"Pass The Torch" Rural Educational Assistance Program

This program was set up to address educational and employment challenges in impoverished rural areas. The pilot project was launched in 2004 with four towns in Jiangsu, Anhui, and Shaanxi provinces. The towns have populations averaging forty thousand, and were selected on the basis of their local governments' demonstrated commitment to improving quality of life and to their willingness to participate in the program.

(Pass The Torch Photo Gallery)

Rural schoolchildren in Shaanxi....

The program includes: Financial Assistance Disadvantaged primary and middle school children will receive financial assistance to cover education-related expenses in order to allow them to complete their schooling. The recipients will join the Compassion team in their school to carry out community service work. It is hoped these civic activities will also spread the concept of caring and compassion to other people. The Foundation will continue to provide funds to help in the construction or renovation of school buildings and facilities, and to provide for education-related equipment and materials.

The Compassion Team members....	The new school building in Mazhao Town....
Skills Training Vocational training is provided to young adults so that they may acquire employable skills. This training program also covers agronomics for those who intend to remain in the rural communities to farm.
	Job training in Lailong Town....
Information Dissemination May 2005, Xi'an Jiaotong University....	The Foundation works with university professors and students to visit disadvantaged communities to disseminate information on matters of health, law, finances, etc. Teachers at urban schools will meet with their rural counterparts to exchange information and ideas on education issues. The intent is to raise self-awareness, self-reliance, and self-responsibility among the rural populace. CT Scholarship recipients will form the core group to carry out this volunteer effort and will have the responsibility of organizing other students, professors and specialists to participate in this activity.

Model Villages The Foundation will finance, and the universities will provide the expertise and personnel, to set up model villages in these communities. These villages will serve as bases for hands-on teaching of agronomic skills, and for disseminating the latest in agricultural technology. This activity is designed to improve farm productivity and help break the poverty cycle.
	An agricultural specialist providing....