Hongqiao Subdistrict recently held the “United Hearts, Love in Hongqiao” – “Shine IN Hongqiao” International Volunteer Service Alliance Sharing Conference and the 2026 Gubei Madams’ Charity Sale. This public welfare event not only reviewed the alliance’s achievements over the past year and brought together Chinese and foreign volunteer forces, but also featured a charity bazaar, experience sharing, and the joining of new members, allowing kindness without borders to spread across the international community.

As an important public welfare platform for the international community building of Hongqiao Subdistrict, the “Shine IN Hongqiao” International Volunteer Service Alliance has transformed from its initial launch to a higher level of quality since its establishment last year. Over the past year, the alliance has continued to grow, expanding from 13 to 16 member units, and has carried out more than 100 volunteer activities covering environmental protection, health, culture and other fields, serving residents of all ages and groups in the community.

Unlike traditional volunteer services, the alliance’s greatest highlight is its ability to break down language and cultural barriers, creating a new international public welfare model featuring “shared resources, joint project building, and coordinated services.” From the “Four-Grid Friendly” initiative precisely linking community grids, to “Volunteer Shops” spreading goodwill on Golden City Road; from the youth cross-generational companionship of the Bloodline.Y team, to the heartwarming efforts of the Leo Club in helping children with congenital heart disease – each of these well-established public welfare projects has transformed the alliance’s original aspiration of “uniting Chinese and foreign forces to build a better community” into a visible, tangible warmth on the streets of Hongqiao.

Ashish Maskay, a national “Most Beautiful Volunteer,” founder of Bloodline, and recipient of Shanghai’s “Magnolia Gold Award,” has been deeply engaged in community public welfare and has witnessed the alliance’s growth and strength. He said that the alliance has made public welfare no longer a solitary fight. Together with many partners, they have gone into children’s hospitals to carry out assistance – raising funds, making visits, accompanying sick children, procuring supplies, and fulfilling children’s wishes with dedication, allowing his personal public welfare ideals to take root. Today, more and more international residents are actively engaging in community welfare, and the alliance has become a reliable platform for caring people from China and abroad to spread warmth, pooling cross-border compassion.

At the event, three new organizations joined the alliance: Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, Shanghai Jianqing Experimental School, and Shanghai Mengyue Kunqu Peng-Style Art Research Center, injecting professional, youthful and cultural new vitality into community public welfare.

Liu Yuwanwan, the Young Pioneer counselor of Shanghai Jianqing Experimental School, said that previously students lacked regular channels for public welfare practice. With the community alliance platform, children can step out of campus, get close to the community, face the real needs of different groups, and through hands-on practice, sow the seeds of love and understand responsibility, laying a solid foundation for future deep engagement in public welfare and contributing to society.

Building bridges and pooling strength has been the core intention behind Hongqiao Subdistrict’s establishment of the International Volunteer Service Alliance. A subdistrict official said that the alliance serves not only as a link connecting Chinese and foreign volunteers with the community, but also as a platform for sharing public welfare resources. It not only deeply integrates international volunteer services into community governance, benefiting residents of all ages, but also promotes the normalization, branding and professionalization of public welfare projects.

On the same day, staff from Yiwu’s Jiangdong Subdistrict, who were visiting Hongqiao Subdistrict, were also invited to attend and share practical experience in community governance, achieving a two-way exchange of volunteer empowerment and community governance experience. Meanwhile, public welfare stalls were set up in the sunken square of Golden City Road Pedestrian Street, offering community services and charity sales, spreading kindness to every corner of the community.