Global Applications Open Today
Tokyo, Japan – January 15, 2014 – LINE Corporation, owner and operator of the free call and messaging app LINE, today announced that it will be donating school buses as part of the previously announced LINE Santa Claus charity project.
The LINE Santa Claus charity project was launched with the theme of “Building a Brighter Tomorrow for our Children.” Wishes that contribute to the cause were collected from LINE users all round the world through an official account created especially for the project.
2 million LINE users worldwide submitted their wishes between December 13 and December 15 last year. After a stringent selection process, the company decided to fulfill the wish of many users to provide school buses to children who have difficulty commuting to school due to economic or physical factors.
Some of these wishes include:
“Mi deseo es que pongan un autobús en una escuela para niños discapacitados que hay en Chile. De esta forma, los niños que vivan lejos y que por razones económicas no puedan desplazarse, asistan al colegio sin problemas. “
– User from Chile
English : “My wish is for the children attending special schools in Chile. Please donate buses to help the physically and economically disadvantaged children get to school more easily.”
“希望能提供一台校車，讓住在遠方的小朋友上下學更加輕鬆方便。”
– User from Taiwan
English : “I hope you can donate a school bus to help the kids who need to travel long distances to school.”
“Many children do not have the privilege of living close to their schools, and need school buses to get them to school safely. My wish is for you to help these children.”
– User from the UK
Applications for school buses will be open to all schools and regions through the LINE Santa Claus official account from January 15 to January 19. The number of buses to be donated and their recipients will be announced after the company reviews all applications. For more details, please refer to the LINE Santa Claus official account.
Mr. Akira Morikawa, CEO of LINE Corporation, commented;
We wish to thank all 2 million participants for their generosity and kindness. Through reviewing each and every wish, we truly saw how sincerely concerned people around the world are over the safety, health, and general well-being of the children of tomorrow.
Among all the wishes we received, the most popular theme was education. By providing school buses to needy children worldwide, we hope to improve the educational environment for as many children as we can. LINE is a communication service that connects people to those closest to them, and we hope our school buses can become the “line” that connects children to their schools. Through commuting communally by school bus, we also wish to provide a venue for communication and foster strong bonds of friendship among the children.
All of us here at LINE will continue to make our best effort to further enrich communication around the world, and to create a world where everybody can enjoy communicating with their loved ones.
The results of the selection and any updates to the project will be announced through the LINE Team official account and LINE’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts.