*********************************************************
A Social Welfare Department (SWD) spokesman said that as at 5pm today (May 16), the department had received 80 applications, and granted 52, for public subscription permits to raise funds for people affected by the earthquake in Sichuan (please see attached list of organisations approved for fund raising).
The department would process all applications as quickly as possible and issue permits to organisations that had satisfied the relevant requirements for public fund-raising activities, the spokesman said.
Any organisation planning to hold activities involving collection of money or sale or exchange for donations of badges, tokens or similar articles in a public place for charitable purposes should apply for a public subscription permit from the SWD.
For the latest approved list of organisations for public fund-raising, people can browse the department's website at www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew/.
If there is any doubt regarding the fund-raising activities, people are welcome to call the department's hotline at 2343 2255, or SWD headquarters at 2832 4311 for enquiries during office hours.
Ends/Friday, May 16, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:38
NNNN