Letting their feet do the talking for charity
Print Edition
More than 400 employees from Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals Ltd participated in the annual Roche Children’s Walk in Century Park on June 18 as the bio-tech company continues to deliver aid and support for the disadvantaged.
“Roche Children’s Walk is one of the most important public services activities sponsored by Roche, showcasing our long-term commitment to sustainable development. It truly shows what’s deep inside in each of our employees,” said Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals General Manger Hong Chow.
“By organizing and encouraging this kind of public service activity, we hope the good deeds of our employees will help raise awareness among a wider audience so that more people will learn about AIDS orphans,” he said.
Roche believes it’s not only the donation that matters.
AIDS orphans also need actual companionship to open their hearts. The company’s program offers a caring hand to these children.
Roche Children’s Walk is a heritage program since the Swiss company first launched the campaign in 2003 to support vulnerable children in underdeveloped regions.
Each year on June 16, Roche employees at more than 130 company sites around the world show their solidarity with children in need by raising funds through sponsored walks.
Over 150,000 employees from the 130 Roche company sites have participated over the years, joining in a common cause.
Since 2003, five orphan centers have been equipped in Malawi, providing 5.6 million meals and 30,000 school uniforms.
With 62 percent of the population living below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day and 790,000 children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS, Roche said its goal is to foster long-term sustainable change by providing food, education, practical skills training and health promotion for poverty-stricken children.
Globally, as much as 12.5 million Swiss francs (US$13.4 million) have been raised since 2003.
In China, money raised from Roche’s Children’s Walk is used to fund projects for orphans in Tongren City in Guizhou Province, through the Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STD and AIDS.
Shang Xiangqun, an employee with Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals and an ambassador of Roche, said extending a helping hand to these children and seeing the heartfelt results are a rewarding experience.
Shang visited Tongren City in 2013 and 2014, after being elected as a Roche ambassador in 2009, and he visited Malawi with a dozen other ambassadors from Roche affiliates.
“The trip to Malawi made me more determined than ever to continue to participate in the Children’s Walk campaign,” he told Shanghai Daily. “I’d like to call upon more of our colleagues to join the Children’s Walk and strengthen contributions to vulnerable children in need of help.”
Since 2012, a representative group of employees has been visiting Tongren City on an annual basis to visit local orphans and organize activities for them.
The orphans in the program receive daily expenses, medical subsidies and other incidental expenditures until they turn 18.
“We appreciate the continuous efforts from companies like Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals in raising awareness of AIDS orphans,” said Wang Yumin, president of the Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STD and AIDS. “We hope to establish partnerships of this kind with more companies and organizations.”
He added, “With more participants not only from Roche but also from all walks of life, we hope to build up a long-term program to provide sustainable help for the kids.”
Currently about 250 AIDS orphans are in need of help in Tongren City, and the Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STD and AIDS last year offered subsidies to 161 of them.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, as many as 78,000 children have become orphans in China because of AIDS.
The Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STD and AIDS said it is also organizing regular visits by psychiatrists to Tongren City to help the children.
“We are also thinking of organizing psychiatry training programs for local doctors so that they can also offer counseling for orphans,” Wang said. “Only by improving their living situation can AIDS orphans grow up in a healthy and caring environment.”
In China, the number of people affected by HIV has been estimated at around 810,000, with about one-third of them unregistered.
In underdeveloped regions, patients with the disease often leave their hometowns to work as migrant workers. Children, most of whom are not HIV positive, are often left behind, unattended.
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