Focus on the Family, a non-profit US organization dedicated to strengthening family ties, has donated US$30,000 to help children with cleft lips and cleft palates in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

"It's great support to our program," Zhao Pengqi, vice president and general secretary of China Association of Social Workers, told China Daily.

"The donation could help about 50 children get the average surgery cost of up to 6,000 yuan (US$790) each."

The program, "Loving-heart Action 2008", was designed to provide medical treatments to 2,008 congenitally disabled children whose families are too poor to afford the medical expenses.

However, the association, commissioned by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, has decided to make it a long-term program after it discovered that at least 600,000 Chinese children fell into this group.

The program so far has received about 30 million yuan (US$3.8 million) from individuals, corporations and organizations, Zhao said.

(China Daily November 5, 2007)