The XIV Voluntary Spring Campaign 2022: When the spirit of UEH does not stop spreading

In response to the work program of the Association and the City student movements in 2021 - 2022 with “Students of Ho Chi Minh City promote the spirit of pioneering, mutual assistance and adaptation to the Covid-19 pandemic” Theme, the XIV Voluntary Spring Campaign in 2022 was approved by the Student Association of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City to be deployed and put into operation from January 1^st to January 30^th, 2022. Through this voluntary playground, more than 600 soldiers of UEH have made efforts to bring Tet to every home, sharing with many less fortunate lives, helping disadvantaged people to welcome a warm and full spring, and above all, spreading the noble deeds of young people to everyone.

The Voluntary Spring Campaign 2022 consists of 04 key programs organized in turn with separate missions and responsibilities; however, all of which were very successful and gave love, brought Tet to every home.

Safe Tet - Opening up a lot of good things

Both being the opening of the Voluntary Spring Campaign in 2022 and the meaning of responding to the 72^nd anniversary of the Vietnamese Student Traditional Day (January 9, 1950 - January 9, 2022), UEH Student Association officially launched the online voluntary website GoVirlunteer. This is a connecting space between organizations and students, bringing people together and preserving deep humanitarian values in the voluntary journey of each individual and group.

In addition, due to the complicated pandemic situation across the country, UEH Student Association has created many conditions for students to participate in voluntary activities, pandemic prevention and control in the local area where they currently live and record voluntary days through the online voluntary portal GoVirlunteer. This is a new highlight in the organization as well as updating the voluntary status of all UEH students with the motto “Phát huy tinh thần xung kích - Tình nguyện tại chỗ - Tết an toàn” (Promoting the spirit of pioneer - Volunteering on the spot - Safe Tet).

A warm ‘Sharing Spring’ season

Following the exciting activities in the program “Tết an toàn” (Safe Tet), “Xuân sẻ chia” (Sharing Spring) also contributed to the campaign with extremely practical and meaningful activities.

The train of enthusiastic hearts departed to locals to fulfill the mission of bringing a full spring, spreading the love of youth to every home. Direct voluntary activities in the locals brought a lot of useful experiences as well as good values to the society listed as the night of “Xuân Chia Sẻ - Tết Yêu Thương” (Sharing Spring - New Year of Love) at Ngoi Sao Tre Em Son Ky Orphanage, the “Xuân cho em” program (Spring for you) at Thien Tam Shelter, "Tết yêu thương" program (Tet of love) visited the loving home of Dieu Phap Pagoda of the soldiers of the School of Government, as well as giving meaningful gifts to the lonely elders and orphans at Binh An Pagoda, the soldiers of the border guard stations and the homeless in the city.

Soldiers of the Martial Arts Club participating in giving gifts to the homeless inside Ho Chi Minh City

Besides, the soldiers also had the opportunity to involve in wrapping cakes and gifts for disadvantaged families in District 4 and children in “Lớp học tình thương” (Classes of Love) in District 9.

“Banh Chung” wrapped by the skillful hands of the yellow shirt soldiers

Additionally, the journey “Xuân Cho Em” (Spring for you) brought Tet to Thien Tam Shelter, Phuoc Loi Village, Phuoc Dong Commune, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province of soldiers under School of Tourism. In addition to organizing fun activities, connecting with children, interacting with the managers who are currently living and working at the Shelter, the soldiers also wanted to create a long-term relationship with the children community at the Shelter through supporting and advising them in their studies, introducing enrollment counseling programs in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province.

“Xuân cho em” (Spring for you) program at Thien Tam Shelter

Realizing the importance of having solid financial knowledge in the context of the constantly changing economy as well as the increasing investment needs of young people, ISB Youth Union has cooperated with Youth Unions in Go Vap and Binh Chanh District on organizing “FINANCE CLASS: UEH FINCLASS” and the media series “TÚI TIỀN NAN GIẢI, “TRẢI” CÙNG FINANCE” (DANGEROUS POCKET, “EXPERIENCE” WITH FINANCE). This is a series of free courses, creating opportunities for union members and young people in regions in the city to have a chance to approach and learn deeply about personal finance, identify cheating investment channels as well as effective investment methods.

Soldier Spring - Connecting hearts

In this series of activities, soldiers from School of Foreign Languages brought a warm spring to District 4 and Khanh Hoi Port Border Guard Station from January 21st to January 23nd, 2022.

The squad was divided into 2 main lines to carry out the tasks. The first route was organized to visit and give gifts to Border Guard Soldiers at Khanh Hoi Port Border Gate, policy families in the area. The second team organized an activity to pack and cook 100 “Banh tet” to bring together experiences for soldiers as well as union members, youth, and border guards; organized folk games to strengthen the spirit of the participating members.

Soldiers from School of Foreign Languages presenting gifts to Border Guards at Khanh Hoi Port Border Gate

Promoting the spirit of adapting to the new normal, all activities in the campaign were carefully organized, complying with local pandemic prevention and control rules.

Civilized New Year - When the spirit of UEH is constantly spreading

Besides the direct voluntary activities in the “Xuân sẻ chia - Xuân chiến sĩ” Program (Sharing Spring - Soldiers Spring), UEH Student Association built and developed activities associated with the “Văn hóa thưởng thức” (Culture of enjoyment) of UEH students: organizing contests to create podcasts, magazines, products about Vietnamese Tet culture, and media to build a civilized lifestyle during the Tet holiday affected by the Covid-19pandemic. One of the typical activities can be mentioned as the 2022 Lunar New Year Voluntary Program deployed by the International Business Club (IBC) with the theme “Sưởi lòng” (Warm up your heart), targeting objectives who are homeless elders severely affected by the pandemic. A talk show raising funds Âm Sắc “Ấm” (“Warm” Tone) was held on January 22 on the online platform Zoom, spreading great knowledge and values

Âm Sắc “Ấm” (“Warm” Tone) Talk Show

In addition to talk shows sharing useful knowledge for students, there were media products, a series of magazines, exhibitions with Tet themes from organizations. Typical examples can be mentioned as the Bilingual Magazine “Retrouvailles” - Together with CFE “Đậm Tình Đón Tết” from the French Club; The magazine “Hồn Việt” (Vietnamese Soul) was produced and published by the School of Tourism in the form of a flipbook presented in Vietnamese and English, including knowledge about customs, culture and traditional activities taking place on Tet.

“Retrouvailles” Magazine

“Hồn Việt” (Vietnamese Soul) Magazine

In terms of the development of students' listening culture, the organizations also launched a lot of radio chains and podcasts such as the radio series “Tết là để…” (Tet is to…) recreating the traditional cultural beauty of Tet - the sustainable beauties culture, lasting Vietnamese people of the soldiers of the Ly Luan Tre Club; Voluntary Spring Communication Program 2022 - "Tầm gửi" (Mistlet) of the Student Support Group (SSG); Tax Group's “360 độ Tết” (360 degrees Tet) series, brought a new perspective and approach to information for UEH students.

“Tết là để…” (Tet is to…) Podcast Series

On January 20^th, Nguyen Chi Thanh Dormitory successfully organized “Đêm nhạc gây quỹ Xuân Kết Nối” (Fund-raising music night Connecting Spring) on Webex platform. The music night received a lot of attention and support from everyone and the companionship of our guest singers in the concert listed as Singer Hoang Duc Thinh, Singer/Actor Quang Trung. All proceeds from the concert would be donated to students at Nguyen Chi Thanh Dormitory who have difficult circumstances and cannot return to their hometown to celebrate Tet.

“Xuân kết nối” (Connecting Sring) Program

With two online and face-to-face combined formats, this year's campaign attracted a large number of students to participate in fundraising activities, media chains, and online contests listed as the “Nụ cười đón xuân” (Smile to welcome spring) contest organized by School of Finance to connect hearts from all parts of the country. This was a solid bridge for students to spread a Tet atmosphere in a very special ‘new normal’ condition in the present life, therefore, bringing positive values to the community and surrounding people.

“Nụ cười đón xuân” (Smile to welcome spring) Contest

The Voluntary Spring Campaign 2022 closed with very proud numbers. With the participation of more than 600 soldiers, 25 grassroots formations were established from faculties/ institutes/ dormitories and clubs/ teams/ groups at all levels. Voluntary Spring Campaign 2022 not only attracted a large number of participation from students but also completed impressively with a total operating budget of more than 500 million VND. The biggest and most meaningful success was that the campaign did approach different objectives with diverse situations listed as children, the lonely elderly, the homeless, financially-difficult families, the workers, families with priority policy and the border guards in the city. Although the pandemic statement is complicated, students, with the enthusiastic participation of soldiers from large and small squads, have shown their spirit of solidarity, mutual love and volunteering for the community.

Voluntary Spring 2022 of the UEH Student Association has created a meaningful program for students with an enthusiastic and dynamic environment that not only brought students closer together but also upheld the spirit of “Lá lành đùm lá rách”, “Tương thân tương ái” (Mutual love), helping unfortunate lives have a warm and full Tet. Volunteering spirit has always been the strength and pride of UEH students, hopefully, these good values will always be preserved and promoted in future activities, building a community of civilized UEH-ers.

New, photos: UEH Student Association