Giving Tree Crosses China for More Migrant Children

Pitching in to help the charity organization, Giving Tree, has always been on SMIC-I’s calendar and one of the things we are most proud to sponsor. Each year, our school faithfully raised donations, collected clothing or toys, and personalized the iconic red-and-white bags (with water bottles, socks, books, etc.) to the personal preferences of its future owner before hand-delivering them to migrant school children in need.

Coming from the countryside, many farmers seek work in this city. However, due to the relatively high cost of living and punishing work hours, their children often remain back home in their farms, creating the widespread issue commonly referred to as, “left-behind children.” They commonly live with their grandparents who are not always glad to be in charge of them and, in some cases, the children are left completely alone to fend for themselves. To make matters worse, public schooling is practically a luxury in those regions and, as such, these children are left with migrant schools as their only viable source of education. These schools are woefully equipped to say the least and typically possess no means of central heating or cooling, dozens of desks per classroom, and only one teacher to maintain order in each overly full class. The materials they make do with for learning are no better.

Together, SMIC-I and Giving Tree have worked tirelessly to help address these problems, namely by buying a certain number of bags, learning about the personal wants and needs of each individual child, joining an intricate human assembly line set up by Community Service Club to put everything together, and finally selecting a handful of exemplary students to leave for one day and distribute the bags in person. “It’s very pleasing. The feeling that I can help others… Giving Tree teaches us that we are not just studying machines, and seeing [the migrant children] smile is…hard to describe, it’s very pleasing feelings that warm my heart,” said Jonathan Kim (12C), president of CSC. “Through charities, helping out communities, I learn that my life is not just about studying, but using my abilities to help others.”

A child receives his very own gift bag with a big smile Photo courtesy of Community Service Club

As Giving Tree grows into an ever-larger organization, their sights have turned to the hundreds of other impoverished schools outside of Shanghai. Around the end of the 2018-2019 school year, a company called, “Warm Current” and their newly established collaboration with Giving Tree was introduced to SMIC-I. This year, they have selected schools as far out as Henan and Anhui that are arguably worse off than Zhejiang’s and have designed a method of distributing bags that works on a much grander scale accordingly. These changes are not without downsides however. The school SMIC-I is buying 650 bags for is located up in the mountains, taking a very long commute to travel to. Additionally, Warm Current themselves are packing the bags before their distribution as opposed to the students of SMIC-I as tradition would decree.

In light of this, SMIC-I has shifted their efforts towards fund-raising. Unfortunately, that is a fairly tough issue to deal with. The price of a bag has been raised this year and many homeroom teachers have not received donations yet. Thanks to the hard work of Community Service Club, Giving Tree always received enough to fill up every bag and, usually some extra. It is vital that this trend continues this year.

Giving Tree is a wonderful charity that does valuable work. Their bags are some of the only gifts most of the migrant children receive. They keep them warm during winter, educate them, equip them with the stationary to be taught, and provide what may very well be their only toy. Each bag is 275 yuan. While seemingly a lot at face value, the bag travels all the way across the country and into the hands of a desperate migrant child who would be happy to receive even a single pencil.

It always seems easier to receive, but giving can feel equally rewarding. It’s even more tragic then that so many among us seem content to overlook that.

Featured Image—Migrant children proudly brandish their new gifts: toys, books, and even stationary Courtesy of Josephine Chun

by Sophia Shan