The Taipei City government has been helping people out of poverty through its anti-poverty program for over 10 years, and this year, the service has been expanded to assist the younger individuals in developing professional skills or in starting their own businesses.

The 500 c.c. black tea in Wu Shiu-chu's beverage store costs 15 NT dollars only.

Even though the beverage store is small, loyal customers continue to shop for the tasty black tea, with 400 cups sold everyday.

Ten years ago, due to the burn scars over her face, she tried to find a job to support her family in vain.

Later, she joined the anti-poverty program held by the Taipei City government, which helped her to save money, and allocated the same amount of money she saved to help her start her own business.

Three years later, she saved 140,000 NT dollars, and with another 140,000 NT dollars provided by the city government, she started the small beverage store.

But the business didn't start well at the beginning.

In order to improve the taste of the drink, she asked the advice of the tea supplier who helped her to improve the store appearance, and told her how to establish a working procedure for a beverage store.

She said, she told herself that she must succeed because it was the only chance she had.

She worked so hard that she couldn't spend some quality time with her children.

With her hard work and numerous experiments to improve the taste and flavor of the drink, the business gradually improved, from 19 cups to over 400 cups sold per day now.

She now earns around 20,000 NT dollars with the beverage store. Wu was not the only one who benefited from the city government's anti-poverty program.

The program has been implemented for 10 years, and this year the Taipei city government's Department of Social Welfare is going to expand the program to young people.

The three-year youth anti-poverty program accepts 100 applicants, and young people aged between 18 and 20 from low-income families will become eligible applicants.

Applicants who got accepted into the program can choose, based on personal financial situation, to save 1000, 2000 or 3000 NT dollars per month, and a certain amount of subsidy will be allocated by a charity group to the applicants to help them.

Young people who are interested in the program can submit their application to the Department of Social Welfare by May 27th.