Church´s rice campaign helps victims of financial crisis

Published Date: April 8, 2009

Kaohsiung diocese has started giving rice to families of laid-off workers as an unprecedented wave of job cuts due to the global financial crisis swelled the ranks of the unemployed.

Rice being distributed to needy families

Dominic Kao Hung-po, 60, organizer of the Daily Bread donation drive, said volunteers have already distributed 1.5 tons of rice to 200 families not yet on government subsidies, in the first two weeks of the campaign.The campaign, launched on March 18, will continue as long as the need exists, the self-employed layperson said.

According to Taiwan government statistics, the number of unemployed in February soared to 624,000, an increase of 46,000 compared with January. The unemployment rate presently stands at 5.8 percent in the territory, which has a population of 23 million.

Kao and about a dozen volunteers from the southern coastal city had visited 30 public primary schools in the diocese to enquire if students´ families are in need because of recent unemployment or loss of the family breadwinner.

“The teachers know their students well and can provide us with necessary information” to help families not yet receiving government subsidies, said Kao, who is also a member of the Commission for Lay Apostolate in the diocese.

Kao, who proposed the idea of the donation campaign to Bishop Peter Liu Cheng-chung of Kaohsiung, recalled similar situations 50 years ago when Taiwanese had to rely on foreign aid as the island´s economy was still undeveloped.

Now that the territory has advanced economically, “we should help our people to get over this difficult time,” Kao said, adding that Taiwan is probably experiencing its worst phase of unemployment in recent decades.

Most of the Daily Bread donations were in cash, but some donors also contributed rice, he noted.

Donors included public organizations and private companies, Catholic legislators, the Taiwan Catholic Mission Foundation and other Church organizations.

People who are not Catholics are also supporting the campaign, said Kao. Many of them have children studying at Church-run schools, who had passed the donation appeal to their parents, Kao revealed.

With the money, campaign volunteers gave each recipient family a three-kilogram rice package costing NT$125 (US$3.70). Volunteers also lent a listening ear to families who wanted to talk about their difficulties, and also encouraged them to turn to their nearest parish for further assistance.

Before the start of the campaign, Bishop Liu, 57, issued an appeal to Catholics stressing that during Lent, in addition to prayers, fasting and abstinence, Catholics should also do charitable work.

The prelate pointed out that factories and companies have closed as a result of the economic recession, and even for those still employed, many have had to take unpaid leave.

People are finding it a struggle to meet daily expenses, such as paying for their children´s school fees and house rent, he added.

“Helping people in need,” he pointed out, is a way to show them that there is still “love in society, and hope in life.”

Bishop Liu urged people of goodwill, religious groups, business and other sectors of society to sponsor rice or donate money so that the newly unemployed and their families would not need to worry about their next meal.

Meanwhile, Kao said he hopes to spread the campaign to the six other dioceses in Taiwan.

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