For many American 10-year-olds, summer is always a time for goofing around（消磨时光）, hanging out with friends, and playing outside until the sun goes down. However, for Liam Hannon, the summer of 2017 was a bit different. That year, Liam did not want to go to summer camp, so he made a deal with his dad to stay busy and active. He joined a program to give back to the community. Specifically, he was given a task to help homeless people.

Liam pointed out to his dad that there were a lot of homeless people just outside their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These people were hungry and Liam thought he could do something to lift their spirits. Liam and his dad began making sandwiches. Together, they made 20 lunches that first week, which they then handed out to the homeless people. When the week was over, Liam realized he was not ready to put away his bread knife just yet, so Liam’s Lunches of Love was born.

“No one should be hungry,” Liam wrote on his GoFundMe page. He created the online page with his father as a way to help raise money for Lunches of Love. Donations that were received through GoFundMe have enabled Liam to buy a better cart（手推车）and make thousands of additional lunches. Liam also gets help from friends and volunteers to make and deliver the lunches. His friends love drawing pictures and writing encouraging messages on the brown paper bags that the lunches and healthy snacks are packed in. “I’ve seen people who are feeling really down. But when we hand them a lunch, their faces just light up,” says Liam.

But be didn’t stop there. Liam has another project called Legos（乐高）of Love. People send in their old toys, which are then sorted and given to children who are living at homeless shelters.

One thing is certain: This now 12-year-old knows how to pay it forward（让爱传播出去）. His Lunches of Love is an example of how even something as simple as a sandwich can change the world.

Feng Jing is an 8-year-old student from Guangdong. Because of a terrible disease (疾病), the boy had to stay in Shenzhen Children’s Hospital for months. The long stay in the hospital made Feng’s mother worried. “My son enjoyed learning at school. However, after he came here, he spent a lot of time playing online games,” the mother said.

Luckily, a volunteer from a reading program came to help Feng. The volunteer read interesting books to Feng. Feng’s mother was happy to see that. The boy could spend more time on books. And that stopped him from using phones.

Chen Jie, a woman from Shenzhen Children’s Library, is in charge of (负责) the reading program. “Why do we have the program? Because we want to give better reading service to kids in hospital. We hope it can help them get interested in reading and feel the fun of reading,” Chen said.

Now, the program has around 70 volunteers. They’re from all walks of life (各行各业), such as teachers and reporters. Joy Yang is one of the volunteers. “I’m glad to give a hand to those kids in need. They need our company (陪伴),” she said. “I hope they can feel comfortable and calm (平静的) through reading.”

I hope you’re well and not working too hard! I’m busy preparing for my exams these days. That’s why I haven’t written for such a long time. I can’t wait for the holidays but I’ve really enjoyed this term.

Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been doing this project called “World Class”. Have you heard of it? Not everyone in the class could take part, but luckily I could. The school chooses a “twin school” in a completely different area of the world. Our head teacher chose a school in Uganda（乌干达）. They gave us someone to write to from that school. For three months, I’ve written to a girl called Louisa, who is the same age as me.

It’s been so interesting to hear about her life. I can’t believe that her school doesn’t have any electricity. She goes to school from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock in the evening. I can’t believe how lucky we are here! She’s also told me that she often can’t go to school because she has to look after her baby brother and sister. She’s tried to teach me some of her language and it’s really difficult.

I love it because it’s the first time I’ve thought about what life must be like somewhere else. I can’t believe people miss classes here when everything is so easy for us. I hope more people could help out with projects like this. At the weekend, we are going to have a sports day to help raise money to send to the school. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to go to Uganda and meet Louisa.

Lots of love,

Suzanne