Many charity organizations in Taiwan have seen donations fall by half or more since local COVID-19 cases began to spike in May, with some sending urgent calls for renewed support as virus measures ease.
During a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert from May 19 to Tuesday last week, in-person donations to the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) dropped 80 percent, TFCF Social Resources Department director Lin Hsiu-feng (林秀鳳) said.
Corporate and private donations also fell sharply, as businesses lost income and individuals suddenly encountered financial hardship, she added.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families
The disruptions resulted in a 45 percent decline in the fund’s donation income, while donations of supplies have entirely stopped, she said.
“Social welfare groups have all entered a cold spell,” Lin said.
Even the TFCF’s regular operations have been affected, Lin said, giving for example a case in which an aid recipient was reported by a neighbor for gathering illegally after going to the fund to collect a monthly support package.
Many service and gig workers have lost their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making the resources provided by welfare organizations more necessary than ever, she said.
Aside from distributing emergency funding to 2,300 households, TFCF workers call recipients at least twice a week to check on them and deliver supplies in urgent cases — even to remote mountain areas — to ensure that no one goes hungry during the pandemic, she said.
The fund helps nearly 30,000 households, 60 percent of which do not have a computer, Internet access or other equipment needed for remote education, Lin said.
Fearing they would be expected to provide compensation for any damage to borrowed school equipment, many families have pulled their children out of school or have multiple children sharing one cellphone to do schoolwork, she said.
To ensure educational equity in digital learning even after the pandemic, TFCF is calling for donations of tablets, computers and other devices, Lin added.
Meanwhile, Huashan Social Welfare Foundation representative Yang Ya-ling (楊雅苓) said that donations to the organization have halved since the local COVID-19 outbreak was first detected in May.
Receipt donations have also dropped and volunteers have stopped going to the foundation, but the most apparent loss has been donations of goods such as nutritional supplements and nonperishable food items, Yang said.
Directors of local offices have been left to replenish necessary articles and deliver pandemic supplies to elderly recipients themselves, she added.
Community care centers have been closed during the outbreak, depriving elderly people of interpersonal interaction, Yang said, adding that one person even called herself on a public phone out of desperation.
The foundation has maintained its phone conversation service to help older people retain their mental acuity, she said.
The Genesis Social Welfare Foundation said it has also been hit hard by the pandemic.
The foundation cares for more than 800 people in vegetative states by providing around-the-clock nursing care, restorative facilities, adult diapers, nutritional supplements, bill payment sercives and more, costing at least NT$4,000 per person every month, it said.
However, as people have been shopping less since the local outbreak began, receipt donations have been severely affected, resulting in lost income of more than NT$3 million, it added.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS