Chamber offers helping hand to children hu meidong

"We will have a sweet dream tonight, because we have saved two lives," Harley Seyedin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, which is known as AmCham South China, said during a charity visit in 2014 to Zhangdongkeng village, Zengcheng district in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

During the trip two children were diagnosed with congenital heart disease during a free medical checkup. They were fortunate enough to be saved after immediate surgery was provided by the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, paid for through funds raised by AmCham South China.

The chamber started its annual charity program in 2010 with a "Help the Kids" charity concert, and the program aims to attract more attention and care for orphaned children and villagers in poverty.

In the past six years, the program has received tremendous support from Mead Johnson Nutrition China, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Charity Association, Guangzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and Guangzhou Youth Development Foundation.

The chamber has organized a charity visit to an impoverished village every year since 2011, taking a medical team from the medical center, and business and community leaders, including executives from multinational corporations.

And each year the delegation distributes in-kind donations collected from AmCham member companies during its visits to the impoverished villages. The chamber also brings investors looking for opportunities to help with sustainable development of the villages.

The cash and in-kind donations have exceeded 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) and the charity program has saved the lives of 94 poor children through immediate medical procedures and has raised three villages above the poverty line.

"We want to give back to the community in which we live and work, and we are happy to see progress take place," said chamber president Seyedin, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. "There is still a lot we need to do."

Seyedin was awarded the Thomas Jefferson "Peace Through Commerce" Medal in 2013. It is the highest honor awarded by the US Department of Commerce and has been awarded to fewer than 20 individuals since it was initiated by Jefferson in 1790.

The annual charity program run by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, starts again in October.

humeidong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/08/2016 page10)