On October 20, 2020, the slogan of "Candle Lit the Dream" resounded in Zhangye, Gansu Province – a key station on the Silk Road. “Bring people together for a better world” is our purpose, which is reflected on "Candle Lit the Dream" program. In recent years, we have provided much appreciated training programs to help improve the teaching conditions of ill-equipped schools in rural areas. Equal access to education is a key to equal development opportunity in the future. Therefore, in 2014, BUD China and its wholesalers initiated the “Candle Lit the Dream – BUD China Hope School Teacher Training Program”, which was executed by leveraging the platform of the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF). Main beneficiaries of the continuing education program are teachers from rural areas, because better development of rural education starts from better training of these teachers. In the last seven years, BUD China and its wholesalers have raised about 3 million RMB to fund the program. Up to now, 9 teacher training progres have been completed with 5,028 rural teachers received the training.

As an important part of the “Retracing the Silk Road” event of BUD Elite Club, the official launch of “2020 BUD China Candle-lit-the-dream Online Classroom” is held in Zhangye. The pandemic of 2020 has deeply changed the working and living styles of many people; therefore, the form of our program is also changed accordingly. We are continuing our cooperation with CYDF. On the “Candle-lit-the-dream Online Classroom” platform, teachers from Hope Schools and rural schools can receive free remote trainings. Our purpose is to broaden the vision of rural teachers, link high quality education resources, so to provide every child with equal access to high-equality education, and make our difference in the advancement of education cause in rural areas. This training will cover over 1000 teachers from the rural schools in North China and all the Budweiser China Hope Schools.

An Jun, Secretary of the Communist Youth League Zhangye Municipal Committee, Ma Guofeng, Vice Secretary of the Communist Youth League Zhangye Municipal Committee, teachers and students from Liugu Primary School, Laojun Central Primary School, and Liyuan Village Primary School, Linda Qian, People VP of BUD APAC, Luke Zhou, VP Strategy & Business Transformation APAC and VP Commercial, BU China, representatives from BUD China HQ and BU North China, and 26 BUD Elite wholesalers attended the ceremony. Members of the Young Pioneers presented red scarfs to all the guests and extended the Young Pioneers salute, expressing their sincere thankfulness. Secretary An Jun delivered a welcome speech. On behalf of the Communist Youth League Zhangye Municipal Committee and Zhangye Hope Project Office, Secretary An Jun extended his thanks for the donations, praised BUD China for its commitment in charity cause and contributions to teacher training program, and expressed his wishes for the success of the BUD China Candle-lit-the-dream Online Classroom project. Linda, Luke, and wholesaler representative Li Li and Zheng Xiaobin delivered their speeches. Linda recalled the creation of “Candle Lit the Dream” program and important milestones thereafter. We have pooled available resources, organized teaching tours and training courses, and launched the Online Classroom platform. We are working with all partners to improve the “hardware” and “software” namely the teachers of rural schools, because we believe that every teacher can influence at least 100 children. Our commitment is endless. We will work with wholesalers, our employees and CYDF to carry on the teacher training program, thereby benefiting more children and creating a better world! In his speech, Luke provided a brief introduction to BUD China. He recalled his experience of participating the Hope School Teacher Training program and specially extended thanks to the wholesalers for their donations and their involvements in the charity activities.

On behalf of the Candle-lit-the-dream Fund, Linda and Luke donated RMB 30,000 as “dream fund” for Laojun Central Primary School, Liyuan Village Primary School and Liugu Primary School. The fund will be used to buy books and teaching tools. On behalf of the three primary schools, Vice Secretary Ma Guofeng received the donations and presented a “thank-you letter”. Members of the Young Pioneers from above three primary schools received donated books and artistic drawing sets. Then the teacher and children from Liugu Primary School expressed their thankfulness to BUD China and the wholesalers by the dance performance “Most Beautiful” with song accompaniment.

The ceremony ended with the unveiling of the “BUD China Candle-lit-dream Online Classroom” scroll and the announcement of the official start of the online teacher training program by Linda and Luke. Candles can lit up dreams, and we will stay committed to our joint efforts!

Sincere thanks go to the wholesalers and BU North China for the generous donations and active involvement! We will carry on what we’ve already achieved.

Thanks also go to the colleagues of People team, RTM team and LCA team! In the new era, we’re bringing new hopes to every child, because we care about their equal access to best education. We will go on with our commitments!