On December 3, the 3rd China Youth Volunteer Service Competition and Volunteer Service Exchange Conference came to a close in Ningbo. Both NEFU’s “Open Warm Classes, Light the City Stars” project by the Day Star Volunteer Association and the “Spreading the Flower Shades, Warming the Miao County” Caring for Pupils of Mountainous Areas project by the Graduate Teaching Corps won Silver Awards. There were 12 projects in the province that were nominated for the national finals, and NEFU was the only university with two projects.

This past June, the 2nd Heilongjiang Provincial Youth Volunteer Service Contest was held by the Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. One project from the university won a gold medal, two projects won silver medals, six projects were recognized as finalists, and the school won an Excellent Organization Award. Recommended by the provincial Communist Youth League and the national preliminary assessment, 38 provincial-level tournament units submitted a total of 4,049 projects, of which 1,000 projects entered into the national competition and 504 outstanding projects entered the national final. The two projects of our university are both in the “caring for children of migrant workers” category. The “Open Warm Classes, Light the City Stars” volunteer service created by the Day Star Volunteers Association has lasted for 9 continuous years. Volunteers regularly visit the families of migrant workers’ children, and provide free classes for migrant children. More than 700 volunteers have helped more than 200 children, with a total service time of more than 3,320 hours. The “Spreading the Flower Shades, Warming the Miao County” Caring for Pupils of Mountainous Area project by the Graduate Teaching Corps has altogether helped 68 poor children find paired helpers and donated more than 15,000 items of clothing and over 22,000 school supplies, worth a total of 55 million yuan, through the implementation of the “Warm Sun Action” material and financial assistance, “Timely Rain Plan” ideal education, and “Bud Blooming" girl protection program. They have held 15 “NEFU Cup” quality development activities, with more than 580 children. This includes holding 13 seminars themed “Growing Up”, covering psychological counseling, responsibility, career planning, and so on.

By participating in this competition, our students’ vision and ideas are further expanded for carrying out volunteer service activities. In addition, they have a more profound understanding about how to cultivate college students’ sense of social responsibility and mission through volunteer service. Jin Xu, a volunteer of the Day Star Volunteers Association, said “The experience during the competition gave us a refreshing experience not only of the great role young people have played in volunteer activities, but also of the new meaning of volunteerism given by contemporary youth. Volunteer service for social development and human civilization has an irreplaceable function. We should not only be the ‘Day Star’ of the children of migrant workers, but also the ‘Day Star’ of the rapid development of Chinese volunteer service and the great renaissance of the Chinese nation.”

The theme of this competition is “Youth Volunteering, Chinese Dream Building “, and it upholds the concept of “professionalism, innovation, fairness and standardization", striving to build a nationwide comprehensive platform for volunteer service that integrates project display, resource allocation, organizational communication, and cultural leadership. During the conference, Qin Yizhi, the first secretary of the Communist Youth League Central Committee, Yin Dongmei, the secretary of the Central Committee Secretariat of the Communist Youth League Central Committee, and the judges of the competition all participated the exhibition and met the volunteer representatives.