TEHRAN — Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation poured some 13.9 trillion rials (nearly $400 million) into charity works over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2015-March 2016), the foundation’s deputy director has said.

Services such as paying pensions, providing orphans and underprivileged children with allowances, paying for tuition fees, treatment and housing expenses are being offered to poverty-stricken families, Fatemeh Rahbar said, Mehr reported on Monday.

Rahbar went on to say that more than 1.03 million women, who constitute about 40 percent of female breadwinners in the country, are now being supported by the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, 10 percent of whom are divorced.

Additionally, 25 percent of the country’s senior citizens, about 1.4 million, are also getting services from the foundation, she said, adding, 41,439 of them are paralyzed and need to receive special care and treatment.

Currently, some four million individuals are being provided with the foundation services partially or completely, she said, explaining, some two millions are also not covered by the foundation but are receiving some of the services from time to time. 

300,000 of the orphans and underprivileged children are obtained with financial supports on a monthly basis provided with philanthropists, she said, highlighting, last year the benefactors made a contribution worth of 4 trillion rials (nearly $115 million) for such children.

Mentioning the main objective of the foundation as empowering and helping those in need to get back on their feet, Rahbar explained that some 149,648 of the families provided with the coverage last year are now able to live on their own.

Instead, she noted, some 100,000 other underprivileged families residing in deprived districts were replaced by the foundation.

Providing the help seekers with job and insurances or helping them to marry could make it possible for some of them to earn a living on their own, she added.

MQ/MG