The end of the year tends to evoke our sense of gratitude and compassion, leading us to double down on donations and give back to others what we are lucky enough to receive. Maybe it’s also something to do with the cold weather that fuels the need to create some warmth from within, which could explain why December is easily the busiest volunteer season. Yet, there are some volunteers who spend all year regularly giving their time and energy to a cause that speaks to them. Jingkids spoke two such big-hearted individuals to discover what drives them.
Marcella Cooper is the head of English at Keystone Academy and a native Canadian who’s lived in Beijing for five years. Since 2017, she’s been a volunteer English teacher with Educating Girls of Rural China (EGRC), giving weekly one-hour classes to underprivileged girls from all over the country. For the first three years, she worked with the same group of students, seeing their English skills evolve over time as her classes too, evolved from strict grammatical tests to a more practical lesson in day-to-day language. Eventually, however, the girls were ready to move on and Cooper was assigned a new group of girls this year. It has been a refreshing experience getting to know these new students, and Cooper was delighted to find out that one of them is actually in Beijing, meaning the two can potentially meet up at some point.
“Volunteer teaching with EGRC breathes a breath of life into my day job,” Cooper says when asked if she gets overwhelmed with so many teaching responsibilities. “I make it a purposeful effort to keep my Saturday mornings from 11am to noon carved out for these girls because it is so important to me.” Since she only gets to spend one hour with the girls every week, she makes it a point to maintain a conversation with them via WeChat audio messages throughout the week. But as dedicated as she is to her students, she draws clear boundaries to keep her life in balance by not permitting full-fledged phone calls.
Aside from volunteering, Cooper has quite the weekly schedule. Since she lives on campus, she is on Dorm Parent duty every Monday from 7-11pm, while Wednesdays are board game nights with other adults (no students!), and she leads yoga sessions for her fellow teachers every Thursday evening. But despite the business, she nary misses a session with the EGRC girls. “They need me,” Cooper states simply, which keeps her motivated if she ever feels fatigued, which I can’t quite imagine from her spirited voice over the phone.
EGRC has been such a blessing for Cooper, who says that she has found fewer and fewer opportunities to volunteer since leaving Canada, where she donated her time to Habitat for Humanity. She feels that the greatest challenge in volunteering is matching your passion and skillset to a cause that you feel strongly about, which she is grateful to have found in EGRC’s volunteer teaching program. “Fit volunteering into your life and its rewards are tenfold!” exclaims Cooper, adding, “It’s such a gift to pass on the goodness in your life; the privileges we’ve been given; even if it’s to just one other person so that the spirit of giving in our world can continue.”
Volunteering is quite a different story for Dawn Garretson, who began curating clothing donations at Roundabout this past March. Almost every Sunday, Garretson walks to Roundabout from her home around the corner and dons a pink apron like all of her fellow volunteers. She proceeds to sort through and tidy the clothing racks that line the store in Shunyi, picking a few choice pieces that she photographs and promotes online, which usually get snapped up in no time. All proceeds from the sales go directly to running the non-profit, which benefits needy children around China.
“It’s also my me-time,” says Garretson. “I usually spend two to three hours here which I treat as therapy for myself. Since it’s Sunday when you’re usually thinking about the upcoming work week, it helps to take my mind off the stress.” Like Cooper, Garretson is also an educator at an international school, as well as a wife and mother. As an active member of the WellStyle women’s group that shares fashion ideas and inspiration, Garretson was happy to use her knowledge of clothing brands when advising on the market value of donated clothing items. Helping out at Roundabout’s newly-opened Vintage and Boutique section is also a great way to utilize her experience from working at Poshmark – a consignment store based in the US, as well as Tradesy – an online resale website.
Sustainability is another reason that drove Garretson to help out at Roundabout, considering the part it plays in recycling fashion here in Beijing. “Every time I come here, I get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of clothes that are unwanted, but in perfectly acceptable condition,” shares Garretson. It’s no wonder why she hasn’t bought any new clothes recently.
Asked about why she started volunteering, Garretson explains that “It started with my parents back in the Philippines. My mother was an advocate for women’s rights and an active community volunteer, while my dad was an activist and political ex-detainee. As a lawyer, he volunteered his time and services to help other political activists facing legal troubles.” Back then, Garretson started volunteering at her church parish, bringing Sunday Mass to neighboring villages for those who could not make the trip to the church. Now, Garretson herself is passing on the volunteering baton to her daughter, who has helped out at the Roundabout book fairs. Garretson teases, saying her daughter wanted to volunteer because “she wanted to wear the pink apron.” In all actuality, however, she was excited to offer her face painting services as she fancies herself a budding artist.
I can’t help but see how Garretson and her daughter’s volunteer work at Roundabout wholly exemplify what Cooper said about matching passions and skills to a cause of your choice. It’s like the adage goes, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” While we know there are always moments that test us no matter how much we love what we do, it seems to ring no less true for volunteering, and this might be the secret to making it stick. So if you’re looking to volunteer, be sure to choose a position that matches what you want and are able to do, with an organization that shares your values and mission in life.
This article appeared in the jingkids 2021 November-December issue
