Readers respond to hungry girl's plight

THE sad face of a child forced to go hungry because her parents cannot afford to give her pocket money has spurred a generous response from kind-hearted readers.

A barrister, 50, and a saleswoman were saddened by the plight of Li Mun-chuk when they read in last week's Sunday Morning Post that she sometimes had to 'simply bear the hunger pangs' because her parents could not afford to give her money for lunch.

The barrister, a father of two who preferred to remain anonymous, is prepared to give 10-year-old Mun-chuk $100 a week until the end of the century.

Sales representative Donna Kong Ting-yee, who works for a publishing company, got together with a colleague and, after hearing about the barrister's offer, said she would give the same amount to Mun-chuk's twin sister, Mun-chun, and her 12-year-old brother, Cheng-muk.

'Both of us wanted to give the girl $500 each month. But if a barrister is prepared to give her some lunch allowance, my colleague and I may give the same amount of money to her brother and twin sister instead,' she said.

Ms Kong made the offer because she has a six-year-old daughter and said she would be horrified to think of her without food.