As the Lunar New Year approaches, the Children Are Us Foundation yesterday said that it hopes people will consider donating part of the money they receive in red envelopes during the holiday to its efforts to assist people with intellectual disabilities.
Founded in 1995, the foundation said that over the past 25 years it has helped many people with intellectual disabilities develop skills, provided them with job opportunities and empowered them to live independently.
Studies have shown that people with intellectual disabilities begin showing signs of aging and developing chronic illnesses sooner than others, the foundation said, adding that after they reach the age of 35, their physiological functions begin to decline rapidly.
Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Taipei Times
At the same time, their parents, who are often their primary caregivers, might be entering old age, it said.
The foundation has launched an initiative specifically aimed at helping the about 200,000 families in Taiwan in such situations, it said, adding that it hopes to raise NT$15 million (US$500,033) for the project this year.
The foundation said that it has filmed a video with actor Lee Lee-zen (李李仁) to promote its fundraising campaign.
At a news conference in Taipei, Lee urged people to support the foundation’s fundraising efforts by donating a portion of their red envelope money or by spreading the word about the campaign.
Tasa Meng Corp has pledged to donate NT$20 each time the video is “liked” and shared through the foundation’s Facebook page from today, the foundation said.
People who make a one-time donation of NT$1,800 or more or commit to a monthly donation of NT$300 for one year would receive a free throw pillow, it added.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS