#AppleDaily's Charity Provided $17m to the Needy Last Year, Now in Limbo after Govt Shut Down Newspaper
When Apple Daily began publication in 1995, the newspaper also established the Apple Daily Charitable Foundation in the same year, funding it with the paper's profits.
The Foundation's latest annual report shows that, in the 2019-20 year, it had donated over HKD 17,000,000 to 225 persons in need, while its bursary program provided support for 214 students with HKD 660,000 in funding.
As Apple Daily is shut down after the government froze its assets, the foundation also could not continue operating, as a district councillor found out from a man seeking help.
Kwai Tsing District councillor #RaymondChow was approached for assistance by an elderly man in his 70s with prostate cancer. The man said that the Apple Daily foundation could no longer provide him with funds for his medication.
He had sought help from Hong Kong Cancer Fund but was put on the waiting list, as there had been too many others applying for help recently.
The man had asked for Councillor Chow's help 3 years ago. At the time, his medication was not registered on the government drug formulary, so he had to pay for the expensive medicine on his own. Neither the Samaritan Fund nor the Yan Chai Hospital Medicine Charitable Fund could help him; in the end, only the Apple Daily foundation would help him bear the costs.
The government has an obligation to step in, Chow said, and so should other government organizations such as Social Welfare Department and Community Care Fund. Otherwise, he says, it is no different than sending the sick straight to the grave.
As for the elderly man, he could now only wait for Hong Kong Cancer Fund's reply.
Source: Citizen News #Jun23
https://www.hkcnews.com/article/42705/蘋果日報-蘋果基金-前列腺癌-42705/《蘋果》停運影響慈善基金-去年捐逾1700萬助225名病患-七旬患癌翁向區議員求助
When Apple Daily began publication in 1995, the newspaper also established the Apple Daily Charitable Foundation in the same year, funding it with the paper's profits.
The Foundation's latest annual report shows that, in the 2019-20 year, it had donated over HKD 17,000,000 to 225 persons in need, while its bursary program provided support for 214 students with HKD 660,000 in funding.
As Apple Daily is shut down after the government froze its assets, the foundation also could not continue operating, as a district councillor found out from a man seeking help.
Kwai Tsing District councillor #RaymondChow was approached for assistance by an elderly man in his 70s with prostate cancer. The man said that the Apple Daily foundation could no longer provide him with funds for his medication.
He had sought help from Hong Kong Cancer Fund but was put on the waiting list, as there had been too many others applying for help recently.
The man had asked for Councillor Chow's help 3 years ago. At the time, his medication was not registered on the government drug formulary, so he had to pay for the expensive medicine on his own. Neither the Samaritan Fund nor the Yan Chai Hospital Medicine Charitable Fund could help him; in the end, only the Apple Daily foundation would help him bear the costs.
The government has an obligation to step in, Chow said, and so should other government organizations such as Social Welfare Department and Community Care Fund. Otherwise, he says, it is no different than sending the sick straight to the grave.
As for the elderly man, he could now only wait for Hong Kong Cancer Fund's reply.
Source: Citizen News #Jun23
https://www.hkcnews.com/article/42705/蘋果日報-蘋果基金-前列腺癌-42705/《蘋果》停運影響慈善基金-去年捐逾1700萬助225名病患-七旬患癌翁向區議員求助