Chamber gets more donations for orphans

The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China expects donations to the chamber’s charity program to increase this year, allowing more orphaned children to receive medical treatment.

The program funded the treatment of 50 children in 2010 and 100 children last year, all at the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, said President Harley Seyedin at a press conference on Thursday.

The donations, that last year totaled 1.4 million yuan ($22,438), all go through the Guangzhou Youth Development Foundation.

In this year’s program, which is also in partnership with the Guangzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, material donations will be distributed in Zhangdongkeng village in Guangzhou on November 29.

With donations from the chamber’s program and some other charities, the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center has been able to treat about 2,000 children, most of whom were born with heart disease, said Wang Hongtao, deputy director of the center.

After the treatment some abandoned children were reunited with their parents who the hospital had been able to locate, Seyedin said.