Volunteering at the Community Center Shanghai

10. March 2010 by admin.

A Note From The Director

Volunteering at Community Center Shanghai

 

 

Since its beginnings
in 1999, Community Center Shanghai has owed its success – and much of its
programming – to the hundreds of volunteers who have lent their skills and
talents to the development of the Center.

 

Now, we are once again
seeking qualified, passionate people who are willing to invest valuable time in
their communities.  Volunteering is
a way to contribute something lasting during your stay in Shanghai, and you
will find that even in a city as enormous as this one, there are nearly endless
ways to make an impact on individual lives.

 

Our volunteer needs
for next season are growing, especially in these areas:

 

·     
Spelling
Bee

·     
Giving
Tree

·     
River of
Hearts

·     
Interkom

·     
Minhang
Center

·     
Special
Events

 

The success of all of these
programs depends on finding new workers willing to commit a season of time to
see these initiatives through to success.

 

If you would like to
become a Community Center volunteer, please email info@communitycenter.cn, or fill out the simple volunteer form at www.communitycenter.cn/volunteers.asp.

 

Thanks for your
consideration – we look forward to meeting our new team members!

 

James Weidner

Executive
Director 

Community Center
Shanghai 

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It’s A New Year!

8. January 2010 by admin.

Happy New Year Shanghai!

2009 was a very nice year for the Community Center Shanghai. We were able to have another successful year with our clas programs,  open our new Hongqiao facility, our new Minhang location, host the 1st China Spelling Bee competition, welcome new Hongqiao Founding Partner SCIS,  Celebrate 10 years of operation at our Gala, sorting parties and deliveries with River Of Hearts, 10,500 bags distributed through our Giving Tree and a hoppin Winter’s Night  that our Interkom team organized.

Now in 2010 we continue to dive deeper into serving our Community.  With the development of a new outreach opportunity called “adopt a community” we are looking for volunteers to conduct “side walk english programs” as well as take the opportunity to enhance the quality of life for families in the adopted areas. Service projects such as painting houses, decorating, providing needed supplies for living are all aspects of our adopt our a community projects. Contact Bill Cosgrove at hai2burg5@yahoo.com…

Please follow this blog regular, as it is one of my New Years goals to become a more consistent blogger.

Cheers!

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Shanghai Daily Article - Nancy Zhang - 9.16.09

22. September 2009 by admin.

SOONER or later all new expats will come to hear of the Community Center Shanghai (CCS). It offers courses, support and fun trips to help family and individuals get the most out of their time in China.

Now foreigners in “faraway” Minhang District can also turn to a new satellite branch.

CCS Director James Weidner says the new branch on Mingjia Road aims to develop resources for the Minhang expat community so they do not have to leave their turf to access life-enriching activities and courses.

“The expat community in Minhang is in the early stages of development, and it really lacks a focus,” says Weidner. “Inside the foreign compounds it’s exquisite and beautiful, but outside it is not as developed for foreigners as Pudong’s Jinqiao or Gubei in Changning District.”

The population of foreigners in Minhang is growing “and we want to come in with our proven track record to provide services to meet their needs,” he says.

A soft opening was held recently for registration; the grand opening is expected sometime next year.

Minhang CCS is situated on the grounds of its sponsor, furniture store Category of One Interiors.

Courses begin this month in languages, first aid for parents and ayis, and traditional Chinese medicine.

Monthly “coffee connection mornings” begin this Friday at 11am. That’s when expats can meet each other and share experiences.

The popular “Shanghai 123″ course - an A-Z orientation for new expats on everything from shopping to medical facilities - will be held on November 14.

“Expat needs are the same in Minhang as elsewhere,” says Weidner. “They need support groups and networks; they need to be prepared for emergencies; the family unit needs reinforcement and they need someone to show them around and activities to make the most of their time in China.”

The CCS opened in Jinqiao in 1998 as the Concordia School Family Center. Over 10 years it has grown to be the largest community organization for expats from all walks of life. But given this status, the community center’s expansion has been surprisingly slow.

Its first and only Puxi branch in Hongqiao was officially opened just this April. Another satellite branch has opened in People’s Square, offering counseling and some core classes, but Weidner says Puxi operations are in a fledgling stage.

As a non-profit organization, the CCS relies on the local expat community to express their needs and make use of its resources. It needs sponsors to provide venues for classes at prime locations within expat-intensive areas.

The Minhang branch came about as a number of people approached Weidner with requests, leading CCS to host some focus groups. When a furniture store, whose owners were also expat members of CCS, offered sponsorship, the Minhang branch became a reality.

Weidner hopes they can find the same support for future expansions.

“Local residents need to embrace a community there, voice their desires and support us by coming to our activities. It’s the only way more organizations will be willing to invest in an area.”

The new Minhang branch expects a long stabilization period during which organizers hope it will take root.

Weidner is relatively new to CCS, having joined in June 2008. He has always worked in non-profits, including working for three years to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Previously, he spent six years in the Philippines.

Upcoming CCS events include their biggest annual ball in November and a charity fun run on September 25. Corporations are targeted but everyone is welcome.

Five hundred runners are expected to raise 100,000 yuan (US$14,640) for the community center’s charity projects.

CCS Minhang branch

Address: 3/F, Bldg 1, 318 Mingjia Rd, Huacao Town

Tel: 6406-4276

E-mail: michelle@communitycenter.cn

Fun Run

Starts from Zhangjiang Parkyard Hotel

Date: September 25, 7:30-9am

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Summer is here! Expo planning has started!

17. June 2009 by admin.

Shanghai during the summer months slow down tremendously. Many expats are traveling back home and/or traveling vacationing all over the globe. But a trend is beginning to set in that not everyone is leaving. I do hear of many people who are just hunkering down for the summer and just makng some local trips here and there. The new economic realities have thier affects on many different fronts.

At the center we have summer programming continuing to provide for the need of the people sicking around. Summer camps for kids, English and cooking for ayis, intensive Chinese classes, counselors are still meeting and more.  Stop in to connect during these months when it may feel like the whole world has left.

The Shanghai World Expo. 70,000,000 anticipated attendance of which 95% is thought to be Chinese attendees. With this being the largest Expo ever put on (Go China!)and with these huge numbers f Chines visitors, there will still be an estimated 500,000 monthly international visitors. This is where we feel CCS can serve. In recent months CCS has begun to formulate relationships and a plan to be involved in Shanghai’s debut to the world. And after visiting the Expo’s site last week I became very enthusiastic about what is being plan for this event. There are already over 300,000 volunteers registered to assist with the massive, 6 month event. But with all these thousands of volunteers there is still a gap that the internationals, living in Shanghai, can fill. At the Center we plan to serve as a liason for the international community to get connected into this event. We also plan to host weekly orientations to assist the many thousands of international visitors each month.

Get Connected with CCS!

Jamie Weidner, Exe. Director

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Economy: What’s Happening In Shanghai

8. May 2009 by admin.

I am often asked the question “are people leaving Shanghai and going back home”. And we all thought that we were going to be seeing a mass exodus in the past months. But the reality is that there have been many people leaving but there also continues to be new people coming.

In all the economies all over the world, the one you do not want to jump out of s China’s growing economy. Right now China is playing such a vital role in the world economy and the major players all over the world know this.

So we are continuing to grow and thrive in Shanghai. At the Center we are pushing forward preparing for our best year ever in 2009 - 2010… Our new arrival program is having good registration as new people continue to arrive. This summer we have numerous interns, from all over the world, knocking on our door to come be trained and assist as we prepare for Expo and another year.

Shanghai is the place to be! Look us up today at the Community Center Shanghai!

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Bazaar and more updates…

8. May 2009 by admin.

There is always something going on at the Community Center. Sometimes we do not even realize how many classes, events, seminars, social gatherings and actives are on going every day.

Today we are in Puxi with our 1st Annual Puxi Bazaar. Last year we held our first bazaar in Pudong and now we have expanded to both sides of the river. Next week will be our Pudong Bazaar with over 125 vendors. This is the place to shop to get all your presents ready for the summer.

A new program we have added is our no apologies program teaching our youth of today how to make the right decision about how to respond to todays peer pressures. We make no apology for offering this life saving no apologies training for youth. ha:)

And tomorrow we have our last Shanghai 123 (new arrivals orientation program) of the year…  Registration is up and we have decided to offer this program 9 times next year to keep up with the demand.

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Puxi Center Open House

29. April 2009 by admin.

On April 25th we celebrated our official opening of the new CCS Puxi Center. With excitment people responded to this fun and relaxing evening. With close to 100 in attendance the Puxi Center held the audience well.

The evening began with an opening word and the serving of finger foods partially sponosred by Vino Venue, while attendees mingled and made new friends. Then we had words from David Plekenpol (Chairman CCS), Jon Brantingham (Board Member CCS), Jeff Stubbs (Director of Schools SCIS) and myself. From there we proceeded to have a ribbon cutting celebrated at our entrance and ended the night with many fun raffle draws.

Hats off to our Puxi team of staff and volunteers. This team did a fabulous job of putting this evening together. It was a great evening and everyone in attendance seemed to be very pleased. We look forward to you coming a visiting us some time soon.

Puxi Center
No. 201, 5th Floor
Lane 3215 Hong Mei Road
(300 meters behind City Shop, off of Hong Song Dong Lu)
Hong Qiao, Puxi
虹梅路3215弄201号5楼 (虹松东路), 众心国际社区中心
Shanghai 201103
Phone: (021) 6406-4276

check out a few more pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougwright/sets/72157617245858569/



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CCS Golf Tournament

20. April 2009 by admin.

Last Friday we held our 1st Annual CCS Golf Tournament at Palm Beach. As I told the guys “we scheduled the event just to give us a reason not go to to work that day.” And one guy said that “any day on the golf course is a good day”. And what a great day it was for golf. The guys who played with us had a nice day and all seemed to have left with prizes and awards from the day. We were thinking that we should have a monthly Golf Tournament… ya right… wouldn’t that be nice!

Looking forward to next year already!

check out some pictures of the winners… http://picasaweb.google.com/communitycentershanghai

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New Puxi Center

27. March 2009 by admin.

It has been a long road, but we have finally settled down in our new facility in Puxi. I was at the Center yesterday meeting thinking about how much I like the new Center. It has a really good feel to it.

Also CCS welcome SCIS as our new Hongqiao center foundng partner… we are anticipating great things as we build our services in Hongqiao…

Our classes and counseling are very active and last week’s Sh123 was a great success… it is exciting days in the Puxi Center.

ACE and Spelling Bee were both awesome… !

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Happy CNY!

4. February 2009 by admin.

February 2009 Blog

Chinese New Year has been exciting and quite noisy. I am personally happy for life to begin rolling again as we start our Spring classes and activities here at the center. Have you been able to pick up the new CCS guide yet? If not, you must! Within the guide you will find a variety of new classes and activities being offered at CCS.

Our classes and tours are making much progress as we develop past just being a New Arrival center into a continuing education program. It is our goal to provide programming for the whole family for the entire duration of your stay in Shanghai. Every day we are working on developing new classes and teachers and tours and activities that will meet the needs of our community.

One new area is our Welcome Center. Please help me welcome to the CCS team, Elena Garcia Elena Garcia, who is heading up the Pudong Welcome Center. The Pudong Welcome Center has opened, with one soon to follow in Puxi. In our Welcome Center, you can find information, relax, check emails (soon) or grab a warm cup of coffee. Please stop by today and say hello!

Some more exciting news is that we will have a library opening up soon. This library will contain in the area of 1000 titles to start, with more coming. The library will be open every Wednesday, with the goal of adding more days as workers come forward to assist with the administration. The library will be located on the ground floor of our Pudong Center.

On the horizon is the Grand Opening of our new Puxi Center, Spelling Bee, ACE, which is Interkom’s Arts Charity Extravaganza, Golf Tournament, Bazaar and much more.  As always, there is a lot going on at the Community Center.

We are currently looking to fill volunteer roles in Marketing, Partner Care, IT Department, Welcome Center, Library and Family Care. Just call one of our Centers and speak with a Volunteer Coordinator.  I look forward to seeing you at one of our Centers!

James Weidner

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