​

Despite the fact that the primary focus of the Foundation’s work has shifted in recent years to the lower mainland of Vancouver, the Foundation often has donors who wish to support children’s projects in China. Due to the difficulty in overseeing projects which are far away from the Foundation’s home base in Vancouver, the Foundation has been fairly restricted in its ability to support projects in China.

 

The Foundation continues to review project proposals from China, though a  high and strict standard is maintained in assessing the Board members’ ability to oversee the projects before any funding is approved.

​

SUNRISE IREAD PROJECT (2017 to present)

There is a significant imbalance in access to reading resources between urban and rural children in China: rural children represent 70% of the population but have access to only 11.1% of the books accessible by children living in the cities.

Sunrise Library is a Shanghai based not-for-profit organization started by a group of volunteers determined to address the imbalance. They started in 2005 setting up libraries in village schools benefiting Grade 4-6 students in earthquake-stricken Wenchuan in Sichuan province. As of June 2017 they had successfully established 15 libraries in schools in 5 provinces.

The Foundation started a partnership with Sunrise in 2017 based on our common mission to improve the education of less privileged children. We appreciate Sunrise’s model of operations which is not limited to stocking libraries with books. Sunrise ensures the sustained effectiveness of these libraries by the following measures:

1. they select schools where there is strong commitment from the principal and local government for the project;

2. they organize training camps in Shanghai for village school teachers to impart skills and methods aimed at fostering the children’s love for reading and to lay the foundations of critical reasoning;

3. and their volunteers conduct site visits to the village schools to evaluate the performance of the teachers and the impact to the children.

 

2017-2019

in 2017 the Foundation connected Sunrise Library with professional librarians in Canada who were friends of the Foundation to provide consultation on library setup, book selection and categorization.

 

Starting with the 2017-2018 school year, the Foundation provided financial support to set up the iRead Project in Dajing Elementary School in Henan Province. Since then, five village school teachers attended Sunrise training camp in Shanghai and returned to Dajing to deliver approximately 50 iRead classes benefiting over 300 students. Reading corners were set up in classrooms managed by student librarians.  The Foundation’s directors paid visits to Dajing in the summer and fall of 2018 and witnessed first-hand the positive impact iRead had on the teachers as well as the students. Teachers and parents started to notice that the children spent less time on video games and were more attentive to school work. The students, as well, were demonstrating independent thinking in the book reports submitted.

In 2019, the Foundation increased its funding to the Sunrise iRead program to launch the program in another school called Luzhuang Elementary School.

2020-2024

Due to the lockdown measures that were ordered by the government to combat Covid-19 viruses from 2020 to 2022, Sunrise had to curtail its activities in teachers’ training and on-site project evaluations, but the reading programs and libraries were operating as well as they could have under the circumstances.

 

After the lifting of the lockdown measures in January 2023, Sunrise had made a pledge to open up more new schools in the year. In response to an appeal from Sunrise, the Foundation agreed to fund Can $30,000 to start the iRead program in three new school in the remote region of Enshi in Hubei Province.

 

In 2024, the Foundation continued to support the iRead program by providing Can$20,000 of funding to two schools, one in Yangwan of Henan Province and another one in Luozhentian of Hubei Province.
 

 

PAST PROJECTS IN CHINA

 

2014-2019

CIWEI CHILDREN’S CHOIR IN SHEN ZHEN

The children of migrant workers in China are usually severely disadvantaged. They are unable to attend the regular public schools because they do not have resident’s status in the cities. The private schools they attend are usually poorly funded and many of these children are not expected to attend senior high school after graduating from Grade 9. 

​

Ciwei is an NGO in Shen Zhen which manages community service centre operations in a few locations in Guangdong Province on contract with the local governments. It started a children’s choir in Da Peng in 2007 but operations were suspended due to a lack of funding.

​

Our Foundation started supporting the Ciwei Children’s choir in 2014. Our goal was to help many of the migrant children to become better people, and to be able to better manage their lives in society. The children’s choir encourages positive changes in the children’s social and behavioral development through music and group activities. Singing raises the children’s interest in music as well as helping improve their verbal ability. Group activities allowed them to develop social skills, and public performances helped improve the children’s self- confidence and self-discipline.

​

In addition to choir practice and performances, the choir members attended a series of personal development education classes covering a range of topics such as interpersonal skills, understanding oneself, how to be a good listener, how to say no politely, understanding and respecting others, personal hygiene, proper etiquette and social ethics.

 

Unfortunately this project was terminated permanently after several years of suspension. Through its six-year history, the Ciwei Children’s Choir funded by our Foundation remained the only children’s choir in Shen Zhen established for the benefit of the children of migrant workers. We were proud of the joy it had brought to these children during the five years.

​

2001 to 2015
THE PAUL AND EILEEN LIN ENDOWMENT TRUST AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

 

In the fall of 2001, the Foundation’s founders Professor Paul Lin and Mrs. Lin donated $190,000, and the Foundation raised $110,000 to set up the Paul and Eileen Lin Endowment Trust. Income from the endowment trust were disbursed to talented students who were otherwise not able to attend senior high schools.

 

​The Foundation also saw the need for a scholarship program, and established a Senior High School Scholarship Program from 2003 to 2011. We hoped that our scholarship programs could change the lives of young people by assisting them to pursue higher education. Through the provision of assistance to these students at an early age, we also hoped to promote the concept of giving and caring for the less privileged.

 

The Foundation engaged Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation and China Soong Ching Ling Foundation in Beijing as our local agents. They helped us to identify senior high schools in four of the most impoverished regions in China as the recipients of the financial aid from the Foundation. In total, there were 7 schools that received scholarship funds from the Foundation.

​

​A most heart-warming moment came in spring of 2010, when Board member Marian Leung was visiting Wu Dan No1. Middle School in Inner Mongolia. She met with one of the scholarship recipients from 2002-2005, Ms. Zhang Wei Hua, who had recently graduated from the University of Inner Mongolia’s English Department and had chosen to go back to her alma mater to teach with a “grateful heart.” Ms. Zhang said that the scholarship gave her hope during a time when she was in despair due to her family’s financial difficulties and her severe health issues. Receiving the scholarship helped her to regain her confidence and provided her with the motivation to study hard. Ms. Zhang is proof that the scholarship achieved its dual purpose of not only providing talented students with access to higher education but also inspiring the young people to learn to help others.

​

Termination of the Endowment Trust in 2015

In July 2012 the trustees, who were also Board members of the Foundation, made a decision to discontinue the high-school scholarship program with a six-month advance notice to the schools. The decision was based on the fact that the schools were then more properly funded and that it was difficult for the trustees to maintain close supervision of the administration of the funds that are disbursed in China.

​

In 2015, satisfied with due diligence that was performed, the Endowment Trust distributed its capital to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to establish the Endowment Fund for a ‘Paul and Eileen Lin Grant” to support a student outreach program called “Connect”. This program aims to enrich student learning and raise their social awareness through service workshops, held twice a year in China.

​

2006-2009
THE STARS AND RAIN EDUCATION INSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Between 2006 and 2009, SCLCFC provided support in a number of ways to the Stars and Rain Education Institute for Children with Autism ("Stars and Rain", or "S&R"), a nongovernmental organization located near Beijing, China. The Stars and Rain Institute was founded in 1993 by Tian Huiping.  It was the first, and for a long time, the only organization in China providing teaching and training for children with autism and their families. In 2007, Stars and Rain initiated the establishment of the Heart Alliance, a network of nonprofit organizations that help children with autism, which allowed education provided to Stars and Rain to be spread throughout China. In no small part because of the efforts of Stars and Rain, the understanding of autism, and knowledge for teaching children with autism, have spread throughout China, and children with autism now have far more educational opportunities there. 

​

In 2008 and 2009, the Foundation sponsored two five-day workshops on Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and Verbal Behaviour Approach (VBA) to teaching children with autism for teachers from Stars & Rain and other organizations affiliated with the Heart Alliance. Both workshops were led by Dr. Suzanne Jacobsen, a leading North American specialist in autism. Each workshop was attended by over 60 teachers. The Foundation provided financial aid to the S&R to provide a bursary to teachers attending workshops from remote areas.

 

In 2009 Stars and Rain received a substantial grant from the prestigious Jet Li One Foundation, in recognition of its sterling reputation and key role in addressing the needs of children with autism.​

 

2000
HELPED REBUILD A SCHOOL IN HEBEI PROVINCE
Funded the rebuilding of a school in Luan Ping County, He Bei Province to the northeast of Beijing, China, for 400 students, Grades One through Nine.

​

1999
FUNDED THE BUILDING OF A LIBRARY IN NING XIA
Funded the addition of a community library at the Chi Ying Middle School in Ning Xia, which SCLCFC helped to rebuild in 1994.

​

1998
POETRY PROJECT
Provided some funding to a Chinese Poetry Project in China to encourage children to understand and appreciate the ancient art of Chinese poetry.

​

1998
AN HUI PROVINCE SCHOLARSHIPS
Provided funding to supporta Scholarship Fund for outstanding teachers and students in An Hui Province, China.

 

1995
CHILD EDUCATION OUTREACH
Provided funding to support an Outreach Program in Child Education, administered through the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation.

 

1994
FUNDED THE REBUILDING OF A SCHOOL IN NING XIA
Funded the rebuilding of a school to benefit 1,300 children in Gui Yuan County of Ning Xia Autonomous Region in north central China.

​

1993
HELPED ESTABLISH A RESEARCH CENTRE
Helped establish the SCL Child Development Research Centre in Shanghai, China.

 

 

​