Related News
From green chairs to low-carbon living, Chen means business ...
Print Edition
VOLUNTARY services in China are becoming a more prevalent practice as more people want to do something for the public good. Xuhang Town resident Chen Ting is among those who treat public service as a career. For the past 10 years, she has been an environmental protection activist and has won multiple awards from the district for her contributions benefiting the public.
Chen runs a trading company. But since she started volunteering, her full-time job became a sideline career. Her parents came in and looked after her business while she carried on doing environmental protection campaigns.
During the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, she designed a “green chair” for the Expo Park in cooperation with a company that makes environmentally friendly products. Every chair was made up of 856 milk cartons. To collect material for the chairs, she teamed up with several other volunteers and asked around Jiading’s residential areas looking for empty milk cartons. But they couldn’t find enough.
Chen then came up with another idea — let the milk cartons “find” them. She asked residents to exchange their empty cartons for free milk, which she bought. As expected, many people showed up with empty cartons. Some people said it was not worth spending so much money on a public cause, and Chen would usually laugh it off. “Some people did come here for the milk, but more of them just left the cartons here without asking for anything. That really moved me.”
Since 2010, Chen has been going to every town in Xuhang to promote “low-carbon living” and distribute flyers and eco-friendly shopping bags. She also collects used batteries and expired drugs from people’s homes and gives them small gifts in return.
Apart from her own campaign, she appears in other volunteer activities in nearby towns and villages as well. The residents are impressed by her persistence and are becoming aware of the importance of a healthier environment. Even better, some of them have joined her in volunteering. Chen feels her work is valued and has produced some positive results.
Years of experience has transformed her from a rookie to an expert on environmental protection. Nowadays, she gets invited to give speeches once or twice a month in Jiading, something she considers a huge honor.
Chen abides by her own principles in her daily life.
Her home is filled with handicrafts, toys and cushions made from all kinds of waste materials. She also uses different colored garbage bags for waste sorting.
Her relatives and friends are now followers of her lifestyle and her daughter has been selected as a student representative for the district’s environmental protection campaign.
Chen is involved in many other philanthropic activities.
In 2013, she volunteered to be an after-school counselor for a local elementary school. This year, she threw a 10th birthday party for every third-grader in the school and bought birthday cakes and school supplies for the children. She regularly offers financial support to more than 10 underprivileged children.
“My first ever volunteer experience was being an after-school counselor,” Chen says. “It makes me satisfied to see the kids smile. Their happiness is my biggest reward.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
