Volunteers in Beijing will work on weekends to encourage local residents to join hands for environmental protection, as the Smiling Beijing Campaign carries on.

 

 

The Beijing Olympic Volunteer Work Coordination Group, along with Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and Beijing Volunteers Association, will call for more attention and action for a green environment among the youth, social workers and citizens. Organizers say the activity will have no stop at the conclusion of the Games.

 

As an early-stage try-out and rehearsal of the Games-time city volunteer work, over 2,000 volunteers at 50 voluntary service stands offered 2,500-hour information and translation services and first aid for the public during the Chinese Spring Festival. Meanwhile, more volunteers provided services at the local community and counties.

 

 

The Beijing Olympic Volunteer Program includes six working projects and a theme campaign -- "Smiling Beijing". The projects are: the "towards the Olympics" Voluntary Service Project, the BOCOG Pre-Games Volunteer Project, the Games-time Volunteer Project, the City Volunteer Project, the Social Volunteer Project and the Olympic Volunteer Work Legacy Transformation Project.

 

 

During the Olympic and Paralympic Games, over 400,000 city volunteers will offer their services in the city, in addition to the 100,000 Games-time volunteers who work directly for the Games. They will be assigned to 2,000 city voluntary service stands at major traffic hubs, commercial networks, scenic spots, hospitals, hotels, and cultural centers. The number of social volunteers in the communities is expected to exceed 1 million, while that of the participants in the "Smiling Beijing" campaign will be tenfold as much.

 

(BOCOG February 26, 2007)