A year 12 student, Karyn Chan of YCIS Pudong, undertook the project to benefit the migrant children at our Qingpu Center. You Dao is fortunate to be her partner. She promoted the Shoebox Appeal continuously in classes and assemblies to get the student body interested but before the week that the boxes were due, only  half of the sheet was filled up. She didn’t want to upset any children so she gave one final push and promoted the project to individuals. The extra effort worked because she managed to not only get a full sign-up sheet, but also some extra boxes.
 
The greatest part about this project for her was seeing the entire school come together as one unit to help those who were less fortunate. For Karyn, the Shoebox Appeal wasn’t about trying to get a CAS project done, but more about helping those around in the community outside of school, which has been her passion for a very long time. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of her life and her hope is to extend the Shoebox Appeal further next year to involve people beyond just YCIS-PD.
 
The children at the center were busy practicing and rehearsing a thank you speech and a song ahead of time to welcome the volunteers who came in a group of six. Karyn and her schoolmates organized a game to play with them which was innovative and fun.    At the end, each assigned shoebox was delivered to the child by name and the children felt very special.  Through the process, those who were able to give felt blessed and for sure, those who received were grateful.