The Gwen Moore Children of China Fund traces its origin to 1995, when Gwen Moore was drawn to the needs of children living in a remote mountainous area in southwestern China. She read a story in the New York Times¹ about the sad realities of poverty in this part of China, far away from the prosperous coast.

Soon after reading the story, she was able to work through translators and make contact with a teacher in the village portrayed in the Times story. By the fall of 1996, Moore had begun an informal arrangement of financial support to make it possible for 50 of the poorest children to go to school. The children were from families who often end each year with no money at all and found it impossible to pay for even the basics their children would need to go to school.