Life isn’t easy for families of children with special needs. Faced with responsibility of a family member requiring extra attention and care, many families feel lonely, 【小题1】 and hopeless. In many cases, the families feel a sense of 【小题2】 because their children are not “perfect”. But Taiwan Sunshine wants to change that.

Founded in 2009, Taiwan Sunshine believes that all children have characteristic value, and by supporting the families who care for children with special needs, it can change the 【小题3】 understanding. In doing so, it hopes to help these children become useful members of society.

The Taipei-based, non-profit organization seeks to fulfill these goals in three ways. First, it offers in-school programs, often centered on events like Christmas. Second, it develops conferences for use in schools, churches and other organizations. These conferences raise 【小题4】 of the issues that families with special-needs children face and encourage organizations to develop programs to support these families. Third, Taiwan Sunshine works with other groups to put together and 【小题5】 the “I Am a Hero Games”.

During the games, children compete in different athletic activities, such as the ball throw and running race. When children aren’t 【小题6】, they enjoy other activities, such as playing with dogs from a local therapy program. Each game includes a prize-awarding ceremony in which all the children are formally 【小题7】 with medals to celebrate their accomplishments.

Through programs like the Hero Games, Taiwan Sunshine is working hard to meet the needs of families with special-needs children.

Amazing Kids of the Month — Hannah and Alexander Laman

Hannah and Alexander Laman, 11-year-old twins from Ohio, love reading. They both love reading so much that it is almost impossible to 【小题1】 a favourite book. “I have many favourite books. If I had to select one, it would be Believe It or Not,” Hannah said.

So when these two young bookworms heard that some children didn’t have 【小题2】 to books, they believed that was a problem they just couldn’t ignore. In 2011, they 【小题3】 Adopt A Book, an organisation that donates books to schools and programmes in need. “We wanted to make a difference because we love reading lots of books,” Alexander said. They 【小题4】 by sharing their own books, and then the organisation grew by taking book donations from others.

So far, the twins’ organisation has donated over 45,000 books to schools, and programmes 【小题5】 children in need from Cincinnati to as far away as Zimbabwe.

With a successful book-【小题6】 organisation that just keeps expanding, what’s ahead for these two? Well, they’ve already started it! Hannah and Alexander are 【小题7】 literacy for children through their Little Free Library.

“The library is free and you can take a book and leave a book the twins’ mum, Angela, explained.” This has encouraged many kids and adults to 【小题8】 their reading materials and also encourage others to read.

The twins have received many rewards through promoting literacy. “Other kids have the 【小题9】 to read and own books of their own. That’s the most 【小题10】 part of sharing books with others,” said Hannah.

Maybe you want to start small. Collect gently-used books from your home that you don’t need anymore, and donate them to Adopt A Book. Any little bit that you can do truly makes a difference!

By the time Cathy and I, together with other volunteers for the city half-marathon, arrived at 4:30 a.m., tables 【小题1】 on both sides of the road. Bottles of water and paper cups 【小题2】 to different tables, so Cathy and I immediately went to help. Then, we took our place at the table and quickly started to arrange the bottles and cups so that they looked like an army of soldiers standing in line for inspection.

I took a step back, and looked at the scene with satisfaction. For the previous couple of weeks, I 【小题3】 on how to be a volunteer for the half-marathon. I decided to volunteer for this year’s half-marathon after the chairman of the organizing committee visited my school. We were told that the competitors would be raising money for charity, and while I didn’t feel that I had a strong constitution to run that far, I thought the next best thing would be to help those who could.

After all the preparations 【小题4】, the exciting half-marathon began. Cathy and I waited patiently until word spread that the first runners would be arriving soon. As the tired, thirsty runners ran along, they 【小题5】 by the crowds. Cathy and I quickly poured water into the cups for them. After the last runner passed, I found paper cups and plastic bottles everywhere. The litter 【小题6】 around by the wind as I bent over to pick up a plastic bottle. Cathy and I started clearing up. We were tired and wet with sweat but it felt really good to know that we had been able to help others.