By Julie Chun, Community Outreach Chairperson
Who: Xinxing Aid for Street Kids
When: Established 2001
What: To provide 24-hour centers in Baoji and throughout Shaanxi Province for street kids
The city of Baoji is a major transit center situated at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Sichuan provinces. These provinces are among the poorest in China and consist largely of rural population. Baoji has the only railway link with the west making it well-located to find and assist children who end up on the streets.
The organization was founded in 2001 by the French Ministry of Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) together with Chinese staff members from the Baoji homeless children’s aid program. They spent the next 5 years developing the model for the Baoji Children’s Center. Their main goal is to provide immediate assistance, early stage intervention, and supportive action to youths in need to help them get out of difficult circumstances and reintegrate with their families and communities, enabling them to have a brighter future. The Xinxing Aid for Street Kids began with one Children’s Center in Baoji and now has five locations in the province that are open 24 hours, functioning as drop-in centers that offer outreach and training to kids and teens on the streets in the surrounding areas.
For more information, please visit their website at http://en.xinxingaid.org.cn/ or email Helen Feng at helenfeng916@163.com
Original Courier publish date: January, 2019
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