Hangzhou City’s First Charity Store Opened

Hangzhou City’s first charity store ‘Yi (Charity) Life’ opened on January 25. All sales from this store will fund charity projects and help people in poverty, which initiates a brand new combination of business and beneficence.

Located inside the Lianhua Supermarket at the first basement of West Lake Culture Square, the store is jointly established by the city’s volunteer work guide center and social organization for public benefits service center. The store opens 8:15am-9:30pm Sunday through Thursday and 8:15am-10:00pm Friday and Saturday.

The stores provides legal consultation, loans for poor student, allowances for the impoverish services, spread environmental protection knowledge and recruit volunteers. Most merchandize on sale in the store are handicrafts by the handicapped. Sales will be donated to the handicapped, autistic children and volunteer service organizations. At the launching ceremony on January 25, philanthropic auction raised a total of CNY 14,450.

Products in the store are priced with RMB and Yi money. Yi money’s exchange rate to RMB is about 1:0.8. The store now has a total of 50 types of products on sale and over 600 products in stock. Consumption at the store will be converted into charity points in the buyers’ citizen cards.

The city has 917,000 registered volunteers, over 600 community service stations and 130 service stations established by libraries, science museums and major hospitals. All stations have been equipped with volunteer service machines that will record volunteers’ charity work in the form of charity points. After this Spring Festival, colleges and non-government charity organizations will test launch a mobile app that can record the charity work of the registered volunteers.