Liu Zhen, head of the Organization Department of Beijing Committee of Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) talked to chinadaily.com.cn after a news conference held during the 16th CCYL National Congress on Thursday June 12, 2008.
Chinadaily.com.cn: How would you evaluate the volunteers' performance in the "Good Luck Beijing" test events?
Liu: During the "Good Luck Beijing" test events, over 30,000 volunteers showed their responsibility and spirit in participating in the Olympics. We also think this is a chance for them to show their skills and capabilities, but also prepare themselves for the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics through practicing.
The Volunteer Department of BOCOG (the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad) also had a professional survey conducted to evaluate the performance of the volunteers at the test events. The result shows they have won high appreciation from both Chinese and overseas guests during the past several months.
Chinadaily.com.cn: A lot of volunteers participated in the rescue and relief work during the past month after the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan. Are there any helpful tips from that experience that Olympic volunteers can use?
Liu: The natural disaster in Sichuan led to the birth of a large team of volunteers and also inspired their enthusiasm for the social responsibilities. We can say all kinds of volunteers have dedicated their time and energy to the quake-related relief work. Some of them rushed to the frontline in quake areas, others helped with the donations of money, supplies and blood. In the next stage, we need to maintain the passion for voluntary work; and according to practical situations in the quake areas, think about how to promote voluntary services in a constant, effective and organized way.
At present, the Beijing Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League and the Beijing Volunteers Association have initiated a campaign of "500-hour voluntary relay for the quake areas". The number of the applicants has surpassed 2,000 since it was launched May 25. Each of them will spend no less than 100 hours every year to help the quake-hit areas. They are, we believe, an active and professional group of service providers from now on.
Also due to public interest, we conducted over 700 volunteer programs to provide support to the Beijing Olympics, in association with voluntary services in the quake area. We will organize more professional volunteers to the quake-hit areas for a very long period of time.
(Chinadaily.com.cn June 18, 2008)