明日之光Open Arms 團隊張開雙臂歡迎你

前言

自2020年11月以來，美中下一代基金會明日之光公益獎平台得到華人社區的積極響應和參與並逐漸強大。平台的職責之一是傳播各個團隊的事迹和經驗，共大家學習，交流和參考。明日之光Open Arms團隊於2020年10月由初，高中學生組成，致力於幫助學習交流有障礙的孩子。一年多來他們在幫助他人的過程中鍛煉成長，收益多多。下面就是他們用中英文講述自己的故事和經驗。在此，他們還提供了聯繫方式，歡迎更多的義工加入他們團隊。

明日之光Open Arms 團隊：張開雙臂歡迎你

On October 31, 2020, we, eight middle school and high school students, began developing an idea of creating a place to help children 3-12 with special needs in learning and communication. As we learned that 10% of the population has difficulty with learning and communication, we became determined to help. With a desire to contribute to society, we decided to establish our own volunteer organization. The goal was to create a safe environment for children with learning disabilities to build friendships, develop their communication skills, and have fun. This would benefit not only the kids but the parents as well, and allow them to have time for themselves. During our next two meetings, we worked on establishing this organization and organizing the first event.

2020 年 10 月 31 日，我們八名初/高中生開始構思創建一個場所，以幫助 3-12 歲有特殊學習和交流需求的兒童。當我們了解到 10% 的人口在學習和交流方面存在困難時，我們決定提供幫助。懷著為社會做貢獻的願望，我們決定成立自己的志願者組織。目標是為有學習障礙的兒童創造一個安全的環境，以建立友誼，發展他們的溝通技巧，並從中獲得樂趣。 這不僅對孩子有好處，對他們的父母也有幫助，可以讓他們有一段自己的時間。 在接下來的兩次會議中，我們致力於建立這個組織並計划了第一次活動。

On May 29, 2021, after months of preparation, Open Arms officially started its first Special Saturday with 15 volunteers and 14 special needs kids. We were extremely excited to meet each other and felt a sense of connection and understanding. All volunteers felt they had learned a lot about their partners. It was a huge success。 Many participants were eager to come back and their parents expressed many thanks through WeChat. We were thrilled that our organization could help these kids and their parents.  We immediately started planning the next event.

2021 年 5 月 29 日，經過幾個月的準備，Open Arms 的 15 名志願者和 14 名有特殊需要的孩子一起正式開始了第一個特殊星期六活動。 義工們開心地迎接孩子們的到來，在兩個小時的活動中彼此感受到了一種聯繫和理解。 所有的志願者都覺得他們對他們的合作夥伴有了很多了解。 這是一個巨大的成功。許多參與者渴望回來，他們的父母通過微信表達了很多感謝。 我們很高興我們的組織可以幫助這些孩子和他們的父母。 我們立即開始計划下一次活動

Since then, we have hosted events once every month. Each participant partners with a volunteer, allowing the children to have their volunteers』 undivided attention. For a duration of 2 hours, the volunteers lead their assigned child to do prepared activities of their choice, with a snack break in between. The activities include crafting, singing and dancing, gaming, and playing outside. The volunteers interact with their participants and encourage them to communicate with them and other children.

從五月起，我們每個月都會舉辦一次活動。 每個參與者都有一名固定的志願者，讓孩子們得到志願者的全部的關注。 在 2 小時的時間裡，志願者帶領他們指定的孩子做他們選擇的準備好的活動，中間有零食時間。 活動包括手工製作、唱歌跳舞、遊戲和戶外玩耍。 志願者與他們的參與者互動，並鼓勵他們與他們和其他孩子交流。

As of 2021, we have hosted 8 events. We are overjoyed that the children are excited to be at Open Arms each time. Additionally, parents were thankful they had time to relax without the need to worry about their kids. In addition to regular activities, we also host special events for holidays. For example, in the month of October, for Halloween, everyone was invited to dress up to celebrate, and the participants were given goodie bags. The children also had different activities to partake in, such as making oobleck and blowing giant bubbles. At the Christmas event, the children went on a treasure hunt for ornaments, folded origami, and received gifts in a game of White Elephant.

截至 2021 年底，我們已經舉辦了 8 場活動。 我們很高興孩子們每次都對 Open Arms 感到興奮。 此外，父母很感激他們有時間放鬆而無需擔心孩子。 除了常規活動外，我們還會在假期舉辦特別活動。 例如，在十月的萬聖節，每個人都被邀請穿著costume來慶祝，參與者收到禮品袋。 孩子們還有不同的活動可以參與，比如製作oobleck和吹大泡泡。 在聖誕節活動中，孩子們進行了聖誕飾品尋寶活動、摺紙活動，並玩了白象禮物交換遊戲。

The regular volunteers of Open Arms started with eight girls who founded the organization, ages 11-14. Now we have some more regular volunteers joining us for every event.  Each of our members have remarkable qualities of empathy, adaptability, and patience. Every volunteer is dedicated to doing their best, arriving half an hour early to set up, staying half an hour to clean, and adapting to each child』s needs. Through positive feedback and suggestions from the parents and participants, the volunteers are learning and improving themselves to better assist the participants. We are proud to be making a positive impact on our community!

With a new year around the corner, Open Arms main volunteer 』s objective for 2022 is to expand and improve our program. As the pandemic is still going on, we understand some participants might not be able to come. But, we expect that there will be more special needs children that will be able to benefit from our program after the pandemic settles down. We plan to host more events each month, add new programs, and recruit more permanent volunteers. We will also organize some fundraising events for our organization so we can provide more activities for these kids we serve.

Open Arms 的常規志願者始於 8 位創立該組織的女孩，年齡在 11-14 歲之間。現在我們有更多的定期志願者加入我們的每一個活動。我們的每個成員都具有很強的同理心、適應性和耐心。每位志願者都盡心儘力，提前半小時布置，留半小時打掃衛生，儘力適應每個孩子的需求。通過家長和參與者的反饋和建議，志願者不斷學習和提升自己，以更好地幫助參與者。我們很自豪能夠對我們的社區產生積極影響！

新的一年即將來臨，Open Arms 主要志願者 2022 年的目標是擴大和改進我們的計劃。由於新冠疫情仍在繼續，我們理解一些參與者可能暫時無法參加。但是，我們希望在疫情平息後，有更多特殊需要的兒童能夠從我們的計劃中受益。我們計劃每月舉辦更多活動，增加新項目，並招募更多永久志願者。我們還將組織一些籌款活動，以便為我們服務的這些孩子提供更多活動。

If you are interested in volunteering or participating at Open Arms, we would be delighted to have you join us! Visit our website https://openarms2021org.wixsite.com/openarms to sign up! For more information, see our website or join our discord server (invite can be found on the website).

If you are willing to donate to support this organization, you can Zelle to openarms2021.org@gmail.com .

To contact us, email us at openarms2021.org@gmail.com. We welcome you with open arms!

如果您有興趣成為義工或參加 Open Arms 活動 ，我們很高興您能加入我們！ 請訪問我們的網站 https://openarms2021org.wixsite.com/openarms 進行註冊！ 有關更多信息，請訪問我們的網站或加入我們的 Discord 伺服器（可以在網站上找到邀請）。

如果您願意捐款支持該組織，您可以將 Zelle 發送至 openarms2021.org@gmail.com。

聯繫我們，請發送電子郵件至 openarms2021.org@gmail.com。 我們張開雙臂歡迎你！

相關報道：https://atlanta.americachineselife.com/%E5%BC%A0%E5%BC%80%E5%8F%8C%E8%87%82-open-arms/