Without this service my son might have died," repeats Wang
Baoqiang, a middle-aged man in the Heping District of Shenyang,
capital of Liaoning
Province, overwhelmed with emotion as he tells of the support
his six-year-old son, born with a heart defect, receives from the
local poverty-relief supermarket.
The assistance now offered to Wang's family and others goes far
beyond the supermarket's original function of simply coordinating
the donation and distribution of goods to people in need.
The supermarket helps Wang and his wife, both laid-off workers,
apply for medical aid from the local government, so their child can
get the lifesaving treatment he needs.
The boy, Wang Zhihua, underwent a successful operation early
this February. It cost about 40,000 yuan (US$4,932), a figure Wang
and his wife would never have been able to raise alone.
Local authorities, recently, announced they would expand the
function of poverty-relief supermarkets from purely material aid to
information consultation.
"In the past, the poverty-relief supermarkets provided food,
clothes and TVs. In the future, they will provide many more kinds
of help for low-income families," said Xue Heng, chief of Liaoning
Province's civil administration department.
To get the consultation service up and running, the pioneer
supermarket is looking for volunteers experienced in fields like
education, medical care and law.
"We are in great need of qualified volunteers who need to be
friendly, communicative and intelligent," said Niu Yi, head of the
supermarket in Heping District.
Lin Muxi, a professor at Liaoning University, hailed the new
relief efforts.
"They provide for the needs of the disadvantaged," explained
Lin.
As low-income allowance has increased in recent years, many more
people are able to support their own material needs, said Lin. What
is needed most is help and consultation securing education, medical
treatment and housing.
The province's first poverty-relief supermarket was set up in
2002 to help low-income families.
According to the local civil administration department, Liaoning
has established 1,279 such supermarkets in its major cities.
Communities and individual donors have played an active role in
expanding the project of building poverty-relief supermarkets in
the province.
(China Daily October 21, 2005)