IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Funds for children

US-based Amway Corp donated 300,000 yuan this month to a new SOS Children's Village in Beijing.

The Beijing facility is the 10th SOS Children's Village to open in China.

The nonprofit villages operate in several countries, providing family services and also long-term housing for children without parents or whose parents can no longer care for them.

Amway has donated money and services valued at more than 300,000 yuan to the other nine SOS Children's Villages in China.

Employees at the multi-level marketing company also regularly volunteer at the villages.

Education support

The Baosteel Education Fund has donated more than 100 million yuan to education projects in China since 1980, State-owned Baosteel Group Corp reported.

The funds have helped build schools in rural areas, provided scholarships to poor students and also supported training programs for teachers, the company said.

Students for charity

The China Youth Development Foundation awarded 10,000 yuan as start-up capital to each of 44 social charity programs designed by the country's university students.

The program was designed to help students initiate the programs they designed, and also to encourage more students to devote time to charity projects.

The foundation also will provide mentors to help the students develop their projects, the foundation said.

Earthquake victims

Yokohama Rubber donated 2 million yuan to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation to help provide continuing medical treatment for children injured in the Sichuan earthquake.

The Japanese tire maker said funds also would be used to provide psychological counseling to the children and their families.

(China Daily 07/13/2009 page8)