May 2024

Heart to Heart Newsletter

We believe that corporate and school partnerships are essential to achieving our mission.  We would love to have your company  or school join us in saving lives of children from all over China with congenital heart disease (CHD). We hope you have a commitment to social responsibility. By supporting us, you can make a meaningful contribution to this life-saving, life-changing and life-enhancing cause.

How can you do this?  We have many ways that you can volunteer as a group with us.  Details of the majority of them can be obtained by contacting Lusia at (WeChat – LusiaSL).  If you company or school would like to help us out by working to sort donated goods or other manual activities at one of our hospital locations, here’s what we currently have available:

• VOLUNTEER at our mini-warehouse at Yida Hospital in Qingpu district. All are welcome (with chaperon if under 15 years old).  We can accommodate up to 12 people at a time.  Three-hour sessions can be scheduled any days except Mondays.
• VOLUNTEER at our assembly room in Yoda Hospital in Xuhui district.  All volunteers 15 years old and above are welcome in groups up to 12 people at a time.  Generally, three hour sessions on Tuesday afternoons or Thursdays are preferred

Contact Lusia (WeChat – LusiaSL) and she’ll help you get it scheduled through the correct volunteer.  Come join in the fun and help children with congenital heart disease at the same time.我们相信企业和学校合作伙伴关系对于实现我们的使命至关重要。我们诚意邀请您的公司或者学校加入我们，一起拯救中国各地患有先天性心脏病(CHD)的儿童的生命。我们希望我们的合作伙伴跟我们一样承诺践行社会责任。通过跟我们合作，您也将为这个拯救生命、改变命运的事业做出有意义的贡献。

参与我们的志愿服务有很多种方式，可以联系志愿者Lusia（微信：LusiaSL）了解详情。如果贵司或贵校希望帮助我们整理捐赠物品或者参与其它在医院进行的后勤活动，我们目前有这些需求：

• 成为⻘浦区医大医院的后勤志愿者 ——所有员工、学生、朋友、家人(15岁以下需有监护人陪同) 都欢迎参与，每次活动人数不超过12人。 除了周一外，每天都可以开放一个3小时的服务时段。
• 成为徐汇区远大心胸医院的后勤志愿者——只要是15岁及以上的志愿者都欢迎，每次活动人数不超过12 人。如无特殊情况，每周二下午和周四全天都能安排一个3小时的服务时段。

有意向跟我们合作的伙伴们，欢迎联系志愿者Lusia（微信：LusiaSL）。她会协助您计划活动，并且帮您对接相关的负责人。加入我们吧，帮助先心病的小朋友们，并且体验丰富多彩的志愿服务活动。

The German School started a lovely tradition with us during Christmas 2022.  They donated many wrapped gifts marked with the appropriate gender/age range on them.  Since all Heart to Heart sponsored children receive a welcome bag when they come into the hospital filled with donated toiletries, clothing, school supplies, drawing materials, books and toys, we decided to give the German School donated gifts out as a special surprise to the children after they came out of ICU.  After their days or weeks of relative isolation in ICU, the gifts are very well received.  Many of them had never received a wrapped gift before so are hesitant to open the boxes. Once shown what to do, however, they really get into the unwrapping and opening.   And the gifts inside never fail to bring big smiles or shrieks of glee to the children.

We love to see the kids happy!  We really appreciate the German School sending the gifts and making the children happy in this very stressful, painful time for them.  We just wish Christmas came more often so we had gifts to last the entire year!

从2022年圣诞节开始，德国学校与心连心一起开创了一个有趣的传统活动。德国学校会在每年圣诞节时捐赠给心连心许多包装好的礼物，上面标识了赠予人的性别/年龄范围。因为所有心连心捐赠的孩子在进入医院时都会收到一个欢迎包，里面装满了捐赠的洗漱用品、衣服、学习用品、绘画材料、书籍和玩具，所以我们决定在孩子们从ICU出来后，把德国学校捐赠的礼物作为一个特别的惊喜送给他们。在重症监护室隔离几天或几周后，这些礼物非常受孩子们的欢迎。他们中的许多人以前从未收到过包装好的礼物，所以刚开始比较犹豫打开礼盒。然而，一旦告诉他们该怎么做，他们就会开始拆封并打开礼物。里面的礼物总是能给孩子们带来欢快的微笑和尖叫。

我们非常喜欢看到孩子们开心的样子！我们非常感谢德国学校送来的礼物，让孩子们在这个非常紧张、痛苦的时刻快乐起来。我们真希望圣诞节能多来几次，这样我们就有足够的礼物用一整年了!

In Shanghai Yangpu Wujiaochang Street Culture Garden there is a group of lovely volunteers who knit all kinds of beautiful clothes for our heart bears. They have been doing this for two years and have knitted thousands pieces of clothing.  They do an amazing job.

These volunteers are retired women from the Culture Garden community who love knitting. They knit the delicate bear clothes very efficiently.  Every time we pick up their work, there are many beautiful outfits for the bears such as dresses, suits, hats and other accessories.  They also knit lovely Christmas bear outfits and customized company and school designed clothing.  The volunteers are elderly people.  It is quite touching as they feel very happy to help children with congenital heart disease to get surgery they need through knitting for our heart bears.  Since they knit with love and caring people buy the bears, it is a way to spread love.  The knitting volunteers feel they have accomplished a lot.

On 8^th March (International Women’s Day) we spent this special festival with the knitting volunteers from the Cultural Garden Community.  We also presented them with beautiful flowers, issued volunteer certificates and thanked them for doing such amazing work.  Finally, we would like to thank the volunteers from the Cultural Garden Community and wish them health and happiness. We are also particularly grateful to the Yangpu Wujiaochang Street Cultural Garden Neighborhood Committee for its strong support. Let’s praise these volunteers and public welfare workers together!

在上海杨浦五角场街道文化花园，有这么一群可爱可敬的志愿者老师们，献爱心为我们的爱心小熊编织各种漂亮的衣服，默默地坚持了两年，已编织了上千件，实在令人敬佩。

她们是文化花园社区的一群退休居民，热爱编织，技术高超，编织经验丰富，织的小衣服十分精致，还速度超快，令人叹为观止。每次的编织聚会，她们都带来好多漂亮的衣服成品，有连衣裙、套装和帽子等配饰，还有每逢圣诞节编织的圣诞小熊装，帮企业和学校定制的爱心小熊装等等。老师们虽然都年纪比较大，但她们一直在坚持，觉得能帮助到先天性心脏病孩子手术治疗非常开心，是发自内心地献爱心做公益，这种默默付出的精神令人感动。而她们编织的漂亮衣服把小熊装扮一新，被爱心人士捐赠认领，也是爱心的传递，令她们觉得很有成就感。

3月8日正值“三八”妇女节，我们与文化花园的编织老师们共度这个美好的特别节日，为老师们献上美丽的鲜花，颁发志愿者证书，感谢她们的爱心付出，也感谢她们无私的奉献，老师们的脸上洋溢着美丽和温暖的笑容。

在此，我们再次感谢文化花园献爱心编织班老师们！祝愿她们健康幸福！也特别感谢杨浦五角场街道文化花园居委会的大力支持。让我们一起为这群可爱可敬的志愿者老师们和公益工作者们点赞！

Having a good time on the ward helps everyone feel better!  We’d like to say a big thanks to Alison who periodically sends us some practical handouts for the children’s bags (this time it was Mickey Mouse pencil sets which the children loved), but always sends something fun along with the practical.  So, the H2H intern Amy and I walked down the ward handing out Alison’s glasses and, naturally, everyone loved them!  They may look ridiculous, but the kids and parents were all laughing and talking about it.  Everyone wanted a pair.  One little girl wanted 3 pairs so she could take them back home for her family.  It definitely took everyone’s mind off heart surgeries and missing home.

在病房里开开心心对每个人都有帮助！我们要特别感谢 Alison 时不时替孩子们的礼物袋送来一些不仅仅是实用的东西（这回是大受欢迎的米老鼠铅笔盒），还总是附带一些逗人开心的小东西。所以当心连心实习生Amy和我到病房里发放Alison送来的眼镜时，大家都自然而然爱上它们。或许它们看起来很可笑，但是小朋友们和家长们都开心谈论着。每个人都要一副。有个小女孩儿甚至拿了三副，好带回家分送家人。这个善举，让大家忘却心脏手术和对家人的思念。

It is not unusual to hear children crying on the wards after their heart surgeries.  It is, however, still a sound that always makes me sad.  And I know that’s it’s very distressing to their parents.  I want them all to feel good and be happy.  Thus, over the years I’ve come up with two sure-fire ways to alleviate the crying for at least a little while.  The rule seems to be that if you give most of the little children a ball, it always seems to do it.  But we have a limited number of balls around.  Another thing that always seems to work is heart bears…. The children love them and smiles immediately come out.  That’s why I’d particularly like to thank Amgen…. They bought 106 heart bears from us and then donated most of them back to us to give out to children in the hospital.  What a nice surprise!  This means they not only sponsored children through the original purchase, but are making even more children happy when they’re hurting and feeling bad.  Thank you so much, Amgen, for your thoughtfulness!

做完心脏手术的孩子在病房会里哭泣是件正常的事，但这种声音仍然还是让我感到难过。 我知道这种声音，对他们的父母来说，更是种折磨和煎熬。 我非常希望能帮助他们好受一点，快乐一点。 很多年以来，我终于摸索出了两种有效的方法来帮助孩子们减少这种哭泣，至少在一定时间内。 我摸索到的规律之一是，如果你给小孩子一个球，大部分孩子都会马上停止哭泣。 只可惜我们的球数量非常有限。 另一件似乎总是有效的东西就是我们的爱心熊……孩子们很喜欢他们，经常一拿到，他们的笑容就出来了。 这就是为什么我要特别感谢安进公司……他们从我们这里买了106只爱心熊，然后把大部分的熊又都捐给了我们，通过我们送给了医院里康复的孩子们。 这真是个大惊喜！ 这意味着他们不仅通过最初的购买赞助了孩子们的手术，而且给术后恢复和感觉不好孩子带来了快乐。 非常感谢体贴的你们，安进！

Daniel Newman conducted tours in Shanghai for many years.  He’s now back after some years in the UK and wants to resume helping children with congenital heart disease get the surgery they need.  How’s he going to do it?  Through a tour, of course…..

So mark your calendars for the afternoon of May 12.  Daniel is going to take us on a tour of the French Concession.  Even if you’ve lived in Shanghai for many years, I know from experience that he will take us to places we’ve never been and will tell us all kind of interesting information about the area.  Come and join us!  You won’t regret that you did.  No reservations are necessary, but you can always contact me on WeChat at 13916295852 if you want to register beforehand.

We hope to see you there!

丹尼尔·纽曼曾经在上海带领观光团很多年。他回英国待了几年，最近重返上海，希望继续为患有先天性心脏病的儿童筹募手术用款。他将如何来实现这个目标呢？当然是通过带领观光团。

请在您的日历上记下5月12日下午的这个日期。丹尼尔将带领我们参观法租界。即使你在上海已经待了很多年，我以自己的亲身经历，可以告诉你，丹尼尔会带你去那些你从未去过的地方，跟你讲述关于那些地方的奇闻异事。快来加入我们吧！你不会后悔的。不需要预订，但如果你想提前注册，可以随时通过微信联系我，我的微信号是13916295852。
期待能在那里见到你！

Is there any greater gift than a book? I’d argue that there are very few.… Last December I sat down with pen and paper to begin drafting yet another list of gift ideas for members of our family. I’m afraid we’ve reached that dreadful stage in our lives where we no longer know what to offer one another. Rather than buy more “stuff” – which none of us needed – I whimsically suggested to the group that we try an alternative solution this year: “Let’s eschew the more commercial side of Christmas and band together to fund a library for a rural school in China.” Their reaction was instantaneous and inspiring, with everyone in the family enthusiastically jumping on board. We agreed to symbolically give one another second-hand books on Christmas day and donate the money normally spent on more lavish gifts towards a library package. As soon as they heard about the project, many of our close friends immediately wanted to contribute and, in a flash, we had met our target of RMB 20,000: it felt so rewarding to be able to collectively come together like this and honour the very act of giving.

Our library package was scheduled to be presented to a rural school during the first Heart to Heart field trip of 2024, and we duly promised to send updates and photos to those who had made this whole venture possible. Accordingly, in March of this year, my daughter and I joined the other Heart to Heart volunteers on a trip to Anhui province where we had the privilege of meeting and interacting with the wonderful students and staff of ‘our’ school.

It is hard to image the emotions that coursed through us as we stood before the children with a pile of crisp new books waiting in the wings: tears were shed, hugs exchanged and we felt proud to be able to give back something to the children of China, a token thank-you to a country who has welcomed us so warmly with open arms.

I encourage everyone reading this to think back to the books you read yourself as a child and remember the impact they had on you. The gift of reading is not simply a gift of knowledge, but the power to inspire and fuel the imaginations of future generations. There really are few things as powerful as the gift of reading. For, as I said to the children gathered before us on that day:

“Books, they look so innocent, just bits of paper with funny squiggles on, all glued together in a big lump. But, if you are brave enough to open the covers, you’ll see that books possess a special power: they can take you to new places; introduce you to new people and ideas; they can make you laugh, make you cry, or even change your life. Once you step inside who knows who you’ll meet: a princess, a dragon, a hero …or even a different version of yourself.”

I heartily encourage each and every one of you reading this today to gather together a group of friends, family and/or colleagues and fund your own library package. It genuinely is one of the most heart-warming of experiences for all concerned. When you donate a library package via Heart to Heart you never know whose future you’re about to inspire…but the first heart to be touched will most certainly be yours!

(Dr Mary Bardet is a volunteer with Heart to Heart in Shanghai) 

为中国乡村学校捐赠图书馆套装
有什么比一本书更好的礼物吗？我认为几乎没有。去年12月，我坐下来拿起笔和纸，开始为我们家庭成员起草一份礼物清单。恐怕我们 已经到了人生中那可怕的阶段，不再知道要给彼此送什么了。与其购买更多的“东西 ”——我们都不需要的东西——我异想天开地向大家提议，今年我们尝试一种替代方案 ：“让我们避开圣诞节商业化的一面，共同为中国的一个农村学校筹资，建立一个图书 馆。” 他们的反应是即时而鼓舞人心的，全家人都热情洋溢地加入了这个计划。我们
约定象征性地在圣诞节互赠二手书，并将通常用于购买更奢侈礼物的钱捐赠给图书馆 项目。一旦他们听说了这个项目，我们许多亲近的朋友立即表示愿意捐款。转眼间，我 们就达到了2万元人民币的目标：能够这样集体地共同行动，荣幸地履行了给予的行为 ，感觉非常有回报。

我们的图书馆项目计划在2024年首次心连心乡村回访期间，向一所乡村学校捐赠。我们 郑重承诺，将发送更新和照片给那些使整个冒险成为可能的人。因此，今年3月，我和 女儿加入了志愿者队伍，前往安徽省，有幸与“我们”捐赠学校的优秀学生和工作人员 见面并互动。

当我们站在孩子们面前，一堆崭新的书在一旁等待时，我们难以抑制内心的激动：眼 泪留了下来，彼此拥抱在一起，我们为能够回馈给中国的孩子们感到自豪，这是对一个 热情欢迎我们的国家的一份微薄的感谢。¹

我鼓励每一位阅读此文的人回想一下自己小时候读过的书，记住它们对你产生的影响 。阅读的礼物不仅仅是知识的馈赠，更是激发和滋养未来一代想象力的力量。确实很 少有东西能像阅读的礼物一样强大。因为，正如我在那天站在孩子们面前所说的：

“书籍…它们看起来好像很普通，只是一堆纸，上面黏着一些有趣的涂鸦！但如果你足 够勇敢去翻开书的封面，你会发现书籍有一种超酷的力量：它们可以带你去新的地方 ，让你认识新的人和想法，它们可以让你笑，让你哭，甚至改变你的人生！一旦你踏 入其中，谁知道会遇到谁：一个公主，一条龙，一个英雄……甚至是一个不同版本的你 自己。”

我衷心鼓励今天阅读这篇文章的每一个人，组织一群朋友、家人和/或同事，筹资建立 自己的图书馆项目。这确实是一种让所有相关人员都感到温暖的经历之一。当您通过“ 心连心”捐赠一个图书馆项目时，您永远不知道您将要激励的是谁的未来……但第一个 被触动的心，一定是您自己的！

（玛丽·巴德博士是上海仁德基金会心连心专项基金的一名志愿者）

It’s not every day that you can say that you have saved the lives of over 3,000 children.  Amazingly, we can now state that.  Heart to Heart has now performed over 3,000 life-saving, life-changing heart surgeries.  It is an amazing number!  A lot of hard work and kindness went into making it happen.  It couldn’t have happened without a joint effort of many, many volunteers and sponsors working together.  It is something that all of us should be very, very proud of.

I know that Child #3000 – Shi Guangyi – is really glad that Heart to Heart exists.  Shi Guangyi is a 14 year old boy from Inner Mongolia.  Recently, he had an extremely fast heart rate and chest pain while running. He was also having severe sleep problems.  He was taken to the local hospital for examination, it was found that he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Heart surgery was necessary, but his family couldn’t afford it.

Shi Guangyi comes from a family of four – Shi Guangyi, an older brother (30 years old) and their parents.  They live in a self-built house in Inner Mongolia.  The family has no land nor fixed income.  The brother had a national tuition loan for university, but they are having difficulty repaying it.  The mother is intellectually disabled and lacks the ability to work.  In 2021, she also suffered from hydrocephalus. A few years ago, the father fell off construction site scaffolding and injured his lower back and heels.  He is now unable to engage in heavy physical labor.  The family’s income relies on the father and brother doing odd jobs.  Together, they are able to make around RMB 5,000 annually.  There was no way that the family was able to find or borrow enough money for the heart surgery Shi Guangyi needed.  Luckily, Heart to Heart was able to help him.  He had his heart surgery on April 9 and is gradually getting better and better.

How could we ever forget Child #3000???  I know he won’t forget us.  We hope to hear good things from him in the future!

并不是每天你都能说你拯救了3000多名儿童的生命。令人惊讶的是，现在我们可以这么说了。心连心已经完成了超过3000多个可以挽救生命，改变生活的心脏手术。这是一个惊人的数字! 这一成果的背后是无数人的辛苦付出和善意的行为。如果没有许许多多的志愿者和捐赠人的共同努力，这是不可能发生的。这是我们所有人都应该感到非常非常自豪的事情。

第3000个接受心连心资助的孩子名字叫石X毅，相信他真的很感恩可以有心连心的存在。石X毅是一个来自内蒙古的14岁男孩。前段时间，他在跑步时心率非常快并伴随胸痛，同时他也有严重的睡眠问题。他被带到当地医院检查时，医生诊断他患有肥厚性心脏病。这个疾病必须进行心脏手术，但他的家庭负担不起。

石X毅来自一个四口之家，除了石X毅以外，家庭成员还包括他的父母，及一个30岁的哥哥。他们住在内蒙古一所自建房子里。他们家没有土地，也没有固定的收入。他的哥哥有一笔国家大学学费贷款，但他们很难偿还。他的母亲缺乏工作能力。2021年，他的母亲还患上了脑积水。他的父亲几年前从建筑工地的脚手架上摔了下来，下背部和脚跟受伤，他现在不能从事重体力劳动。这个家庭的收入主要来源于父亲和哥哥打零工赚取。这个家庭没有办法找到或借到足够的钱来为石X毅做心脏手术。幸运的是，心连心可以帮助他。他在4月9日做了心脏手术，现在正在逐渐好转。

我们永远不会忘记第3000个我们帮助的孩子——石X毅，同时，我们也相信他也不会忘记我们。我们希望在不久的未来，能听到他更多的好消息。               

Featured Volunteer: Jac Wang         

Though trained to be a finance professional, Ying Wang (Jac) has always been aware of and trying very hard to understand the complexity of society and spectrums of global developments. After finishing her first job as an auditor, she started travelling (solo) around the world.  Africa was one of her first stops.  It was an eye-opener and gradually became the focal point that enriched the breadth and depth of her perception of life and humanity. In that adventure, the constant exposure to the disparity in access to resources and unbalanced development stages revealed to her what some of us are enjoying could be beyond reach to millions of others. The extremely tough half-year she spent as a freelance journalist in UN Refugee Camps in Northern Uganda set the cornerstone for her dedication to charity causes.  Inspired by it’s 100% volunteer principle, her dedication to charity causes eventually turned into her commitment to Heart to Heart following her return to post-pandemic Shanghai.  Apart from her full-time job as a compliance and risk officer for an asset management firm, she is now in charge of the finance department for Heart to Heart.  It requires patience, persistence and attention to detail considering the varying sizes of donations, hospital billings, etc. for each of the hundreds of kids annually.

The solidarity shown by all Heart to Heart volunteers, whether in sales, knitting, assembly, field trips, etc. moved her a lot and deepened her appreciation of how joint efforts can make a huge difference.  The many contributions can even become life-saving and life-changing through sponsoring, organizing and facilitating the much-in-need surgeries for kids with CHD from underprivileged families. No other rewards would be more meaningful than this, are they?

王颖（Jac）虽然在职业发展上以培养成一个财务专业人士受训，但她在成长过程中一直很关注并尝试理解社会运行的复杂性和全球发展阶段的差异性。在毕业后作为审计师的第一份工作合同期限届满时，她开启了长达数年的不间断独自一人环游世界的旅程。在此过程中与非洲大陆结下了不解之缘，不断拓宽她认知边界的同时，日后也成为她旅行的支点并使她在人生、人性的这一议题上的思索在深度和广度上都得到了升华。

旅程中，不断目睹资源获取难易的不平等和发展程度的不均衡，使得她深刻认识到，对于人群中的一部分人而言触手可及的资源，对另一部分人则可能难如登天。尤其是在乌干达北部的联合国难民营中作为自由记者实地走访、生活了半年后，更坚定了她想要为慈善事业尽微薄之力的决心。后疫情时代回到家乡上海后，出于对仁德基金会心连心专项基金“百分百志愿奉献、不收取一份报酬”的理念的深深认同，加入了这个温暖有爱的大家庭。在作为资管公司合规和风险专员的本职工作以外，业余时间她负责心连心的财务和簿记工作——这是一项非常要求耐心、恒心和细心的工作，其原因也显而易见——每年几百个孩子的手术支出和捐赠组成，都要精确无误地记录。

心连心志愿者所展现出来的众志成城的精神，在无论是义卖、编织、后勤还是乡村回访等各项活动中都让人感动，也使得Jac深刻体会到，共同的努力可以如何影响这片和我们息息相关的土地以及其上生活的人、发生的事。心连心专项基金通过赞助、组织和协调，为那些来自力所不逮家庭的患儿提供他们迫切需要的心脏病手术，这是一项挽救生命、重塑人生的义举。不会有比这更有意义的嘉奖了，不是吗？

New Playroom Volunteers
Abhishek Sharma
Amy Pu
Arthur Kepke-Wysocki
Audrey Chiang
Emma Yang
Fei Sun
Lisa Engelgardt
Paditpron James
Wang Xin Yi
Xiaosha Yang
Zheng Yueqi

New Assembly Volunteers
Emma Yang
Koo Min Seok
Lisa Engelhardt
Wang Xin Yi

New Events Volunteers
Amy Pu
Audrey Chiang
Emma Yang
Fei Sun
Joanna Yi
Lisa Engelhardt
Shuang Wu
Sophia Sun
Xiaosha Yang
Zheng Yueqi

New Knitting Volunteers
Fei Sun
Zheng Yueqi

New Sewing Volunteers
Zheng Yueqi

Donate Your Time
Help out in our hospital playroom, join an assembly session, schedule a special group volunteering session for you and your coworkers, knit or sew bear clothes at home or with friends.  There are countless opportunities.  We definitely need your help!

Other Donations
You can help support our food card program, our rural school library or sports equipment programs, or become a heart surgery program sponsor.  Contact us to find out how you can help.

Tell Your Friends About Us
Talk to a volunteer at an event and pass on the information. Bring a friend to a volunteer session. Enlist your friends from home to make a donation (contact our executive director to find out how you can make this happen).