Light up a Life | Fundraising for Disadvantaged Children in Rural Areas
The 38th Light up a Life Fundraising Campaign is officially launched today on the 8th of December with a lighting ceremony at the CTBC Financial Park in Nangang District, Taipei City. People who joined the ceremony were excited to see the 13-metered tall “invincible star Christmas tree,” and the action figures Little Fire Kid and Fire Dragon to whom they shouted “Super cute!” With the title of winning the Taiwan Series of Professional Chinese Baseball League for two consecutive years, CTBC Brothers Baseball Team’s head coach Lin Wei-Chu along with the team showed up to the event and called to action on donations to help disadvantaged children in rural areas. CTBC Bank immediately took the lead by donating TWD 2 million to the campaign!
As the first fundraising campaign by industry for children in rural areas, Light up a Life was initiated by CTBC Foundation and organized by CTBC Bank, and this year marks the 38th annual event. The campaign begins from now to the 3rd of March, 2023. The donation received from this campaign will be completely dedicated to the 326 primary schools supported by CWLF’s Rural School Support Program, 30 child community bases of the Taiwan Dream Project, 26 baseball teams from CTBC Youth Baseball Project, and Paperwindmill Cultural Foundation’s tour across all rural areas in Taiwan.
The ceremony began with a dance performance by children from Taichung City Toubian community who are also the beneficiaries of the campaign. Then it was followed by the opening remarks from Jeffrey Jr. Koo, president of CTBC Charity Foundation. “Helping children in rural areas and contributing to Taiwanese society are the most important value of CTBC.” He also emphasized that with Light up a Life’s support, CTBC Youth Baseball Project was able to help many disadvantaged children in rural areas represent Taiwan to compete in the international competition and won. The project gave these children opportunities to change their lives.
Little Chi, a boy who lives in the rural area and has been a beneficiary of the campaign, offered his artwork as a gift to show his gratification to donors’ good hearts. The gift was accepted by Lin Wei-Chu who led the CTBC Brothers Baseball Team to win the Taiwan Series of Professional Chinese Baseball League for two consecutive years. Lin is a longtime donor to Light up a Life. He indicated that what really can help these children is to give them opportunities to change themselves and their lives. He and CTBC Brothers Baseball Team player Chiang Kun-Yu and Yueh Cheng-Hua joined the initiatives and invite people to contribute their love to realize children’s hopes and dreams.
The highlight of the event was to light up the 13-metered tall invincible star Christmas tree erected in Sanchong World Trade Park in Nangang District. A 3-metered tall Little Fire Kid and a 5.8-metered tall Fire Dragon action figures were also there to interact with the audience, and many of the audience called them “super cute” and wanted to take photos with them. The decoration theme for the park this Christmas was retro-game, which will go on until the 28th of February, 2023 and everyone is welcome to visit. On a side note, Taiwan’s first outdoor ice rink “ICE GAMING” was also launched today.
The 38 Light up a Life fundraising campaign will go on until the 3rd of March, 2023. Donations received from the campaign will be earmarked for CWLF Rural School Support Program in providing children with daily supplies and facilitating extracurricular activities, empowerment program, dream project and city exchanges for children to continue their education, learn various things, chase their dreams and have opportunities to go beyond the rural areas and expand their horizons.