Why does the school do this? Another reader reported that before the donation, the Mountain Boundary Central School held a meeting for middle-level leaders. At the meeting, the head of the central school said: According to the notice from higher-ups, this donation is different from previous ones. It's a on-site donation by the donors, who will directly give the money to the students receiving aid. Since there were certain expenses incurred during the process of obtaining this love scholarship, along with some labor fees and other issues, after the donation ceremony ends, we need to collect the red envelopes from the students who received donations. There are 60 people across the whole town, each receiving 500 yuan in donations, and 300 yuan is taken out from each person, making a total of 18,000 yuan used for labor fees and various expenses. On the morning of December 14th, Ms. Su came to the site of the Mountain Boundary Hui Ethnic Township to make the donation. After the donation ceremony ended, the class teachers of Luobai and Mountain Boundary schools were ordered to collect the red envelopes, taking out 300 yuan from each student's donation, totaling 18,000 yuan, which was then handed over to the central school. After the students reported it, due to media inquiries, the head of the central school realized the situation was not good and immediately issued a notice, requiring Luobai and Mountain Boundary schools to create some more student lists, giving each student 100 yuan. The remaining money was given to the students of two kindergartens.
Student reflection: Love donations being embezzled
Love donations call for standardized management
At the end of 2011, our newspaper received a report from a student:
"Is Aunt Su just putting on a show to fool us? Afterwards, I asked classmates from the Mountain Boundary School side, and they were the same as me - all those who received 500 yuan had 300 yuan taken away. Where did this 300 yuan go? On the afternoon of December 16th, the teacher again had us sign for receiving 200 yuan. We were very confused; we received the on-site donation, so why do we still have to sign? Although we are poor, we also have self-respect and cannot allow others to take away our scholarship money for free. We sincerely invite all levels of the media to pay attention to us, these pitiful impoverished students, and don't taint Aunt Su's love for us."
The urgent need for standardized management of civilian love donations
"I am a junior high school student at Luobai Nine-Year Compulsory Education School in Mountain Boundary Hui Ethnic Township. On December 14th, I accepted a donation from Aunt Su from Hong Kong on-site. At the time, I saw 500 yuan cash in the red envelope, and I couldn't be happier or more grateful. But as soon as the donation ceremony ended, the homeroom teacher collected our red envelopes. I felt very sad at the time, almost shedding tears. Later, when the teacher returned the red envelope to me, there was only 200 yuan inside. The teacher told us that the other 300 yuan was handed over to the central school."
Longhui County is a national-level impoverished county, and has received much care from all sectors of society. Various forms of love donations from civilians continue to come in. This is originally a good thing, but during interviews, some officials also expressed their difficulties to the reporter: because of concerns about donations being embezzled, many philanthropists do not transfer their donations to relevant departments' accounts, but instead personally deliver them to the designated recipients. Relevant government departments, in order to express respect for the philanthropists, need to welcome and send them off, and sometimes even ask the media for publicity, which indeed increases human and material resources. Once, for arranging a donation activity, relevant departments spent more than ten thousand yuan on meals and accommodations alone. With such incidents happening frequently, even good deeds become difficult to handle.
The responsible person stated that the Mountain Boundary Hui Ethnic Township belongs to a provincially-designated ethnic minority impoverished township. The entire township has 1,186 impoverished students, among whom 582 are extremely impoverished. Recently, Ms. Su from Hong Kong held a live donation event for impoverished students at the school. At the time, she distributed 500 yuan to each of 51 extremely impoverished students and 100 yuan to each of 150 impoverished students, totaling donations to 201 people, amounting to 40,500 yuan. Due to the large number of impoverished students in the school and the significant disparity in donation standards, parents of students who did not receive help were eager and had strong opinions. In order to help more impoverished students, the school, after obtaining agreement from relevant leaders of the county Overseas Chinese Association, expanded the number of assisted impoverished students from 201 to 354, and accordingly adjusted the standards, reducing the extremely impoverished students' 500 yuan to 200 yuan. The adjusted donation funds of 15,300 yuan were distributed to another 153 impoverished students, with each receiving 100 yuan.
In mid-January, reporters went to the Mountain Boundary Township Central School in Longhui County for an interview. The school's responsible person explained that the school indeed collected part of the students' donations, but it wasn't intended to embezzle the money for expenses. This fundraising was organized by the county Overseas Chinese Association, and the school itself did not spend any money on it. Collecting the donations back was mainly for redistribution to help more people.
Relevant persons in charge of the Mountain Boundary Hui Ethnic Township Party Committee and government told reporters that after receiving reports of students' donations being embezzled, the Mountain Boundary Hui Ethnic Township Party Committee and government took it very seriously and immediately organized township disciplinary inspection, supervision, and related personnel to investigate the distribution of student scholarships, confirming the situation as stated by the school. The main reason for the misunderstanding was mainly due to the haste of this activity, and the central school did not conduct detailed propaganda and explanation work to the faculty and students.
By now, investigating the original intentions of the school collecting back the donations has lost its significance. However, the problems revealed by this incident are thought-provoking: The school's redistribution of donations was aimed at helping more people, but does the school have the right to arbitrarily change the donor's wishes? How can we ensure that the donated money truly goes to those in need after the generous contributions from the philanthropists? Currently, as civilian love donations become increasingly popular, corresponding supervision and management mechanisms have not been established. Moral integrity, conscience, and love alone are far from enough. Love donations call for standardized management; otherwise, there is a possibility of being embezzled.
School response: Not embezzlement, but redistribution to help more people
Behind the "embezzlement" of love donations
People are calling for the establishment of a standardized management mechanism for love donations, clarifying the rights and obligations of donors and recipients, establishing a supervision mechanism for the delivery and use of raised funds and goods, standardizing administrative supervision and adjustment mechanisms for civilian love donations, and stipulating the legal responsibilities of all parties involved, etc. Only in this way can civilian love donations develop healthily and warm more people.
Recently, a donation incident that occurred at the Mountain Boundary Hui Ethnic Township Central School in Longhui County sparked controversy due to non-standard operations, causing a stir, and all parties involved feel aggrieved. After investigation, the reporter strongly feels that civilian love donations urgently need standardized management.