WS Cares: Supporting EGRC By: Rose McInerney
Last month, WS introduced the story of Ching Tien and her sponsorship program, Educating Girls in Rural China (EGRC). WS writer, Yara Zgheib’s story, Opportunity Through Education inspires us to get involved and effect change in our networks and communities. Over the coming months, we hope you’ll check back with us as we share two personal stories of change about the sponsored girls from EGRC. WS Cares is an action plan to invest in people changing the world,. We have pledged 20% of our magazine subscription fees each month to build financial support for this transformative organization and hope you’ll share these with other family and friends. Here is a brief summary about Ching and two very personal stories of powerful change. In every story, the purpose is the same: to entertain and inspire readers the with knowledge, courage, joy and personal reflection to realize their own greatness. Wanting to step up the impact of our storytelling, we introduced WS Cares in 2018 to invest in today’s change-makers. This means supporting the men and women, today, who are giving the world the best of themselves in service to others. And, it also means partnering with women-led businesses and supporting women-made products. By leveraging 20% of what we earn financially and harnessing our networks and media resources, WS helps improve the success of history makers and our mission to change the world.
About Ching Tien Ching grew up in China in the 1960s and 70s and hoped to be a journalist and a writer until the Cultural Revolution changed everything. Her father was jailed and her mother was sent to work in Gansu, the poorest province in China. Ching was pulled out of school and sent to work in a factory. During her eight years there, she witnessed dire poverty; people living in caves with few possessions and no access to running water or electricity. Boys were also favored over girls; they were the ones sent to school. Women actually had the added burden of supporting them.
56 WS MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2019
