(BEIJING, May 30) -- Over half a million people have registered to become
Games-time volunteers for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games,
according to a source attending the just-opened Beijing municipal congress of
the Communist Youth League of China.
As of May 25, the number of applicants has reached 509,112, said
the head of the Volunteer Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the
Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), who is also a member of the league's
municipal committee.
In the Beijing area, campus applicants amount to 200,055, or 66.1 percent of
the total. The number of face-to-face inquires reached 874,207 including 551,374
from colleges and universities.
Preparation for volunteer training and interaction with applicants are also
underway. The Reader on Beijing Olympic Games Volunteers and a number of other
textbooks have been elaborated, some 20 model training bases have been found, a
team of 168 experts has been established and a remote training and test system
has been opened to all applicants. Part of the applicants will be involved in
this year's "Good Luck Beijing" sport events to gain experience for services in
the next year's Olympics.
BOCOG started to recruit Games-time volunteers on August 28, 2006. According
to the organizers, the volunteer program includes six working projects and one
theme campaign -- "Smiling Beijing". The projects are: the "Towards the
Olympics" Voluntary Service Project, the BOCOG Pre-Games Volunteer Project, the
Games-time Volunteer Project, the City Volunteer Project, the Social Volunteer
Project and the Olympic Volunteer Work Legacy Transformation Project.
A total of 100,000 Games-time volunteers will be needed for the Beijing
Olympic Games and Paralympics. During the Games, hundreds of thousands city
volunteers will be assigned to major traffic hubs, commercial networks, scenic
spots, hospitals, hotels, and cultural centers, and their recruitment will begin
next month. The number of volunteers in the communities is expected to exceed
one million, while that of the participants in the "Smiling Beijing" campaign
will be much higher.
|
