The Hongqiao Christian Special English Service for Foreigners in Changning District, Shanghai is a large religious venue which is approved for serving the religious needs of foreigners in the area, and participates actively in social charities, such as aiding poor students and impoverished people.
According to the website of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, PRC, the English Service has been offering 50,000 RMB a year worth of aid to impoverished minority students in Shanghai Xiandai Vocational & Technical School, as well as rewarding minority students who came to Shanghai with good grades since 2012. In 2015, the service signed a tripartite agreement with Changning Minority Association and Shanghai Xiandai Vocational & Technical School to help minority students in Shanghai complete their studies successfully. More than 300 individuals from more than ten different minorities have benefited from the program in the last six years.
In 2016, the service worked with the Red Cross Society of Shanghai in Changning District and promised to donate 600,000 RMB over three years to set up a student fund to help orphans and impoverished students with severe sicknesses in Changning complete their studies. 2017 is the first year of the project and it has helped 83 students from middle and elementary school (including vocational schools.) Twenty-seven of the students assisted by the project were Tibetan from a Tibetan class in Fudan Senior High School.
In addition to helping students, the service also works with the Red Cross to help impoverished families in the district. The service also holds a charity golf championship tourney every year and in 2014 and 2016, it supported 20 households in Changning District that became impoverished due to illness with the 1,285 million raised by the championship. They also visited some of the supported families.
The service was approved by the religious department of the government and officially established in December 2008, and foreign believers from 55 different countries also worship there.
- Translated by: Grace Hubl
