Caritas Macau Secretary-General Paul Pun Chi Meng told public broadcaster TDM that as of yesterday his organisation had raised over 300,000 patacas in donations from local individuals, enterprises, schools and churches, adding that the first batch of nearly 400,000 patacas will be transferred soon to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.
The fundraising campaign was launched by the Catholic social welfare organisation on Thursday.
According to Pun, the fundraising campaign will last for about two to three months. He underlined that all the money raised from the campaign will be transferred to Caritas International, Caritas Turkey or the organisations that were designated by the donors to purchase supplies and equipment to assist the victims. Pun stressed that no administrative and remittance charges will be deducted from any of the donations.
Pun thanked everyone for their donations and support in the fundraising campaign, pointing out that many people have voluntarily assisted in fundraising in recent days, like advertising companies publishing free fundraising promotions, shops placing fundraising boxes and schools holding fundraising activities.
The Macau Post Daily started on Friday to publish free ads for the Caritas Macau donation campaign.
Pun said that despite Macau’s economy facing serious challenges in the past few years, residents have been eager to donate money and show their concern for the quake victims through different actions.
Group collects lots of clothes & blankets
Meanwhile, another group has collected donations of clothing and blankets, among other items, for the earthquake victims.
Alberto Bettencourt initiated the plan with a group of Portuguese friends on WeChat. Speaking to The Macau Post Daily, another member of the group, Alberto Ferreira Sin, said the donated blankets and apparel are being sorted in Cotai.
Given its location, Sin used his still unopened shop near Largo do Senado as a place where donations could be dropped off between Friday and yesterday before they were taken to Cotai for sorting. According to Sin, the group has received a “lot of” clothes and blankets.
“It’s difficult. We want to work 100 percent, or maybe 1,000 percent, but we cannot”, he said.
The donated items which, Sin said, would fill five to six shipping containers, are set to be sent out this morning. “This is a big problem for us”, he said, citing that the transport of the items would be expensive.
Sin added that neither have there been enough people to put the items inside the containers, where they will be disinfected before shipment, as well as packing them.
Caritas Macau Secretary General Paul Pun Chi Meng talks about his organisation’s fundraising campaign for the quake victims in Turkey and Syria with public broadcaster TDM yesterday.
– Photo courtesy of TDM
Volunteers load the donated clothes and blankets onto a lorry outside Alberto Ferreira Sin’s still-to-open shop on Travessa do Roquete on Saturday.
– Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
