While we often hear that Christmas is a season of giving, the commercial hype surrounding the holiday is more likely to leave you exhausted with the relentless push to buy. But this year, Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS) offered a refreshing take on the school Christmas bazaar, forgoing the commercial aspect of the holiday and dubbing “Thriftiness” the theme of their Thursday, December 6 Christmas bazaar.
The items on sale at the bazaar, which was organized by the YCIS Parent Organization, were all priced at RMB 20 or less, and the items, which included home-made jewelry and bookmarks, were available for the children to buy as gifts for their parents. The theme of thriftiness was chosen in support of the school’s character education program, and also fit perfectly with the school’s heavy emphasis on giving back to the community.
YCIS parent Katie Hoskin related a touching story from the bazaar: “One wonderful truth in life is that when you live thriftily, it allows you to have enough left over to serve others in a beneficial way. One little boy buying hot chocolate exemplified this. He gave me RMB 10, and as I tried to give him RMB 9 back, he told me to keep the change. ‘Are you sure?’ I asked. ‘Yes! We need to give as much as we can for charity!’ [he replied].”
The bazaar raised RMB 9,000, all of which will go to buying bookshelves for the Fangshan District Chuang Wei school as part of the Christmas Wish Tree Project in cooperation with the Migrant Children’s Foundation.
Photo courtesy of YCIS
