The Baihe Volunteer Group of the China Volunteer Association takes a picture with the veterans it serves. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
In honor of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the China Volunteer Association's Baihe Volunteer Group organized a ceremony to give gift packages to 100 veterans from Jilin, according to local media reports.
The ceremony was held on March 5 at the innovation base for demobilized soldiers in Jilin, a province in Northeast China.
The average age of the 100 veterans in the ceremony was over 91, with most of them having become communists before 1949 – the year the People's Republic of China was founded.
The ceremony was supported by companies, organizations and people from all walks of life: Changchun Merchants Guild of Garments donated 100 military uniforms worth 20,000 yuan ($3,000), Yanbianshanbao Tech Co donated 100 boxes of pain killers, and the China Social Welfare Foundation donated packages worth 60,000 yuan, which included handmade cotton quilts, towels, toothbrushes and other life necessities.
Veterans Song Enbo and Wang Wenzhi attended the ceremony and delivered speeches on behalf of the 100 veterans. They donated paper cuttings made by the veterans to the Baihe Volunteer Group to express their gratitude.
Veteran representatives deliver speeches during the ceremony. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
In the future, the volunteer group plans to invite veterans to hit the stage and sing hymns to celebrate the founding of the Party, according to Li Guimei, the group's leader.
So far, Baihe Volunteer Group has been committed to serving Jilin's veterans for seven years – since 2014.
Veteran representatives donate their self-made paper cuttings to the Baihe Volunteer Group. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]