In late December 2009, according to the overall arrangements and requirements of the Party committee of Beijing on the campaign of “delivering warmth and offering love”, IECAS carried out the campaign throughout the institute.
Unlike previous years, the campaign this year was IECAS’s first practice of autonomously choosing the target of poverty alleviation. On the basis of extensive survey, the trade union of the institute chose Piandian Central Primary School in Shexian, Hebei as the target.
Shexian is an old revolutionary base and a famous anti-Japanese base, where the army led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping fought bravely against the Japanese invaders in those years. Home to the famous General Ridge and the Memorial Hall of Division 129, it is one of China’s ten poorest counties and Hebei’s poorest county, and Piandian Central Primary School brings together 451 students from 7 natural villages in Piandian.
In the campaign, a total of 526 employees of IECAS donated RMB 20,025, 1,087 (36 packs of) cotton coats and quilts, 220 students’ books and over 100 exercise books. The trade union of the institute donated an extra amount of over RMB 20,000 and purchased stationery like schoolbags, pencil books and pencils for all the students as well as 15 basketballs and 15 footballs for the school.
On January 7, 2010, Zhang Yan, chairman of the Trade Union of IECAS; Li Bin, deputy general manager of kedian Co., Ltd.; together with cadres of the trade union like Li Lianchao and Liang Dong set off in a bus bearing the love of the whole institute and arrived in Shexian after a trip of over 7 hours.
On the morning of January 8, the donation ceremony was held at Piandian Central Primary School, Shexian CPPCC Chairman Feng Ronghua presided over the ceremony, Deputy County Chief Fan Chengying in charge of education as well as leaders of the department of civil affairs and the department of armed forces attended the ceremony, and Fan delivered a speech on behalf of the county government. Zhang briefed the attendees on the basic information of IECAS, expressed the great affection of the institute for the people in the old revolutionary base, and sincerely hoped that the students would study hard, enrich life with knowledge and illuminate life with wisdom in an effort to create a bright future. Zhou Yonghong, headmaster of Piandian Central Primary School, received the cash and articles donated by us on behalf of the school. When the schoolbags were handed to the children one by one, we could see happiness and satisfaction on their smiling faces and in their eyes.
After the ceremony, accompanied by leaders like Fan, Zhang visited the families of two orphaned students and two soldiers, and sent them rice, flour and edible oil. The poor living conditions of the four families stirred our soul. Now, there are still a number of families in Shexian that badly need donations to help them out of trouble.
(Trade Union of IECAS)
