PepsiCo, LAIX Inc., Dada-JD Daojia, and China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) jointly hold a donation event at the E-man Primary School in Gansu Province on Tuesday. Photo: Courtesy of PepsiCo

Cathy Tai (left), corporate affairs vice president of PepsiCo Greater China Region, prepares Quaker's products for students. Photo: Courtesy of PepsiCo

PepsiCo, LAIX Inc., Dada-JD Daojia, and China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) jointly held a donation event at the E-man Primary School in Dangchang county, Gansu Province on Tuesday, announcing the successful closure of the "Quaker with AI, Get Nutrition Home" cross-brand public welfare program. 

The public welfare program has received donations of more than RMB 400,000 yuan and will distribute over 260,000 meals to improve the nutritional intake of 1,800 students in 9 primary schools in the poverty-stricken areas of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Gansu provinces. Cathy Tai, Corporate Affairs Vice President of PepsiCo Greater China Region (GCR), handed over the donation check to CFPA on behalf of the three companies during the ceremony.

 "We have always been focusing on and committed to the improvement of the nutritional level of youth. The PepsiCo Nutrition In Action program has provided over 1.3 million nutritional meals to 12,000 impoverished primary school students to date," said Tai.  "We are happy to see this program leveraging the latest AI technology to engage the national online community in public welfare and English learning education. Netizens' donations transform to nutritious Quaker oats products, which will help improve the nutrition of students in destitute regions and raise awareness."

Quaker with AI, Get Nutrition Home is the three companies' first-ever cross-brand public welfare program with CFPA by combining both offline and online activities. With the use of AI-driven voice recognition technology, the program combined the power of consumers and the online communities to provide children in impoverished regions with nutrition and care in multiple channels. 

The program was held from September 15 to 28 and involved over 24,000 participants in LAIX's AI-powered H5 page and they also engaged in the public welfare marketing campaign at JD Daojia's app to express their care and love. PepsiCo granted matching donations of Quaker oats or cash to purchase eggs and milk as an add-on to the nutritious meals.

E-man Primary School is located in the Tibetan Daheba village in Longnan city, a deeply impoverished region of the Gansu province. In Longan city, most of the students are left-behind children or those living in settlements of minority ethnic groups, with over 60% of the students being ethnic Tibetans.

 "Though we live in remote areas, the students all dream about going beyond the mountains to see the outside world and becoming successful so that they can improve their hometown when they grow up. With the support of the central government, under the care of companies as well as help from the online community, we are lucky that we can leverage technology to help them realize their dreams," said Yang Wenli, principal of E-man Primary School.  

LAIX has been working with the E-man Primary School since September 2018, providing free AI-powered English courses that feature personalized, self-adaptive interactive learning materials to raise the interest and confidence of children learning English. With the great support of the principal and teachers, each student now has 400 minutes of English study every month.

Jack Cui, Vice President of Government Relations of LAIX, said LAIX has partnered with PepsiCo, Dada-JD Daojia, and CFPA to invite the public to participate in public welfare activities and raise their awareness about rural education. At the same time, this initiative can plug the wings of science and technology into rural education, so that the children in these areas can have access to high-quality English education and enjoy the infinite possibilities of life. 

"The CFPA's decade-long Nutritious Meal project, which focuses on poverty alleviation through nutrition, is particularly concerned about the nutritional needs of children in poor areas. The Quaker with AI, Get Nutrition Home program not only provides nutrition for children in poor areas but also calls on netizens and the public to pay attention to poverty alleviation," said Wen Huifang, Director of Health Development of CFPA.