Appreciation, kindness

Volunteers said they often find thank-you messages when families check out. Sometimes, parents write down information useful for incoming families, such as traffic details, the location of shops, and recommendations for restaurants.

Families also leave cash donations. Wang said one father who brought his 7-month-old son to Shanghai from Shantou city, Guangdong province, for a liver transplant left 50 yuan when they departed earlier this month.

"For those families, 50 yuan can buy meals for the parents for an entire week," Wang said.

Total rent for the 18 apartments is more than 600,000 yuan a year, but does not include other costs, such as renovation work and provision of items such as fridges, washing machines and detergents.

Wang said the foundation's funding mainly comes from two sources－public donations online and enterprises. Residents also donate cash or toys after reading news reports about the foundation's work.

Last year, an elderly couple contacted the foundation and donated a year's rent for an apartment.

"I offered to put a plate bearing the couple's names on the apartment door, but they declined. They said we should just write 'love, grandparents'," Wang said.

Tao Enyun, 40, whose daughter received a bone marrow transplant to treat severe combined immunodeficiency at the end of 2020 when she was 10 months old, has stayed at the Xiaobu Home with her baby several times, as the girl needed to continue anti-rejection and anti-infection therapies. Severe combined immunodeficiency is a rare congenital disorder of the immune system characterized by the inability to produce a normal complement of antibodies and T-cells.

Tao and her husband, who are flower growers from a rural area of Qingzhou city, Shandong, said they received countless offers of help as they sought medical treatment for their child.

The foundation helped the couple raise more than 330,000 yuan on a public charity website for the transplant. In July, they started a public fundraising drive on the website, aiming to raise 200,000 yuan to partly cover the bills for follow-up treatment.

"College students even visited our home to do livestream broadcasts for our flower sales, helping us generate more income," Tao said.

"We have raised money through loans, by borrowing and through help from the public.

"Fortunately, our daughter's immunity levels have risen gradually. Doctors said she needs to continue taking at least six drugs for six to 12 months to prevent infection. If her immunity can reach the normal level during this time, she can stop the medication."