Within days of the massive earthquake that rocked the Chinese province of Sichuan earlier this month, over 600 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Hong Kong traveled to a factory in Shenzhen, China, to assemble 10,000 emergency kits for victims.
Each kit contained crackers, powdered milk, canned meat, instant noodles, soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, towels, a raincoat, a blanket and drinking water.
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The effort was organized by Latter-day Saint Charities, a humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The emergency kit project is part of a more comprehensive relief effort underway including the provision of approximately 5,000 tents and 4,000 sleeping bags with mats.
A Shenzhen news reporter said he had never seen so many Hong Kong residents come at one time to the Chinese mainland to help in a crisis situation.
In addition to the relief supplies, a check from Latter-day Saint Charities was presented to government officials and the Shenzhen Red Cross. The funds came from Church member donations in Hong Kong and worldwide. Vice President Zhao Li Zhen of the Shenzhen Red Cross said the money would help save lives in Sichuan.
Bruce Lai, a Hong Kong businessman and member of the Church, made his factory in Shenzhen available for the event. One-third of Lai’s 1,300 factory employees are from Sichuan Province. Some have left the factory to return home to help their families.
China Charity Federation is distributing the supplies to communities in the earthquake zone.
One woman who helped assemble emergency kits reported that she took a taxi back to the mainland–Hong Kong border. After explaining to the taxi driver what she had done that day, he did not charge her the fare. He told her that he also wanted to contribute to the effort.