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Volunteers making a difference
By Xu Wenwen |
March 7, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DOING good deeds does not have to be as great as spending sum on charity, but also can be sending love to your neighbors. With International Women's Day tomorrow, Shanghai Daily visits three women volunteer organizations in Hangzhou to find out how they are making a difference in society.
Helping with simple tasks
Founded in March 2011, Skillful Women Volunteer Group in Huafeng Community has more than 20 women volunteers who excel at different things including tailoring, cooking and hair cutting.
They have provided free services to more than 3,000 residents in the community.
The volunteers are between 50 and 70 years of age. Most of them are retired.
Jiang Meilan, a 62-year-old tailor, started the group and acts as its leader.
"At the beginning, I was wondering if I could do some good deeds for people around me," Jiang says. "Later, I found many women shared the same idea with me, so we established the group."
On the eighth day of each month, the group holds a service day in the community. On these days, the volunteers help with sewing, haircutting or repairing umbrellas. They also visit old people and help them with housework, take them to the hospital or even just talk with those who live alone.
While none of this sounds complicated or difficult, these are things seniors really appreciate.
Jiang has been doing housework for a man surnamed Xu, 78, who ekes out a living by collecting and recycling scraps. Several months ago, his hands cankered, yet Xu was reluctant to go to hospital as he worried about the costs.
Jiang took him to a hospital, paid his medical costs and applied unguent until his hands healed completely.
Luo Rongdi, a retired hairdresser, is a volunteer with the group who gives free hair cuts to residents. Sometimes she visits seniors who are bedridden to cut their hair.
Once she visited an 82-year-old woman and her retarded daughter. The old woman held Luo's hands and said "you saved me two days' food expense."
Sorting the garbage
Every morning, volunteer Sun Xinbao, 69, visits the trash bins in her community to instruct people on how to sort garbage correctly.
She is one of the first such volunteers in the city. Sun has been doing this for almost one year.
Standing beside four large garbage bins of different colors, Sun is responsible for making sure items being disposed of go in the right bins -- green for kitchen garbage, red for toxic garbage, yellow for recyclables and blue for everything else.
Sun heads a volunteer squad at Dongpingxiang Community, among which most of Sun's peers are retired women.
One volunteer distributes free garbage bags to households, another wrote a song about sorting garbage, and a woman surnamed Li invented a competitive system for sorting trash.
Li first used the system, basically grading the rubbish sorting ability of each family member, in her home. Later the community adopted it.
Today, every bag of rubbish in the community includes the owner's name. Volunteers like Sun grade every bag.
"Residents are getting used to volunteers helping with rubbish sorting," Sun says. "But I hope one day volunteers are not needed and people sort trash on their own."
Recycling made easy
A dozen women volunteer at the Low-carbon Workshop in Xipailou Community. They turn unwanted items such as soda cans and shoe boxes into bits and bobs.
Organized by the community, the volunteer squad started two years ago. They work out of a small studio, where hundreds of recycled items can be seen like containers made of shoe boxes and cell phone covers made of old jeans.
The Hangzhou government has called upon residents to lead a low-carbon lifestyle since 2009. The city has also pledged to decrease carbon emissions. This includes turning scraps into usable items so as to decrease the amount of garbage.
Lu Huixia leads the volunteers in the group and excels at turning remnants into knickknacks. She has collected a mountain of old stuff from neighbors and turned them into dolls, ornaments and other things.
"I have liked dealing with fabric since I was a child, so I am happy when doing fabric work," Lu says. "Now I am even happier as I know my work helps the city and people too."
Everyday, Lu works in the studio, charging nothing, passing on her skills to other team members and residents. Her next plan is to turn remnants into dolls with clothing styles from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) all the way to modern times.
Helping with simple tasks
Founded in March 2011, Skillful Women Volunteer Group in Huafeng Community has more than 20 women volunteers who excel at different things including tailoring, cooking and hair cutting.
They have provided free services to more than 3,000 residents in the community.
The volunteers are between 50 and 70 years of age. Most of them are retired.
Jiang Meilan, a 62-year-old tailor, started the group and acts as its leader.
"At the beginning, I was wondering if I could do some good deeds for people around me," Jiang says. "Later, I found many women shared the same idea with me, so we established the group."
On the eighth day of each month, the group holds a service day in the community. On these days, the volunteers help with sewing, haircutting or repairing umbrellas. They also visit old people and help them with housework, take them to the hospital or even just talk with those who live alone.
While none of this sounds complicated or difficult, these are things seniors really appreciate.
Jiang has been doing housework for a man surnamed Xu, 78, who ekes out a living by collecting and recycling scraps. Several months ago, his hands cankered, yet Xu was reluctant to go to hospital as he worried about the costs.
Jiang took him to a hospital, paid his medical costs and applied unguent until his hands healed completely.
Luo Rongdi, a retired hairdresser, is a volunteer with the group who gives free hair cuts to residents. Sometimes she visits seniors who are bedridden to cut their hair.
Once she visited an 82-year-old woman and her retarded daughter. The old woman held Luo's hands and said "you saved me two days' food expense."
Sorting the garbage
Every morning, volunteer Sun Xinbao, 69, visits the trash bins in her community to instruct people on how to sort garbage correctly.
She is one of the first such volunteers in the city. Sun has been doing this for almost one year.
Standing beside four large garbage bins of different colors, Sun is responsible for making sure items being disposed of go in the right bins -- green for kitchen garbage, red for toxic garbage, yellow for recyclables and blue for everything else.
Sun heads a volunteer squad at Dongpingxiang Community, among which most of Sun's peers are retired women.
One volunteer distributes free garbage bags to households, another wrote a song about sorting garbage, and a woman surnamed Li invented a competitive system for sorting trash.
Li first used the system, basically grading the rubbish sorting ability of each family member, in her home. Later the community adopted it.
Today, every bag of rubbish in the community includes the owner's name. Volunteers like Sun grade every bag.
"Residents are getting used to volunteers helping with rubbish sorting," Sun says. "But I hope one day volunteers are not needed and people sort trash on their own."
Recycling made easy
A dozen women volunteer at the Low-carbon Workshop in Xipailou Community. They turn unwanted items such as soda cans and shoe boxes into bits and bobs.
Organized by the community, the volunteer squad started two years ago. They work out of a small studio, where hundreds of recycled items can be seen like containers made of shoe boxes and cell phone covers made of old jeans.
The Hangzhou government has called upon residents to lead a low-carbon lifestyle since 2009. The city has also pledged to decrease carbon emissions. This includes turning scraps into usable items so as to decrease the amount of garbage.
Lu Huixia leads the volunteers in the group and excels at turning remnants into knickknacks. She has collected a mountain of old stuff from neighbors and turned them into dolls, ornaments and other things.
"I have liked dealing with fabric since I was a child, so I am happy when doing fabric work," Lu says. "Now I am even happier as I know my work helps the city and people too."
Everyday, Lu works in the studio, charging nothing, passing on her skills to other team members and residents. Her next plan is to turn remnants into dolls with clothing styles from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) all the way to modern times.
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