BEIJING - A project designed to diversify offerings at rural school cafeterias has so far benefited 450,000 students in China, according to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF).

In recent years, some rural schools have witnessed an increase in the number of boarders, whose need to eat safe and nutritionally balanced meals cannot be guaranteed because of a lack of proper kitchen equipment, CYDF secretary-general Tu Meng said on Monday.

Hope Kitchen was launched in 2009 to help improve cafeterias by seeking donations of kitchen equipment. The project has been jointly sponsored by the government, philanthropic organizations and enterprises.

Since 2009, more than 17 enterprises and philanthropic organizations have sponsored 918 "Hope Kitchens," according to the CYDF.

Basketball star Yao Ming's Yao Foundation and US multinational telecommunications company Motorola are among the sponsors of the kitchens, each of which costs 40,000 yuan ($6,511) to build and manage.

Twenty-one provincial-level regions have benefited from the project so far.