About one-quarter of vulnerable families served by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) have been financially affected since the start of a domestic COVID-19 outbreak in May, the organization said yesterday.
The incomes of 6,959 families supported by the group were impacted by a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, which lasted from May 19 to July 26, it said.
As of the end of December last year, the organization was serving 60,766 children from 27,530 economically disadvantaged families, including 46,770 children who were receiving financial aid from the fund, according to its Web site.
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many changes as well as challenges and difficulties to people’s lives, jobs and well-being, TFCF social resources department director Lin Hsiu-feng (林秀鳳) told an online news conference.
The fund’s social workers have made frequent telephone and video calls to stay in contact with the children, adolescents and families it assists, she said.
Tutoring lessons offered by the group have also moved online, she added.
Amid the outbreak, the fund gave out NT$26 million (US$933,640) in emergency relief to families, she said.
It also provided 2,800 tablet computers to meet a shortage of devices needed by students for digital learning, she said.
From January to June, donations to the organization’s emergency relief, student aid and scholarship funds have experienced a deficit of about NT$51 million, she said.
Compared with the same period last year, this was a decrease of about 35 percent, she said.
As school is about to start on Sept. 1, children supported by the fund would be faced with even more challenges, she said, urging people to donate to the organization’s End Poverty campaign.
An online survey TFCF released yesterday showed that 52.8 percent of people have made donations digitally.
The survey, which was conducted from April 4 to May 16, showed that 56.1 percent of people said they usually learn about the fundraising efforts of social welfare organizations through their official Web sites, Facebook or Instagram.
Although the overall amount of donations to the fund has fallen amid the pandemic, the number of people supporting the charity through digital means is increasing, it said.
The survey collected 1,492 valid questionnaires and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points, it said.
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
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
RSS