The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) held its annual award ceremony in Taipei yesterday to confer its Golden Support Awards on individuals for making donations to help children from low-income families — support they themselves received in their childhoods.
Much of the focus was on baseball star Lin Chih-sheng (林智勝), one of the award recipients, who was overcome by emotions and teared up when the TFCF arranged a surprise for him by allowing him to see his childhood benefactor, doctor Huang Cheng-hsun (黃正勳), via a pre-recorded videotape.
Huang sponsored Lin through the TFCF program for six years from middle to high school.
Lin said he was brought up by his paternal grandparents because his parents divorced when he was very young.
“I grew up in very poor conditions and my grandparents made a living by growing vegetables,” he said.
“I was an active kid and had to eat all the time. They often had difficulties feeding me,” Lin added, adding that at elementary school, when his classmate were eating their lunches, he would often asked them whether they could save some for him.
Lin is now a star shortstop for the Lamigo Monkeys in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The Monkeys team rewarded Lin’s standout performance with a five-year contract worth NT$30 million (US$1 million) in 2011.
Lin has not forgotten TFCF’s support during his childhood and is himself now sponsoring a number of children on a long term basis.
Lin had tried to find his benefactor, but had been unsuccessful, until yesterday’s event.
In the video, Huang, who could not attend in person because he was giving free medical diagnoses at a temple in Greater Taichung, told Lin: “The support I gave you in the past was just a small help. I hope you can pass on this love to other people.”
“I shall pass the love I received on to others. I will strive to play ball the best I can and to repay the goodwill back to society,” a teary-eyed Lin said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
RSS