“Every happy family, same story. Every sad family, different story.” This quote from Tolstoy is how Shanghai Sunrise Field Visits key volunteer Jade Ding describes her years of experience visiting and qualifying prospective Sunrise students. Since she began volunteering with Shanghai Sunrise in 1996, Jade has witnessed many families suffering tremendous hardships – illness, death of parents, extreme poverty – which, in turn, has trickled down to the children in the home making it difficult for them to continue their education. “The way some families live in Shanghai would shock many people – rustic living quarters with little space, limited or no basic amenities, or bedridden family members suffering terrible illnesses and with only their young children to help them.  It’s families like these who need and deserve our help,” says Jade.

The process of selecting a Shanghai Sunrise student for an educational sponsorship is a thorough one. First, students who are deemed “in need” are recommended to Shanghai Sunrise by the Shanghai Charity Foundation through their connections into schools or by their local district and street committee representatives. This usually means the students’ families fall below or live just above the official poverty line. Students are then further qualified by the Shanghai Sunrise Field Visits Team. This includes a visit to the family’s home to verify the family is “underprivileged” and that there is indeed a need for the educational sponsorship.

The Field Visits Team visits all the districts of Shanghai from which Sunrise students are selected. Home visits to prospective students occur throughout the year while re-visits, to check that students still qualify for the program, occur at least once per year. Jade is usually one of the volunteers leading the Field Visits Team on these visits. “When I go to a prospective student’s home, I look for very specific things to determine if they are deserving of a Shanghai Sunrise sponsorship because I know there are many students who are in need of our help. For this reason, I have a reputation of being quite strict.”

Sunrise thanks Jade for her years of service and commitment to the organization.