"Without this service my son might have died," repeats Wang Baoqiang, a middle-aged man in the Heping District of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, overwhelmed with emotion as he tells of the support his six-year-old son, born with a heart defect, receives from the local poverty-relief supermarket.

The assistance now offered to Wang's family and others goes far beyond the supermarket's original function of simply co-ordinating the donation and distribution of goods to people in need.

The supermarket helps Wang and his wife, both laid-off workers, apply for medical aid from the local government, so their child can get the lifesaving treatment he needs.

The boy, Wang Zhihua, underwent a successful operation early this February. It cost about 40,000 yuan (US$4,932), a figure Wang and his wife would never have been able to raise alone.

Local authorities, recently, announced they would expand the function of poverty-relief supermarkets from purely material aid to information consultation.

"In the past, the poverty-relief supermarkets provided food, clothes and TVs. In the future, they will provide many more kinds of help for low-income families," said Xue Heng, chief of Liaoning Province's civil administration department.

To get the consultation service up and running, the pioneer supermarket is looking for volunteers experienced in fields like education, medical care and law.

"We are in great need of qualified volunteers who need to be friendly, communicative and intelligent," said Niu Yi, head of the supermarket in Heping District.

Lin Muxi, a professor at Liaoning University, hailed the new relief efforts.

"They provide for the needs of the disadvantaged," explained Lin.

As low-income allowance has increased in recent years, many more people are able to support their own material needs, said Lin. What is needed most is help and consultation securing education, medical treatment and housing.

The province's first poverty-relief supermarket was set up in 2002 to help low-income families.

According to the local civil administration department, Liaoning has established 1,279 such supermarkets in its major cities.

Communities and individual donors have played an active role in expanding the project of building poverty-relief supermarkets in the province.

(China Daily October 21, 2005)