Shanghai’s “Love Café” (in Chinese 爱咖啡), which serves as a support-base for people with autism, is scheduled to reopen this coming week. The new site will be on the first floor of the Shanghai Youth Activity Center (188 Hanzhong Road, Jing’an District, Shanghai). The café was forced to close it’s previous venue on the 2nd of May.
In the meanwhile, the enterprise has gathered much support from the community. Over 100 organizations and individuals have offered to lend a hand, among them many famous institutions such as the Shanghai Grand Theater. AIU Insurance also donated personal accident insurance for the children who attend the café, so that the volunteers and their parents can be more at ease. Moreover, increasing numbers of people have expressed their interest in volunteering for the café, showing their confidence that it would re-open soon. The number of potential volunteers is currently over 3000.
This Sunday morning, volunteers moved the equipment from the original site of Jing’an Park to the Shanghai Youth Activity Center, in spite of the rain. After a simple redecoration, the new “Love Café” venue of about 200 square meters will be officially opened. Compared with the previous site, the new one is not only larger and with more resources, but it also displays an eye-catching logo created by the autistic children themselves.
