Just short of a month since going online, a COVID-19 relief fundraiser organized by seven members of the Taiwanese diaspora raised more than US$50,000 for five social welfare groups helping society’s most vulnerable to weather the COVID-19 outbreak.
When COVID-19 cases began to spike in Taiwan in May, those of the group living in Taiwan began researching organizations with strong histories of helping vulnerable groups, including low-income individuals, domestic violence victims, migrant workers, homeless people and those with disabilities, the organizers said.
Their original plan to directly connect donors with the organizations proved challenging due to the organizations’ Chinese-only Web sites and inability to receive donations from abroad, so the organizers helped the groups create English landing pages and set up payment systems that can accept foreign transactions, they added.
After approaching about 15 organizations, the group ended up working with five: the 1919 Food Bank, the Hsinchulun Home, Homeless Taiwan, Serve the People and the Garden of Hope, they said.
The Taiwan Covid Relief Fundraiser eventually launched on July 8 with a goal of raising US$10,000, to be matched by the organizers.
The goal was reached after only three days, leading the team to revise its goal to US$25,000 with another matching donation.
By July 30, the fundraiser shattered the goal once more with US$26,000 raised by more than 200 donors for a total of more than US$50,000.
As of yesterday, the tally on the Taiwan Covid Relief Fundraiser Web site was US$28,191.
Most social welfare groups in Taiwan miss out on the chance to make themselves known internationally by only accepting domestic donations, Chinese Christian Relief Association secretary-general James Shia (夏忠堅) said yesterday, adding that he was particularly excited when the Taiwan Covid Relief team reached out to work with the association’s 1919 Food Bank.
The food bank has received US$10,000 through Taiwan Covid Relief, enough to satisfy the needs of 46 families for a year, Shia said.
The campaign has broken open international fundraising opportunities, he added.
Many people around the world want to give back to Taiwan in return for the assistance it provided last year, Taiwan Covid Relief organizer Catherine Chou (周怡齡) said.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
EVA Airways was ranked the eighth-best airline in the world for this year, the only Taiwanese carrier to make it into the top 25 Airline Excellence Awards this year, aviation reviews Web site AirlineRatings.com said on Wednesday. AirlineRatings.com has a seven-star rating system to evaluate more than 360 airlines around the world every year, EVA Airways said in a statement on Thursday. “We are delighted that efforts by the entire EVA staff have been recognized by Airline Ratings,” EVA Airways president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) said in the release. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company identified and adopted services and procedures that enhance and
RSS