Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) donated 1.1 million yuan (US$144,000) to help 30 deaf children from needy families Wednesday.

Wang Ruipeng, CRCF secretary said "the donation will be used for the 30 children's surgeries and recovery fees."

Currently, China has over 800,000 deaf children and around 30,000 more are added every year, according to Wang.

"Deaf children from poor families have missed the best time for treatment since the surgeries for deaf children are usually very expensive," he said, adding "early diagnosis and treatment is important to the recovery of deaf children."

All the donation comes from a fund named Angel's Echo set up by CRCF in last May to help deaf children from need families.

The fund has so far raised nearly 3.3 million yuan, Wang said. He called on more people to donate to the fund.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2007)