A children’s welfare group called on the public to purchase a handmade charity gift to help improve the income of disadvantaged families.
The sock bunnies, sold for NT$350 each, are sewn by unemployed mothers, foreign-born mothers, as well as mothers who live in remote or disaster-stricken areas such as Kaohsiung County’s Taoyuan Township (桃源), which suffered from severe flooding last year because of Typhoon Morakot, said Abby Chen (陳雅惠), deputy director of resource development at the Child Welfare League Foundation.
The materials, NT$70 worth of cotton and socks, were provided to 20 mothers who participated in the handicraft project, and in return received NT$100 for the completion of each bunny, she said, adding that the remaining NT$180 would go to a children’s relief fund.
Photo: CNA
Launched in May, the sock bunny charity project initially provided stay-at-home mothers with a stable monthly income of NT$15,000 to NT$20,000. However, as the product became less popular, the foundation urged the public to purchase the remaining 3,000 sock bunnies in stock.
“We didn’t expect this to be a long-term project. What we wanted to achieve through this project was to give confidence and skills to these mothers, who were discouraged by the job market because of their poor academic background,” Chen said.
Upon hearing of their difficulties, an electronics shop with 18 branches nationwide purchased between 600 and 700 sock rabbits to give to shoppers who spent more than NT$2,500 on certain appliances from Oct. 8 to Sunday.
“Our business partners were very surprised when we chose to work with the foundation to promote charity. The main reason was the sock bunnies were much more expensive than most additional gifts, which cost between NT$50 and NT$100,” said Chen Hsin-hong, a special assistant in the company’s business planning department.
“Because information and technology months take place every December, October is a relatively slow season for electronics stores. We hope to cooperate with charity groups every October to engage the public in philanthropic work,” he said.
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