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Helping the elderly and sick

By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-01 10:01

SHANGHAI - For elderly Lu Wen and his wife, every Saturday afternoon has become their "happy hour" because they will be visited by two or three people from Bosch Automotive Products (Suzhou) Co Ltd. They are all members of the Chinese Communist Party.

Volunteers of Bosch Automotive Products (Suzhou) Co Ltd do cleaning for senior people. The volunteers are all members of the Communist Party of China. [Provided to China Daily]

The septuagenarian couple are not in the best of health, but their two sons cannot tend to them frequently because they work far away and have limited time. Lu himself is plagued by high-blood pressure and diabetes, while his wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 16 years ago.

Since last October, they started to receive regular help from volunteers of Bosch Automotive Products (Suzhou) Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of German technology and service provider Robert Bosch GmbH.

The volunteers are all selected from the company's 272-member Party committee. Their tasks include doing the laundry, cleaning windows and chatting with the couple about news they are interested in.

The Lus are just one of eight elderly people who receive help from the 132 volunteers from the Party committee of Bosch Automotive, said Chen Aiqun, who works at quality system department of the company and is also the secretary of the company's 272-member Party committee.

As part of the project, another five members organize a "warm-heart" escort team to take a 55-year-old cancer patient and her mentally challenged son to hospital and back, driving their own cars in their spare time.

The project is aimed at providing tailor-made help such as shopping, paying bills, sending old people to hospital, house cleaning and laundry for the eight elderly people, said Chen. In addition, during the Double Ninth Festival, which is also known as senior citizen's day in China, and the Chinese Lunar New Year, they give them money.

"The eight seniors are also invited to our annual dinner for the lunar New Year," added Chen. She said the help from their Party committee deeply moved them, and they expressed their sincere thanks during the dinner.

The Bosch Automotive Party group used to have only 11 members when it was founded in 2002, and now party members account for 6 percent of the company's total number of employees.

It is unusual for a foreign-funded company to have a Party committee and hold regular activities, said Chen. She said she missed Party activities after her graduation, but luckily they picked up again after she joined Bosch Automotive in 2004.

"Our Party group became large enough to form a Party committee in 2008. It was the second in Suzhou Industrial Park. Our general manager is also very supportive. He even allocated a meeting room for our Party committee," Chen said proudly.

Chen and her Party committee members share thoughts on the latest development of the Communist Party of China during meetings. They also carry out team-building exercises as well as charitable activities.