Author Du Yuyan

Free Lunch has a group of lovely people, who are indefatigable, diligent and responsible. They are fire at night, lightening roads ahead; they are wind in the sail, propelling us to move; they are handrails on rugged mountain road, giving us strengths. They always serve behind the scenses, devoting in silence. They are volunteers of Free Lunch.

On November 1, the volunteer job ability training course Module 018 for senior volunteers commenced successfully in Guangzhou Volunteer  Academy. 70 senior volunteers from 25 Guangzhou volunteer organizations, including the representatives of Free Lunch Guangdong University Student Body Pan Qiuyu and Lin Qiaohui took part in the 2-day volunteer training. Having multitudinous types of courses and different-aged team members, the public-service salon without age limit began in a happy atmosphere. 

Then let’s see what fascinating training lessons they had with Lunch Girl!

Lesson 1 

After the brief opening ceremony, monitor Chen Ying held the first class which was about founding and administering volunteer teams. Since classmates didn’t know each other, the first class was also an ice-breaking challenge for the team. Warm-up “Wind Blow” demanded speed and mind so team members listened to orders and ran assiduously; in the game “Number off”, 70 people managed to number off perfectly in the third time. In the mean time, 70 people were divided into 5 groups, which were discipline inspection group, teacher assistant group, news group, culture &entertainment group and logistics group. After communication within groups, group members transported their group leaders safely with the string webs made on their own. All leaders trusted their groups in the process of weaving the web. The key to finishing the class was trust, effective communication and mutual relying of teams.

Lesson 2

Chen Jiahui explained the application of “Volunteer System”. Most organizations are confronted with four problems: volunteering information asymmetry, lax management, lack of profession, and defective motivation system. Volunteer system， however, can tackle these problems to a large extent because it impels organizations to become more normal, scientific and transparent. Moreover, classmates actively provided feedback to teacher about problems of Volunteer System and made some suggestions to the improving system.

Lesson 3

Chen Jiahui explained the application of “Volunteer System”. Most organizations are confronted with four problems: volunteering information asymmetry, lax management, lack of profession, and defective motivation system. Volunteer system， however, can tackle these problems to a large extent because it impels organizations to become more normal, scientific and transparent. Moreover, classmates actively provided feedback to teacher about problems of Volunteer System and made some suggestions to the improving system.

Mr. Chen said “We can never, ever satisfy everyone so we should focus on potential advocates, instead of opponents. You should do something prominently; only in this way will you have a large number of people to supervise you. And you can only know if things can be done when you really give it a shot. Please do not just talk about the matter or give up without trying because you think it is hard. How can you possibly know the result when you don’t even do?”

He also shared his secret to run Bike Guangzhou so well; that is, he concentrates on only one thing!

Lesson 4

From a professional teacher’s perspective, Wu Donghua illustrated “The application of social work methods in volunteer work” which is primarily about social work, values and volunteerism of social work. Ms. Wu discussed “Are social workers paid living ‘Lei Feng’?” with participants. Eventually, people talked about a classic question—who should we save first in “a touching story”. Different groups had dissimilar answers and they all had good reasons to back up themselves; therefore, in the collision of opinions sparks of thoughts came out. At the end of the day, all went to the off-campus training base of Guangzhou  Volunteer School to continue studying in a beautiful environment.

Lesson 5

In the evening, students had a sharing salon from Free Lunch Guangdong Student Body, Going global, Caogenzhuxue (program of student support), Zhaoyang volunteer team, Guangzhou Youth Volunteer Association Special Education Team Home of Heart Squad, and Guangzhou Youth Volunteer Association Guangzhou Service Team. And students understood the operation and features of the large organizations, shared and integrated resources in their institutions for sustainable development.

The next day was devoted to exams and students labored their mind to answer questions. In the closing ceremony, 5 group leaders and members shared their feelings and thanked Chen Ying and Liu Ting for their effort dedicated to the Module 018 training session.

As the 2-day training ended, classmates were deeply moved. To everybody's surprise, they had an opportunity to visit an ecological park because their car met an urgent road repair. Aunts' square dance, uncles' flute performance brought happiness to their journey and volunteers finished the trip with laughter and songs satisfactorily.

We appreciate these nice, kind volunteers; it is your love and passion that push the Free Lunch to develop. You are like the sunshine in winter, comforting and bringing hopes to children in the mountain areas.