IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Bank aids orphans, elderly

Standard Chartered Bank (China) Limited has signed a reconstruction project agreement with the Mianzhu municipal government recently to donate 10 million yuan to rebuild the Mianzhu Social Welfare Center, which was damaged during the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.

The new Social Welfare Centre will house around 200 orphans and elderly people. The reconstruction project will begin next month and is expected to be completed in mid-2009.

400 million yuan from HKJC

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) will spend 400 million yuan on four projects to assist reconstruction efforts in the earthquake-devastated province of Sichuan, the organization says.

The projects, involving three schools and one hospital, are to be completed within 27 months and will benefit more than 1 million people annually. Those to benefit from the projects include 17,000 hospital inpatients, 260,000 to 350,000 outpatients, and more than 10,000 students and their families in Sichuan.

Golf helps AIDS orphans

The 2008 Gary Player Invitational in Shanghai, co-hosted by Coca-Cola (China) Beverages Limited, was held on November 3-4 in Shanghai and funds raised during the event will be donated to the Chinese Foundation for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS in direct support of the AIDS-impacted orphans program in Yunnan province.

Coca-Cola (China) started the sponsorship program for AIDS orphans in 2006. More than 800 children currently benefit from the company's charity fund.

Bank card for charity

China Merchants Bank (CMB) and the One Foundation will jointly issue an affinity card, the CMB One Foundation Affinity Card.

According to CMB, the card will take the cardholders' donations as the criteria for upgrading their credit line instead of the traditional measures of assets and income. In addition, the card has extended the core value of One Foundation to unite the cardholders, the bank, and businesses. The three parties can not only donate money, but cardholders can also join "One Day Volunteer" activities.

AmEx temple repair

Aided by a donation from American Express, the World Monuments Fund has launched a program in China for the repair and maintenance work to Puning Temple - the Temple of Universal Peace - in Chengde, Hebei province.

American Express has donated $80,000 through the American Express Heritage Protection Partnership initiative for the repair of the two Buddhist statues cited as the world's tallest wooden sculpture of the Bodhisattva.

(China Daily 11/17/2008 page8)