6 . “Volunteering makes you learn about the world differently. You can see how little things change a person’s life for the better,” Mario, a volunteer said.

The Volunteer Week is held in April every year. It is a time to thank volunteers for what they have done. It also helps others take their first step to become volunteers. Making the decision to take the first step can be the biggest problem, because people may wonder if they will be able to do the job well. Some people worry that they don’t know other volunteers. Not having enough time is also a problem for them.

The following advice can help if you have these worries.

* Start out slowly and don’t add too much pressure. Even doing it for a few hours a month can make a big difference to your life.

* Choose a group with the same interests.

* Work with an experienced volunteer. The person has volunteered a lot, so he or she can help you solve your problems.

* Invite a friend or a family member to serve. It is a good idea to volunteer with him or her.

*It is the most important to enjoy the volunteer job. Remember that not all volunteer jobs are fantastic. Don’t give up and you’ll surely find the right one.

Spend some time on volunteer work and you will see great changes in your life.

7 . In some parts of the world, children don’t have enough food to eat or enough money to buy clothes or shoes. Every year at Sunshine Middle School, we do something to raise money for these children. This year we will have a Market Day.

The Market Day will fall on July 8. We’re going to make the student center at our school look just like a big shopping center! People can come at any time from 9:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. and buy everything from clothes to books, cakes and flowers.

Luckily for us, many volunteers will help prepare for the big event. Last year, Ms. Grant and Ms. Ali made some wonderful cakes for our charity event. They will do it again this year. Bull Thomas will visit Bookworm Bookshop and Mel’s Music Shop and ask them to give us things that we can sell at the event. Philip White will e-mail all the teachers and ask them to come to our event. Alice Brown will put a message online telling the public the event is open to everyone.

However, there’s more to do, and we need your help. We want you to give us things that we can sell—books, old clothes, anything that we can sell to raise money for poor children. We also need some student volunteers to sell the things we get on Market Day.

8 . Anna was an artist who believed that it was significant (有意义的) to help others. When she heard of a summer camp for children with serious illnesses, she came up with an idea. It cost money for these kids to go to the camp, so Anna decided to see what she could do to help. It was impossible for her to donate a large amount of money, so she had to think of another way.

She wanted to make full use of her love of art. So she started making and selling beautiful cards to raise money for them. Because these cards were all manual (手工的), it would take her a long time to make a lot of them. So Anna had another idea. She started inviting friends to her house to help her make the cards. At first her friends were hesitant. Many said that they were not artistic and didn’t know how to make cards. But once they saw the distinctive (与众不同的) and beautiful materials that she had in her studio, her friends felt more moved doing such things.

To make money without spending money, Anna asked for and got donations of paper, glue, scissors and other things from nearby stores. She sold her cards for three dollars each in different art markets during the year. Anna raised more than $30, 000 in her 10 years making cards.

9 . When 8-year-old Lilly Bice heard families in Texas lost everything because of a hurricane (飓风), she made a decision to help them with her parents.

Lilly’s parents experienced another hurricane years ago themselves, so they knew people in Texas had difficulty rebuilding their homes after the hurricane. One day, when they discussed how to serve food to the people, Lilly heard their talk. She wanted to play a part in helping those people, too. She decided to give away her toys to the children. “If they have toys to play with, they may feel much better,” she thought.

Then Lilly started to put her toys in a bag. One of them was her favorite doll. Lilly also wrote something on a piece of paper: “Dear little girl, are you excited about getting the doll? I hope you like her. She was a good friend to me and she will be a great friend to you.”

At last, the bag of toys went to Texas with the food.

“Though Lilly is a little girl, she always shows kindness to others. She tells us something important—Even little kids can make a difference. ______________,” Lilly’s mother said with a smile.

10 . It was a Christmas night. I was an unlucky nurse who had to work on such a beautiful festival. When I was so tired that I didn’t want to work any longer, three people came to my desk—a tired woman and two children.

“Are you all sick?” I asked.

“Yes,” the woman answered and lowered her head.

But when they started to tell their problems, things became unclear. One child had a fever, but his temperature was OK. The other child had an earache, but she could not tell me which ear hurt. It seemed that the mother was trying to cough.

Something was wrong. But I only explained that it might take a while (需要一段时间) before a doctor could meet them. “Take your time, please,” said the mother. I checked their information—no address. Suddenly I knew, they were homeless (无家可归) and the hospital was warm.

The family stayed together under the Christmas tree, smiling and talking with each other sweetly. Quietly, I went back to the nurses’ station and told them what happened in the waiting room. It was just like the God sending us a gift on Christmas Day. The nurses’ station suddenly came back to life. All the nurses went into action for “a Christmas emergency (急诊).”

We took out our meals for our Christmas “sick people”. We also put oranges and apples together as presents.

We tried to give them a warm place on Christmas night. Later, the little girl kissed me and said, “Thanks for being our angels (天使).”