Primary school students are tasting the "Free Lunch" (By Wang Ping) Yesterday morning at around 11 o'clock, the first station of Jiangxi's "Free Lunch" program officially started at Chuan Cang Primary School in Xiushui, with funds donated by tens of thousands of netizens. This means that all 145 primary school students at Chuan Cang Primary School located deep in the mountains can now enjoy free and delicious lunches. Notably, these donations come from countless netizens across the country who have contributed small amounts such as 3 yuan, 6 yuan... These streams of small contributions have accumulated to provide children with growth-promoting lunches.
Students in the mountains eat lunch with pickled vegetables
Chuan Cang Primary School is located deep in the mountains on the border between Jiangxi and Hubei provinces. It was formed by merging three administrative village schools and is 73 kilometers away from the county seat. The local villagers still mainly use horse-drawn carts and donkey carts as their primary means of transportation, making traffic extremely backward. Chuan Cang Primary School serves multiple surrounding villages, with some students having to walk more than 10 miles each day and spending over three hours commuting to and from school. Some students have to bring rice, pickled vegetables, and bean sauce for lunch.
To solve the eating problem for impoverished children in remote mountain areas, on April 2, 2011, journalists such as Deng Fei, editor-in-chief and director of the Phoenix Weekly editorial department, initiated the "Free Lunch" plan through Weibo, which received a positive response from netizens across the country. The China Social Welfare Education Foundation has set up a dedicated donation channel for "Free Lunch," and Taobao.com has opened an official charity donation channel, calling on everyone to donate 3 yuan daily to provide free lunches for impoverished students. Since its launch, hundreds of thousands of netizens have actively participated, raising more than 17 million yuan in donations, providing free lunches for students in impoverished mountainous areas in five provinces: Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Henan, and Guangdong.
The revolutionary old area gets its first "Free Lunch"
Yesterday, at Chuan Cang Primary School, I saw that the temporary makeshift kitchen had disappeared, replaced by a newly built one, where 145 students were enjoying the "Free Lunch." I met Zhang Baozhen, a first-grade girl. Her photo holding a white porcelain bowl while eating, with pure eyes, was posted on Weibo and shocked many netizens because she looks strikingly similar to actress Zhou Xun, earning her the nickname "Little Zhou Xun."
Famous Sichuan-born poet and painter Wang Qibo even painted her portrait, which was auctioned online on August 9th to support the Free Lunch activity. Finally, the artwork was purchased by a Chongqing-based philanthropic entrepreneur named "Taiyang Guanghui0830" for 30,000 yuan. According to the arrangements of the Free Lunch Fund Committee, this 30,000 yuan will be used as start-up capital to fully support the Free Lunch activity at Chuan Cang Primary School, marking the project's first station in our province.
Love donations keep flowing into Chuan Cang Primary School
It is understood that apart from the 100,000 yuan allocated by the Xiushui County Education Bureau for building a new kitchen and the 10,000 yuan allocated by the Dachun Township Government to improve student bedding at Chuan Cang Primary School, on August 26th, a Shanghai-based female philanthropist purchased 100,000 yuan worth of love lunches at the Free Lunch Taobao Charity Store, specifically donating them to Chuan Cang Primary School. Deputy Secretary-General of the Free Lunch Fund, Dang Jun, told reporters that another Shanghai-based female philanthropist has also joined the donation team, directly donating 2 tons of rice to Chuan Cang Primary School.
In addition, there are also charitable enterprises donating spiritual nourishment to Chuan Cang Primary School. Currently, Chuan Cang Primary School has received 2,000 books and bookshelves, desks, and chairs donated by the Xiangjiang Social Rescue Foundation.
It is understood that the Xiangjiang Social Rescue Foundation was established in June 2005 by Xiangjiang Group and is China's first national-level non-public fundraising foundation.
"Delivering good free lunches, nurturing the future of our country." Standing Minister of Publicity Department of the Provincial Party Committee, Chen Dongyou, gladly inscribed for the Free Lunch Jiangxi Project event. "This is a good thing, it should be supported," said Chen Dongyou.