Army sergeant Chiu Shu-yung (邱緒詠) over the past five years has been visiting remote communities to make yearbooks for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, the Military News Agency said on Sunday.
Chiu, a non-commissioned officer at the Armor Training Command, is founder of the Complete a Dream Project, which has made yearbooks in communities throughout Hualien and Penghu counties, the report said.
The project’s 12 volunteers consist mostly of service members, but some civilians are also members, Chiu said, adding that he began the initiative after learning about a lack of funding at remote schools with low enrollments.
Photo: Handout courtesy of the Military News Agency
The group makes yearbooks free of charge, with all expenses paid by the volunteers and donors, Chiu said, adding that the project handles photography, printing, distribution and everything in between.
The joy of children and parents when receiving the yearbooks makes the effort worthwhile, he said.
A tearful grandmother in a village in Hualien told the volunteers that she was deeply moved by a graduation photo of her with her grandchild, as she had never graduated from school herself, he said.
The group’s most recent work was in a fishing village on an island in Penghu, he said.
The project thanked the New Taipei City Runners’ Association for its contributions.
Group member Liu Wen-chin (劉文欽), a veteran, said that an elderly woman once asked him how much a yearbook would cost, as she was worried that she might not sell enough vegetables to afford one.
Incidents like that convinced him that the group was doing the right thing and he is proud of its achievements, Liu said.
The group is preparing for graduations next year, the project’s Facebook page says.
REPORT: Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining loitering munitions matching the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 or the Anduril Altius-600, ‘Foreign Policy’ said Taiwan is seeking US-made kamikaze drones in an apparent concession to pressure from Washington to focus on asymmetric capabilities to defeat or deter a Chinese attack, Foreign Policy said in a report on Wednesday. Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining AeroVironment Switchblade loitering munitions or other devices with similar capabilities, it said, citing four sources familiar with the matter commenting on condition of anonymity. The Switchblade 300 is a tube-launched drone designed for attacking ground troops, while its larger sibling, the Switchblade 600, could be used to destroy tanks and entrenched troops. Ukraine has utilized both systems extensively in its fight against
Police officers yesterday morning apprehended the prime suspect of a triple homicide case, after raiding the suspect’s hideout in Taichung. They transported the suspect to New Taipei City for questioning and recorded his statement last night. The suspect, identified as a 24-year-old man surnamed Chang (張), is believed to have used his hands to strangle his wife, surnamed Chen (陳), 29, along with his three-year-old son from a previous marriage and his wife’s mother, 69. The three dead bodies were wrapped in blankets when they were discovered inside their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) on Saturday. Chang was holding a
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight