The global economic meltdown since late 2008 has resulted in revenue shortfalls for many charity organizations in Taiwan as a result of diminished donations. Small change donations, however, showed a reverse trend, up nearly 26 percent in 2009, the non-profit United Way Taiwan said Tuesday. A survey conducted by United Way Taiwan late last year of the country's social welfare and charity organizations found that nearly 80 percent of those groups suffered declines in funds over the past year, down an average of 21 percent, United Way Taiwan Secretary-General Chou Wen-chen said at a news conference. Addressing the news conference to announce the launch of the Retrieving the Empathy Drive 2010 -- a joint operation between United Way Taiwan and the 7-Eleven convenience store franchise to solicit change at 7-Eleven stores nationwide for the benefit of the needy -- Chou said the drive collected change worth over NT$150 million (US$4.72 million) in 2009. The 2009 figure represented a year-on-year surge of 25.56 percent, Chou noted. Of the total, most was collected in the southern Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas in the months after Typhoon Morakot, one of the worst natural disasters to hit Taiwan in decades, in August 2009. The second-largest amount of change donations last year was collected by 7-Eleven stores in Taipei City, according to Chou. She said the Retrieving the Empathy Drive has raised discretionary change worth NT$1.174 billion at 7-Eleven stores over the past 22 years. Chen Fei-peng, vice chairman of United Way Taiwan, said that even though change of just NT$1 and NT$5 is 'really nothing, ' the accumulative amount from all stores stands at over NT$421,000 per day -- an amount that is enough to finance voluntary services for 19 families with autistic members for a year. The amount is also enough to finance rehabilitation and parent support consultation for 89 hearing-impaired children for one year, Chen added. 