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,
including 302,569 from the Beijing area, 188.447 from other
provinces and municipalities in the Chinese mainland, and 18,096
from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas, 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.
(BOCOG May 31, 2007)