Henan Volunteers: Summer Activities

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.  

May was a busy time here at Xingyang Volunteer Federation. Over the course of the month, we logged a total of 249 hours with 106 volunteers participating. The weather was scorching hot but our spirits were high and were able to achieve a lot in a few weeks.  The third Sunday of May is National Disabled Day and we had our volunteers visit several people in need.We had three of our volunteers bring $2400 in donations from our supporters at Transparent Fish Fund to two patients Mou-Fen Wang and Mou-Li Wang with serious mental illness. They also visited poor households in Huai Lin village, and brought gifts, wheelchairs and other supplies to those in hardship. We sat and talked and laughed and tried to help them out with any problems they have in their life. Many disabled people live in isolation and we believe providing a community of support is as important as supplies and medicine. 

We also had four volunteers visit LiuHo elementary school, at Choi Yuen village, two volunteers visit student Chou Zhao from Ying Yang middle school, and one volunteer deliver a scholarship of $200 to Chu Zhang. We then participated in a book donation ceremony and established third library in Cui Miao town will be set up by our volunteers association. Then we had a celebration “Compose Chinese Dream, Celebrating June 1st Children Day". 61 volunteers joined special needs kids and celebrated children's day. Many of our volunteers have no experience working with special need kids, but we created activities that helped everyone get along and showcase their various strengths. We ended the day with so many new friendships. 

At the request of a village officer from Tibet region, our volunteers mailed 53 clothes which cost $5,500 yuan for the shipping.  It took nearly one month to get them delivered to the villagers.  Below is the feedback report with photos from the village officer.Three volunteers visited QiaoLou nursing home and households in poverty in Han village.  This is a project managed by Caring Red Sunset. There are 8 elderly residents in the nursing home.  Long term care & support are provided to elderly Mr. Zhang in Han village.  On May 7th, we received annual donation of $4919.09 US dollars from Transparent Fish foundation.  It is $30,517.48 yuan.  We will always uphold the transparency of public welfare, the transparency of finance for various charity activities.

Unwittingly, May is behind us.  Recalling all those things happened in May, we quite often had lively discussion, sharing our understanding and feelings about charity.  The help we offered to those in poverty or hardship is pretty practical, positive and generous. We can't wait for June! 

Original article written by Zengliang Zhang, translated by Joe Hsu, edited by Yanyan Zhang