The 2013 Heng'ai Action to provide orphans and disabled children with free knitted sweaters is launched on August 5, 2013, in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [CCTF]

Vice Governor of Tibet Autonomous Region and director of the region's Working Committee on Women and Children Dekyi made a speech at the launch ceremony, in which she said that the Heng'ai Action has benefited more than 2,000 impoverished children over the past two years and raised public awareness of this vulnerable group. She added that the Tibet Women's Federation will soon distribute donated wool to women's federations across the region so that volunteer mothers can knit sweaters for the children before winter arrives.

Secretary General of the China Children and Teenagers Fund (CCTF) Chen Xiaoxia also gave a speech during the event, during which she introduced that since the project launched eight years ago, more than 690,000 children had received sweaters from benefactors across the country as of June 2013. With the participation of southern China's Hainan Women's Federation and charity organizations in southeast China's Taiwan Province this year, the Heng'ai Action is officially expanded to all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions nationwide, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).

Jointly sponsored by the CCTF and Hengyuanxiang Group, the Heng'ai Action was established in 2005 in northeast China's Jilin Province to appeal to the public through the medium of women's federations and foundations in various regions, to knit sweaters for disabled children and disadvantaged orphans.

As the activity sponsor, the Hengyuanxiang Group, one of China's top woolen consumables companies, expressed its appreciation to all those involved and promised that the company will continue providing sustained support for the charity program.

Stationery worth more than 20,000 yuan (US$ 3,268) was also donated to children from the Tibet Children's Welfare Home during the ceremony.

The launch attracted over 200 representatives from the CCTF, Hengyuanxiang Group, Tiebet Women's Federation, the local children's welfare home and related government departments.

The 2013 Heng'ai Action to provide orphans and disabled children with free knitted sweaters is launched on August 5, 2013, in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Tibet Women's Federation / Zhang Hongping]

The 2013 Heng'ai Action to provide orphans and disabled children with free knitted sweaters is launched on August 5, 2013, in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Tibet Women's Federation / Zhang Hongping]

The 2013 Heng'ai Action to provide orphans and disabled children with free knitted sweaters is launched on August 5, 2013, in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [CCTF]

(Provided by Tibet Women's Federation)