Henan Volunteer: June 2015 Project Tracking

According to their motto - “Love, truth, and service to community” - Xingyang Volunteer Federation works to enhance people’s sense of social responsibility through providing them various volunteer opportunities. The office is in Xingyang, Henan province.    

In June 2015, Xingze Volunteers has four main activities: 1. Helping the poor; 2. Helping school children 1+1; 3. Volunteer events; 4. Caring for the elderly.This month we organized a total of 33 volunteer events, with 2015 volunteers and a total hour count of 687 hours.

 I. Helping the poor: 

On the 28th of last month, we visited the Chen family home in Qinputou Village of Gaocun Township. After sending over part of our gifts on the 30th, we immediately began implanting our plan to fix their leaky roof. On June 5th, 2 volunteers led a construction team to the site to gather measurements and calculate amount of materials needed. The volunteers wrote a journal about their visit titled “We Are Your Eyes.” On June 6th and in a sweltering heat, 9 volunteers helped the Chen family clear and clean the rooftop area in preparation for the waterproof work. The work was finished by nightfall. On the 8th, 3 volunteers came to the family home to check out the roof project and to pay for the project costs. On June 24th, 1 volunteer came to the Chen family home to see how effective the waterproof work was ---- after a day and night of rain, the room remained dry. The result is great!

Do you still remember our Sending Coolness Event with the street sweepers last summer? These street sweepers work hard rain or shine, making our city clean and beautiful. We have started this year’s Sending Coolness Event. On June 5th, the Council called for a meeting about this year’s Sending Coolness activity and assigned tasks to specific people. On the 14th, 7 volunteers went to check on electric water heaters stored in the warehouse in preparation for the coolness activity. On the 15th, 3 volunteers went to the City Management Bureau and the Sanitation Department to coordinate details about this year’s event. On the 16th, 3 volunteers went to all of the waste transfer stations to check on their water and electricity conditions. On the 20th, 2 volunteers bought the necessary materials for the event, including green beans and plastic bags. On the 21st, 11 volunteers worked for an entire morning to give electric water heaters, green beans, and other materials to the 19 sanitation stops within the city. Any volunteer is welcome to participate in each day’s green bean delivery. Every day’s small act of kindness and give us all happiness and fulfillment. You can go the Universal Cycle shop about 100 meters north of the Heyin Road and Yanwu Road intersection to pick up materials!

On June 20th, 3 volunteers went to Shaozhai Village near the Town of Cuimiao to visit Mrs. Zhang and family, bring with them food and 500 yuan. The faucet we installed for the Wang family in Zhuyuan Village early April lessened in water flow because of a change in water levels. On the 30th, 3 volunteers took water pipes to Zhuyuan Village to fix the water pump and piping. They look fabulous!

II.  Helping school children 1+1:

On June 5th, 5 volunteers met to discuss how to help more school children, solving earlier problems regarding details such as return visits, regular visits, and document sharing. On the 10th, 3 volunteers went to the Third Elementary School of the Town of Wangcun to visit a student named Gao. 2 volunteers went to the experimental high school to visit Li and to forward donor concerns. On the 18th, 2 volunteers sent and picked up a student named Wang at the experimental high school. On the 23rd, 1 volunteer went to three schools in the Town of Guangwu to pay 3 supported students return visits, giving each person 4 boxes of cookies donated by the City Red Cross. On June 24th, 2 volunteers went to the Fourth High School of Xingyang to check on Zhang’s school fee usage conditions and helped him get to and from school to home. In the afternoon 1 volunteer returned to Longquansi Village to take Zhang to the testing location for a preview. On the 25th and 26th, 2 volunteers took Zhang to and from the Xingyang high school testing site for his high school entrance examination. The volunteers took Zhang to their homes for lunch. 

A subsidiary of this summer’s Helping school children 1+1 project, “Beautiful Childhood” has continued for four years. This year’s event theme was decided in the spring during the scholarship donation conclusion meeting and has been perfected since. The organizing committee has been holding meetings since early June and visiting and contacting possible event sites, finally deciding the training time and content for the first group of children. You can follow our event announcements and needs in our WeChat group. We appreciate donations of any sort. The Council would like to thank you for your kindness on behalf of the children!

On June 12th, a meeting about the Helping school children 1+1 project and Beautiful Childhood event was held, deciding that 10 students who have begun attending specialty school, better financial conditions, or quit school can no longer receive aid. We need to better understand two children’s conditions before deciding whether to stop giving aid or raise the necessary conditions for aid. On the 13th, 4 volunteers went to the Huancuiyu Management Committee to inspect the Beautiful Childhood training site. On the 25th, 9 volunteers held and Beautiful Childhood meeting. On the 26th, 3 volunteers went to Xingyang Huarui Professional Training School to visit the training location. 4 volunteers went to Xingyang Traditional Culture Training Center to discuss event details. On the 27th, 7 volunteers held another meeting about the Beautiful Childhood project, approving the plan put forth by the project executor, Lan Bing and finalizing the recruitment conditions. 

III.  Volunteer events:

On June 5th, 1 volunteer distributed 1 partner plaque each to Jingcheng Road Bhudda Hall and Shancheng Boat Big Brother Fish Place. On the 7th, 35 volunteers gathered at the Shanhehongfengshang Hotel to host the “Kill the Heat Karaoke Party,” where a group of like-minded people sang, showed off their talents, and got to know each other. On Saturday June 13th, 20th, and 27th, 32 volunteers helped out at parent classes at the Yuanguangwu Senior Activities Center. The theme was “Traditional Culture and a Happy Life.” People who attended the course were all very impressed, not knowing before that Xingyang had such a great place for deepening one’s understanding of oneself. One volunteer, Moli, wrote a reflection titled “Women Who Practice Faith are the Most Beautiful” that summed up the attendees’ feelings. Friends who are tired of their work, unsure about their marriage, or having trouble with educating their children can come here to take a listen every Saturday to cleanse your soul and sharpen your mind. What are you waiting for?! 

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IV.  Caring for the elderly

On the morning of June 6th, 3 volunteers went to Qiaolou Senior Center to check and fix their electric water heaters. They also discovered that the seniors did not have mosquito nets and could not sleep restfully at night because of the bugs. When they found out, one volunteer immediately donated 8 mosquito nets. In the afternoon, 12 volunteers brought them to the center and put them up while also entertaining the seniors with a performance. On the afternoon of the 21st, 25 volunteers went to the City Social Welfare Center to cut hair and trim nails for seniors in need. They cut hair for a total of 108 seniors and trimmed nails for 72. A volunteer, Qigong, wrote a reflection titled “We Came to Cut Hair Again,” describing the touching scene.

Original article written by Lichun Liu, translated and edited by Allison Zhang