"When I was still a lawyer, very often I would not get my fees for cases I finalized and my wife would tease me, saying I was doing work for free. But I feel happy about helping others and many times I would not charge poor people for handling their cases," President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the joke at the 2003 Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) Award ceremony and exchanged his experiences as a volunteer with the award winners and encouraged the youth to take up volunteer work.
"The best way to celebrate May 20 is to serve as a volunteer," said Chen, who had appointed that date as "volunteer's day" and has done volunteer work on the anniversary of his inauguration for three consecutive years.
He half-jokingly said that next year he would be busy with his inauguration ceremony and that a decision is yet to be made regarding what time of that day he could perform volunteer work.
Huang Yao-kuan (
"I did various volunteer work including teaching Chinese chess in communities. When I was in high school, I also worked with others in my school to recycle resources and make some money out of recycling for our school's student fund.
"Then I got hooked up with the National Youth Commission and worked as part of a team that helped at the Golden Melody Awards. We also negotiated with the Kaohsiung City Government to allow student groups to perform on the city's streets so the public can see that students' compositions are important for the future of music," Huang said.
"Team work feels good and when I walk along the street and see a fellow volunteer from the GYSD, I would give them a hug and we would both feel re-energized," he said.
Wang Peng (
"Whenever there are difficulties, I would like to go there and help out," Wang said.
The Global Youth Service Day is an annual global event that originated in the US and encourages young people to participate in community-service events. Taiwan's National Youth Commission last year started to combine its volunteer program with the GYSD and has subsidized almost 1,000 groups in the past two years.
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