If you were not even able to spend NT$80 on a small hotpot meal, then being able to celebrate your birthday and even have a birthday cake would pretty much be unimaginable. But this was one of the dreams of students at Amway’s Hope Maker school in Yunlin County. In order to help them realize that dream, Hope Maker director Chuo Chung-hsin organized a birthday cake charity event, which immediately attracted donations from local cake businesses, bringing warmth to the students’ hearts.
Chuo says that around 40 percent of Hope Maker’s 70 students come from underprivileged single-parent families, and that establishing the school was done in hopes of being able to help these children be able to lead a normal life. Hope Maker organized the birthday cake charity event in April to allow the kids to experience what it is like to actually celebrate their birthday. Local companies were given a chance to chip in and give the children an opportunity to celebrate their lives.
As soon as word got out, Chen Pin Bakery owner Huang Hsuan-pin in Douliou was the first to respond, donating 10 8-inch cakes in April. Huang says that he hopes the cakes will help the students maintain their innocence and happiness. Sweet Way owner Chiang Ching-ming says that his bakery will be taking over for the month of May and initially promised to provide all cakes from now on. However, Yunlin County Bakers’ Association director Lo Chi-chien said that when something this meaningful is possible everyone should be able to take part in it, so a different bakery will be donating cakes each month. They have already arranged which bakeries will donate cakes through March next year.
Photo: Chan Shih-hung, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者詹士弘
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
連八十元的小火鍋都沒吃過，更別說過生日、吃蛋糕。對雲林縣希望工場的不少學員來說，是奢侈的夢想；希望工場總幹事卓中信為學員圓夢，提出為希望天使勸募生日蛋糕活動，馬上獲得雲林縣糕餅業者支持，紛紛響應認捐，讓學員心中暖呼呼。
卓中信表示，希望工場有近七十名學員，五分之二是出身單親弱勢家庭，設置工場就是希望讓這群弱勢學員能過正常生活，為了讓學員有機會體驗生日活動，工場在今年四月發起慶生會募捐計畫，請企業認養愛心慶生活動，讓愛能從生命的原點出發。
消息一傳出，斗六芊品坊老板黃炫賓率先響應，四月捐出十個八寸大蛋糕，他希望這些蛋糕，能讓學員繼續天真快樂；世唯烘培坊老闆江慶銘也緊接著在五月跟進，原本承諾以後的蛋糕都由世唯提供，唯雲林縣糕餅商業同業公會理事長羅濟乾認為，有意義的事，大家要共襄盛舉，最後由各廠商分別認養，目前到明年三月前都有人認養。
（自由時報記者詹士弘）
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