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KFC China, a unit of Yum China Holdings Inc, donated 3.5 million yuan ($503,887) to the China Children and Teenagers' Fund in late November, which aims to provide care for Chinese migrant children and those who get left-behind in rural villages.
Part of the funding will be used to set up 1,000 reading nooks for left-behind children in communities supported by the CCTF and the All-China Women's Federation, according to KFC. The rest will be allocated to hold storytelling gatherings at KFC restaurants, and to organize winter camps and reading sessions.
KFC China CEO Joey Wat said at the launch ceremony that the donation aimed to benefit about 600,000 kids nationwide in the first year.
"We hope to establish a national public welfare platform for rural left-behind kids and migrant children, who need special care and protection," Wat said.
"The fund will offer them a better environment for their growth through reading, art and sports activities."
Zhu Xisheng, secretary-general of the CCTF, said that in rural China there were an increasing number of children left behind at home and living with their grandparents or other relatives, as their parents went to work in the cities.
"The fund will enhance parents' awareness so that they can spend more time with their kids, " Zhu said.
"I hope more companies like KFC will fulfill their social responsibility."
CCTF, established in 1981, has been striving to improve education and welfare among young people across the country, especially those in rural and ethnic minority areas.
The healthy growth and development of left-behind children has become a major social issue.
Their numbers totaled 9.2 million in China in July 2016, according to an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The nationwide investigation, which started in March 2016, calculated the number of young people under the age of 16 with a rural household registration, whose parents were migrant workers.
One of them was 11-year-old Wang Siqi who lives in Shanxi province with her grandparents, while her mother works in Beijing and her father works in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
"My best memory is my parents and I reading and painting together at home. But that was such a long time ago that I can't recall when we did it," Wang said.
"I hope my parents can spare more time to spend weekends with me in reading, painting and making handicrafts."
KFC China invited actress Mei Ting and actor Dong Zijian to be charity ambassadors of the fund. At the ceremony, they read and recorded stories for the children.
Fang Wenyu contributed to this story.
jingshuiyu@chinadaily.com.cn
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Children read books at a book release event in a KFC restaurant in Beijing. Yuan Yi / For China Daily |
