Orphans from more than 10,000 families who have lost parents to AIDS will each receive annual stipends of 1,000 yuan (US$130) from the Children's Foundation of China next year, the foundation's deputy head said.

The foundation will be collecting donations during its annual Charity Days for Chinese Children campaign, which starts next week and will run through the end of the year.

This year's will be the sixth campaign. The foundation collected more than 600 million yuan (US$78 million) in years past.

"Our immediate goal is to offer financial aid to more than 10,000 orphans whose parents died of AIDS. We also want to help 1,000 needy students finish high school, arrange for 1,000 poor schoolgirls to receive job training and provide treatment to 1,000 children who are suffering from amblyopia (lazy eye)," Cheng Shuqin, vice-director of the foundation, said during a press conference for the campaign.

The foundation will also use the donations to set up 100 boarding schools, 1,000 music and dancing classrooms, 1,000 community libraries and 1,000 community moral education centers in poor areas.

"We expect to raise more than 100 million yuan this year," Zhang Ying, director of the Guangzhou Office of the Children's Foundation of China, told China Daily.

On December 1, World AIDS Day, the foundation will collaborate with the All-China Women's Federation and Ministry of Health to collect donations for orphans.

(China Daily June 28, 2007)