On March 25, the 2013 “Spring Sprout Project” recognition was held in Beijing. Participants to the recognition included Gu Xiulian, Director of China National Committee for the Care of Children (CNCCC), Wu Tao, Executive Deputy Director of CNCCC, Jack Kuang, Deputy Director-General of ACF and Paula Peng, Secretary-General of ACF, as well as project leaders from 13 provinces where the Spring Sprout Project was executed.

At the meeting, the CNCCC and the ACF jointly recognized local CNCCC committees, schools and kitchen administrators with outstanding performance in carrying out the Spring Sprout Project in 2013. In the meanwhile, the meeting also made the project’s 2014 implementation plan. The video conference was held simultaneously in Beijing, the main venue, and 13 local venues.

At the meeting, Gu Xiulian expressed gratitude to staff members of local CNCCC committees for their hard work to benefit children. She also gave them three suggestions on improving their work in 2014. She said that they should 1) carefully summarize work experiences and improve work ability; 2) have a clear understanding of the new situation and create new models of charity; and 3) strictly implement plans and publicize the charity project’s achievements.

Jack Kuang said that the success of Spring Sprout Project (SSP) comes from close cooperation between ACF and CNCCC; SSP has created a duplicable charity model for improving nutrition of poor children in China; the strict supervision is an important guarantee to the project’s sustainable development.

The Spring Sprout Project is the largest charity project jointly initiated by the CNCCC and ACF. In the past two years, the project has covered 106 counties in 13 provinces. It has established more than 1,700 Spring Sprout Kitchens, trained 2,000 plus kitchen administrators and benefited nearly 1 million children. As the largest of its kind in China, the project was granted the 2011 China Charity Award—the most influential charity award in China.