My Story with Shanghai Young Bakers

我与海上青焙坊的两三事

As far as I can remember, the story of me and Shanghai Young Bakers (SYB) dates back to the summer in 2012, when Jessica Jia asked me to be their volunteer for the first time in the upcoming sale. I still remember it was the Crowns’ 3rd Annual Cellar Door Wine Tasting Event, 3 months after I came to know SYB. My answer was, of course, an instant YES! That, was the first time I was trained to volunteer for this charity organization.

我与海上青焙坊（SYB）的渊源可以追溯到2012年的夏天，当Jessica第一次邀请我到义卖活动中担任志愿者。那时我才知道SYB不到三个月，但记得很清楚是皇冠酒窖的第三届年度品酒活动。我的回答，无疑是「好」!也就是那时，我第一次受训成为这个慈善机构的志愿者。

Generally speaking, SYB is a charity program providing a one-year free training in French bakery to disadvantaged Chinese youth (aged 17-23), to help them find a qualified job after graduation. Since students are learning by doing, which means a lot of bread came out every week, and it would be a huge waste if they are not fully made use of. So besides sharing the bread with other charity organizations, selling them on marketplaces would be a good idea since the money can be used to cover some training cost, and also let more people know about SYB. Therefore, volunteers would be needed in the marketplaces. Usually the markets last for 3 to 6 hours, volunteers can schedule a time to help with promotion, selling, setting up and cleaning.

总的来说，SYB是一个慈善组织，专门为中国的贫困青年（17-23岁）提供为期一年的法式烘焙培训，并在毕业后帮助他们找到一份合适的工作。学生们都是边学边练的，因此每周都有很多面包产出。如果不合理利用掉这些面包，该是多大的浪费啊! 所以，除了把这些面包分享给其他慈善机构，到集市上义卖面包是个极好的办法。义卖所得资金可以用来补贴部分培训费用，同时集市还可以让更多人了解海上青焙坊。如此一来，在集市上需要不少志愿者的帮助。集市每次通常持续3到6个小时，志愿者们可以选择不同时间段协助：布置现场、宣传、售卖和清理等。

In SYB, I can always see passionate and young faces who are really into bakery and helping others. Every time I go there, before taking over the job, teachers and students will patiently go over the names of the bread, how the bread are made, and when the latest open classes will be, etc. I can feel their passion and happiness, making me a really lucky one to get some of those from them too.

在SYB，我总是能遇到最热情、最有激情的年轻面孔。他们对烘焙很用心，也非常享受在SYB帮助他人的乐趣。每每工作前，SYB的老师和学生们都会耐心地一一介绍各种面包的名字、制作材料和方法、最近公开课的时间等。他们的热情和喜悦也感染了每位志愿者，让我们都能参与其中，并且感到无比幸运和幸福。

The part I enjoyed the most was to introduce SYB and the bread to customers came by. It would be so worthy to see the smile on their faces after they tried out the bread, because the bread from SYB is always fresh and tasty! (I couldn’t help having some of them every time I went there. lol) Introducing SYB was a not easy for me actually, I still feel a little bit nervous explaining it in English off the cuff. But I really like taking this part of the volunteer jobs, because I made progress bit by bit every time. In my way of saying, to help others is to help myself in the meanwhile! I did grow up along with SYB in some way.

我最喜欢的，就是向顾客们介绍SYB组织和各种面包。尤其在顾客吃到面包后，脸上露出笑容时，我深深地感觉这份工作非常值得。值得一提的是，SYB学生做的的面包真的非常新鲜美味，每次在工作时我都忍不住偷吃一点，哈哈! 虽然对于我来说，用英文跟顾客即兴介绍SYB并非一件简单的事情（至今还有一点紧张），但是只要每次都进步一点点，我就觉得非常高兴和值得了。我常说「助人及己」，其实帮助别人的过程，难道我们不是也在帮助着自己吗？与其说这是一份工作，不如说我们都在与SYB共成长。

Thank you SYB for providing the volunteer opportunities, and I would certainly like to see you more often in the future. Hearts!

我很感谢SYB提供的每次志愿机会，也希望未来有更多机会参与其中。比心 ~

Candice Leung

Volunteer

志愿者