“If I can complete the 12-kilometer hike, please donate 5 yuan for one breakfast and one lunch. I’ll just take a sip of water and keep pushing forward… If I can finish the 30-kilometer hike, please donate 24 yuan for three days’ meals, and wait for me at the finish line!” Yesterday, nearly 200 young volunteers hiked 30 kilometers along the roads in Pudong New Area to raise donations, promote public welfare and love, and made a small “love bet” with their relatives and friends: “I hike, you feed the children.” The participants committed to hiking longer distances, while those who made the bets pledged to raise more funds for nutritious meals for children. Half of them completed the planned 24-kilometer route, while the other half finished the full 30-kilometer course.
“Hey there, I’m so excited to tell you that I’ve signed up for the 'One Kilogram of Love, On the Road' public welfare hiking event, which aims to help impoverished students at schools in Inner Mongolia get enough to eat at school. This hiking event is called ‘I Hike, You Feed.’” When office worker Miss Tang sent this email to her relatives and friends, the response pleasantly surprised her — within just a few days, 12 people replied saying they would offer “unconditional support.”
That is, if she completed 6 kilometers, each relative or friend would donate for one breakfast, contributing 2 yuan; if she completed 12 kilometers, they’d donate for one breakfast and one lunch, contributing 5 yuan; if she completed 18 kilometers, they’d donate for one day’s meals, 8 yuan; if she completed 24 kilometers, they’d donate for two days’ meals, 16 yuan; if she completed 30 kilometers, they’d donate for three days’ meals, 24 yuan — they could also donate more. In order to meet the most basic dietary needs of children who still struggle daily to have enough to eat and can’t even seek medical treatment when ill, she decided she had to hike as far as possible no matter what, so that at least her betting friends would raise enough for one child’s meals for a month.
Although Miss Tang is in good physical shape, her small stature means she doesn’t walk very fast. By around 1:00 p.m. yesterday, she and her companions had only reached the area near Century Avenue and Weifang Road, placing them in the middle to rear of the main group. Despite the cold winter wind blowing fiercely, in order to catch up with the brave souls out in front, they didn’t stop for lunch but instead ate bread and some prepared fruit as they walked. Her third group set off at 10:00 a.m. and continued until 3:40 p.m., completing the group’s planned 24-kilometer route.
Reporters learned that this event, organized by the “Love on the Road” project team, attracted nearly 200 urban youth volunteers to participate in the hike, with at least 400 individuals taking part in the love pledges. Through such actions, they promoted the concepts of love and public welfare among citizens, while also using the currently popular Western “Friends Ask Friends” method for charity fundraising: using a low-barrier, widely participatory model to engage more ordinary citizens. All funds raised from the event will be used exclusively to improve the nutrition and meals of extremely impoverished children at the Sumuhan Licensed Central Primary School in Inner Mongolia.