Charity calls for donations to buy food for financially disadvantaged

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) An annual fundraising campaign launched by a Taipei-based charity to solicit allowances and provide food for financially disadvantaged people around Taiwan has only reached 40 percent of its goal this year.

In a recent statement, the Zenan Homeless Social Welfare Foundation cited the recent cold spell and expressed concern about poverty-stricken people starving due to the campaign raising insufficient funding.

The foundation plans to hand "gift packages" -- supplies of food -- and "red envelopes" to homeless people, single mothers, destitute seniors, and students from financially disadvantaged families across the country from Jan. 13-24 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Jan. 25.

Each "gift package" is NT$800 (US$24.37), and each "red envelope" is NT$600, the foundation said, calling on the public to support the campaign.

People can make donations on the foundation's website (https://reurl.cc/Eg6enm), call (02)2836-1600, ext. 293, or by a postal transfer to Zenan Homeless Social Welfare Foundation's (人安基金會) account 19695227.