When we moved to China as expats, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with my free time. I did not have a work permit, so full-time employment was going to be complicated. I could have easily found a position teaching English, but I had little interest in pursuing that path.

Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to do something positive in the community, yet still retain a flexible schedule that would allow us to travel whenever we wanted, or even tag along on one of Julie’s business trips (and make random weekend trips to Park City, Utah).

A friend mentioned volunteering opportunities at a local charity called Heart to Heart. Within a week of setting down in Shanghai, I was an official volunteer.

Heart to Heart is a multi-faceted charity, but at its core, it helps children with congenital heart disease (CHD) receive life-saving heart surgery. These children come to Shanghai from provinces across mainland China, and all from very poor financial situations. The families are living well below the poverty line, making as little as ¥3,000-5,000 per year (US$450-750) per household. Many simply cannot afford to pay for their child’s surgery, or are already too far in debt from previous medical expenses. Heart to Heart (H2H) steps in and raises money to cover the entire cost of the surgery, working with a local hospital in Shanghai where all of the procedures are performed.

In addition, H2H opened a playroom for the children in the hospital who are recovering from their surgeries. The playroom is open 365 days a year, and provides a safe place for these young children to forget about being a patient and just get to enjoy being a kid, during their (often long) hospital stay.

I currently spend 20-30 hours a week with Heart to Heart in a volunteer capacity. It’s quickly become central to my Shanghai life.

Last month, I decided to join one of the H2H field trips, which take place four times per year. We visit a different province each time, visiting children who have had surgery in Shanghai but have recovered and returned home. We check up on them and their families, their living situation, and provide them with additional toys and clothes.

We charter a bus for every trip, packing it to the top with hundreds of bags full of donated clothes, toys, and school supplies for the countryside. At 6:30am on a Monday morning, myself, along with a group of 20 other volunteers, ferried bag after bag from our office in the hospital down to the parking lot.

After about 90 minutes of logistics around squeezing the maximum number of bags onto the bus, we set off into the predictable Shanghai morning traffic, heading northwest out of the city to Anhui province. Six hours later we arrived in Anhui province, on the outskirts of Chuzhou (a city you’ve never heard of but has a population of almost 4 million), and headed straight to our first home visit.

The family lived in a simple concrete house down a dirt road, surrounded by small fields of rice, onions, and garlic. The little girl, and previous patient, was totally shy and slightly bewildered by this large contingent of foreigners showing up at her home. Thankfully, the bag full of toys and stuffed animals made her less apprehensive, and she was happy to indulge the many photo opps and selfies.

We took lots and lots of pictures, and enjoyed as she rummaged through the bag of toys to pick out her favorites. Her parents couldn’t have been nicer and we brought a few additional toys for her brother who was in school during our visit.

Our eight other home visits during the four days went similarly. We tried not to linger too long, as many of the children were a little shy. One boy in particular was in such a state of shock he couldn’t even speak. He eventually settled down at his desk in the main room of his home, finishing his homework as we handed out his gifts to his parents. Eventually, his parents convinced him to get on our bus just as we were about to leave, and said ‘thank you’ to us in English, which was sweet.

Often, the arrival of the bus triggered the arrival of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and even a few neighbors who would come over to thank us. They were incredibly gracious and kind, and genuinely excited to have us in their homes.

Each family was also given a hongbao, the traditional Chinese red envelope used to gift money. All of the traveling volunteers brought extra cash to pool together for each hongbao, as an additional gift for the families.

I was also tasked with handing out new blankets to the family, which, by sheer coincidence, had been donated by someone at Julie’s company. It was a bit odd posing with kids and their brand new Pink Floyd blanket, but they were nice quality and the families were very happy to receive them, even though they had no idea what they said.

The most emotional visit was with a little girl who had just returned home a few months ago from the hospital in Shanghai. She was born with her heart backwards, and given almost no chance of surviving a surgery. She was refused admission by every hospital in the neighbouring cities, but eventually her case was brought to us.

She was so weak before surgery that her parents had to carry her room to room.

Now, a mere four months later, she is a normal 7 year old again. Her parents told us that she goes to the playground by herself, something that she could never do before. Her mother, father, and grandmother were all crying as they thanked us, which of course made our entire crew emotional.

She got a new pink scooter as well (she was only interested in any toys that were pink) that we assembled for her. Within minutes she was gingerly scooting around her courtyard. When we provided the hongbao to her mother, she admirably refused to accept it, saying that we had done so much for her and her family already. Of course, we eventually told her that we were happy to provide the hongbao as she shyly put it in her pocket.

In addition to home visits, H2H provides library resources to rural schools through generous donations by our sponsors. The school receives books, computers, and printers, and everything is distributed on these field trips.

The visits to the schools felt even more impactful because of the sheer excitement from the children. At each of the four schools we stopped at, the children were in their school uniforms, lined up in perfect rows in the school yard.

A table with a microphone was setup for a presentation at each school visit. Karen, our executive director, gave a ceremonial speech about our donation of a library. We also brought to the schools dozens of bags of school supplies for each child, plus bags and bags of clothes and toys for them to have. I don’t speak very much Chinese, but I could always hear when Karen was approaching the part in her speech about the bags full of clothes and toys, as all the children started cheering and chatting to each other every time.

The students prepared different performances for us as well, from singing to reading a poem. The highlight was a kindergarten teacher in full traditional attire performing a dance, while the most adorable little kid took to the stage and danced along with her.

The students and the teachers at the schools were happy to have us there, and many asked for selfies and pictures. At our last school, when I stepped off the bus, hundreds of kids starting cheering. It was rewarding to see the joy and excitement, and hopefully some future impact, that we had on these kids.

I am fully aware that I am in a privileged situation as an expat in Shanghai. That is why I find it so important to use my free time for something of value and purpose. I am thrilled to have found such an amazing organization so I can spend my time giving back to those in need.

One fascinating side note about H2H is that it has essentially no operating budget. Literally 100% of all donations go directly to helping kids. Every position is volunteer, including our director. The hospital provides the office space and playroom for free. We don’t buy a single office supply. The field trips are funded by the volunteers who travel. Last year, H2H provided 159 surgeries for Chinese kids and this year the plan is to exceed that record. It’s basically an amazing example of what a charity can do.

I could be doing a lot of other things in Shanghai, but I’m thrilled to be doing something that truly matters.

If you or anyone you knows wants to donate to Heart to Heart, here is a link to the Donations page for more information.