on Thursday posted an appeal on Facebook, saying that the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) Songshan Air Base Command had placed an order on Aug. 29 for 1,900 moon cakes for a Mid-Autumn Festival event.
The organization had not taken a deposit on the order because it trusted the base command, he wrote.
However, on Monday, the day before the order was due, the command called to lower its order to 900, citing insufficient funding.
The organization sells its moon cakes for NT$35 apiece as a fundraiser, and ingredients for the huge order cost nearly NT$60,000, while the cancellation left the organization facing a NT$40,000 deficit, Lee wrote.
He said the organization was planning to use a portion of the proceeds — NT$5,000 — to treat the children it looks after to a good meal over the holidays.
The organization’s baking division has three instructors and 21 children and normally holds a four-hour baking class each day, Lee said, adding the youngsters and the instructors had worked hard trying to meet the deadline.
Within three hours of Lee’s message being posted, the 1,000 moon cakes sold out, with baseball player Yang Dai-kang (陽岱鋼) posting that Lee could send him a private message if the moon cakes did not sell out.
The ROCAF Command Headquarters on Saturday apologized for the incident, saying the air base had decided in retrospect that it had placed too large an order and so it wanted to reduce its order to 900.
The command said there might have been some confusion during the communication process with the association.
The base commander has visited the association in person and the air force would continue to help out the disadvantaged by buying their products, the command said.
Lee later posted another message thanking the public for its kindness. He also wrote that people should stop criticizing the military.
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