China
Children's Heart Fund
China Children’s Heart Fund was created in late 2008 to address the more than 140,000 new cases of children suffering from congenital heart disease each year in China, as well as the 2 million children who are awaiting surgery. In just a few short months, the China Children’s Heart Fund was responsible for saving the lives of 35 children. In addition to the support of the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation, the Nu Skin distributors in the Greater China region are vital contributors.
Sichuan Earthquake
On May 12, 2008, the earth watched in horror as China experienced the second deadliest earthquake in its history. With more than 69,000 fatalities and 374,000 wounded, there was immediate need for aid in provinces across China. Nu Skin distributors all over the world rose to the challenge and made personal donations of nearly US $800,000 to the Foundation to fund relief efforts. Donations from the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation and related supporters helped more than 30,000 disaster-struck families in Anhui, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Shanxi provinces. Members of the Nu Skin China staff organized and attended many disaster-relief activities in the provinces, visiting disaster-struck families and distributing supplies. In appreciation for their generous efforts and overwhelming response, Nu Skin China received the 2008 China Charity Award for their contribution to the snow disaster and earthquake relief. Nu Skin Hong Kong was also presented a caring company logo by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to acknowledge their contributions. Funds will continue to be dispersed to disaster-struck children and families in the form of microloans and the Foundation will provide 1,800 loans in the next three years.
Southern China Snow Storm
Abnormally heavy snow, ice and cold temperatures quickly turned a winter wonderland in Southern China into a monumental disaster. Starting on January 25, 2008 and continuing into February, 14 provinces were seriously affected by what is now considered China’s worst winter weather in half a century. Thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged, agriculture was frozen and unusable, more than 100 people were killed, and millions others were left homeless and in desperate need. Members of the Nu Skin China team immediately offered their assistance in the crisis areas. More than 77,000 bags of Vitameal were donated by distributors and employees in the Greater China region, nourishing more than 2 million people with a hot, delicious meal. Nu Skin China received the 2008 China Charity Award for their contribution to the snow disaster and earthquake relief.
Nu Hope Primary Schools
Since 2002, the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation and Nu Skin China have provided ongoing support for the China Hope project to help children living in rural parts of mainland China gain a good education. The goal was to build a Nu Hope Primary School in each province of China, equaling a total of 30 schools. To date, eight schools have either been completed, are currently under construction, or are in planning stages in the following provinces: Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing and Heilongjiang. Already, more than 4,000 children are attending Nu Hope Schools in China, with many more having the opportunity as more schools are built.
Love to Farm Workers' Children
Nu Skin China employees and distributors began a project called "Love to Farm Workers' Children" to demonstrate their force for good culture in the world. Through the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation, the farmers' children were given nutritious foods, dietary supplements, and learning tools. During China's reformation, many farmers left their homelands to find work in the cities. However, because of the registered residence system in China, many of the farmers' children are not allowed to attend government-funded schools. Not only did the Foundation provide food, supplements, and educational materials, but Nu Skin China's staff and distributors also spent a day teaching and playing with the children in each of the 19 cities where the program was implemented.
C.A.S.I. Foundation for Children
The C.A.S.I. Foundation for Children fulfills two missions: creating families through adoption and improving the quality of life for orphans. The foundation has provided children with quality shelter, medical care, education and dental care for almost 12 years now. The C.A.S.I. Foundation for Children was founded in 1992 in Boise, Idaho by a group of child welfare specialists who recognized the desperate conditions of children and orphans worldwide. Since then, the organization has expanded into several countries. Nu Skin's Force for Good Foundation made a donation to C.A.S.I. in 2004 to purchase supplies and equipment for a dental mission to an orphanage in China. Another part of the donation was used to purchase equipment for an ambulance and the expansion of a school in Mazatlan.
Previous projects include:
- Donated funds for a dental care project in China in 2003
China Project Hope Primary School
Many schools in rural China are in disrepair and lack basic teaching equipment. In response to this need and to the school drop-out rate in China, The Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation began donating funds in early 2002 to China Project Hope for the construction of a Hope Primary School at Guo Cun Village in Zhejiang Province. Groundbreaking took place in March 2002 and construction was completed later that year. The new three-story school building serves 620 students living within 10 miles of the village. Additionally, Nu Skin Enterprises will donate textbooks and study materials on an ongoing basis. In December 2006, the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation made a donation to construct a fifth Nu Hope Primary School in China. This particular school will be part of a project initiated by China's Minister of Commerce, Mr. Bo Xilai, to identify and support ten poverty elimination projects for the region of Guang'an County. China Project Hope is a nationwide undertaking designed to address the school drop-out problem in China and to help set up school buildings in the poverty-stricken areas.
Since the inception of this project, primary schools have been constructed in the following provinces of China through the Foundation:
- Zhejiang Province, ChunAn County
- Guangdon Province, Xingning City
- Jiangsu Province, Siyang County
- Zhejiang Province, Anji County
- Guang'an County
- Jiangxi Province
Lifeline Express Hong Kong Foundation
In August 2006, the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation made a donation to the Lifeline Express Hong Kong Foundation. The Lifeline Express consists of three trains that travel to lesser developed cities throughout China offering eye surgeries to the blind for free to those who cannot afford it. This service has allowed for 56,000 surgeries from its beginning, and the donation from Nu Skin China and the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation will help 300 people regain their sight.
Interplast
The Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation donated funds in August 2006 to Interplast to purchase medical supplies and equipment for reconstructive plastic surgeries performed on children in India and China. Interplast provides free reconstructive surgeries for people in developing nations, and strives to improve health care worldwide.
For more information on Interplast, visit www.interplast.org.
Share a Smile
In late 2004, the Force for Good Foundation gave a grant to Share a Smile in order to purchase portable dental office equipment and to ship a container of supplies, equipment and clothing to China. In April 2005, the Share a Smile organization traveled to an orphanage in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, to provide dental and optometric care. Share a Smile is a group of American dentists who volunteer their skills to provide dental care for those in need in various parts of the world.
Smile China
In May 2004, Nu Skin's Force for Good Foundation made a donation to Smile China to purchase dental equipment and surgical instruments for a humanitarian mission consisting of eight Canadian surgeons who will be visiting Chinese orphanages.
Protection of the highly endangered Hainan Gibbon in exchange for scholarships for the children of four villages (Hainan Island, 2003)
The world's most endangered primate is the Hainan Gibbon, with only 19 individuals remaining, all living in Bawangling Reserve on Hainan Island off the south coast of China. The four villages close to the reserve are populated by poor Miao and Li minority tribespeople, who have been cutting down trees in the reserve. The villages contain 200 children ages 8 to 13 whose families cannot afford to send them to primary school. Seacology, working with both the Zoological Society of Shanghai and the Zoological Society of Paris, is underwriting the costs of scholarships for all 200 primary school age children in the four villages adjacent to the reserve in exchange for the villagers' agreement to forego non-sustainable exploitation of the reserve. Instead, they will pursue alternatives such as bee farming, production of handicrafts, growing medicinal herbs, etc.