The Shanghai Charity Foundation will help local needy families, farmers and students from other provinces to have a happy Spring Festival.

On January 26, the foundation will collect contributions along with other associations covering the medical and disabled persons' field, officials said.

The foundation will spend more than 30 million yuan (US$4.1 million) to help 45,900 people.

This will include helping more than 2,000 college students from other provinces afford the trip home, and farmers with serious diseases who are not able to afford medical fees, said the foundation.

On the day, there will be free legal advice, medical consultations and charity sales at the Jiangwan Stadium in Yangpu District.

Anyone willing to contribute should call the hotline 968600, or 62584343 for donations on the day.

The one-day event, called "True Love Under the Blue Sky," has been an annual event in the city since 1994.

(Shanghai Daily January 10, 2008)