Growing up poor in Sichuan province, Yuan Wei's pursuit of education and a better life was always an uphill battle.

But with help from BMW's Warm Heart Fund, she was able to graduate college.

Yuan is from a village of Shifang city, where she lived with a family of five. Because they all depended on her uncle's meager income, life was always a struggle.

Her family's hardships were multiplied when a devastating earthquake hit Sichuan in 2008, the same year she graduated from high school and was enrolled in Xihua University in provincial capital Chengdu.

That year, the Warm Heart Fund started a scholarship program to help 100 excellent students from low-income families, and Yuan was among them.

Later on in college, out of gratitude for the scholarship she received, Yuan wanted to do something for the thousands of poor students who were not so lucky, she said.

She joined the BMW College Students Warm Heart Society, a nationwide organization founded by college students who had received support from the fund.

In her spare time, Yuan and her colleagues from the society visited children in poor areas and worked as volunteer teachers in schools there. And over summer and winter holidays, the volunteers organized discussions to exchange their experience and plan new activities.

"It is just so natural for me to help others," Yuan said. "I was given love and care, and then I pass love and care to other people. I hope they will pass it on."

She said the most valuable thing she can bring to the children was self-respect and confidence.

"Only when you have a positive and optimistic attitude, can you pass happiness to other people."

In 2010, the society planned to organize a volunteer teaching program at a middle school in the suburb of Shifang, but the program was aborted due to "a tiny mistake" in the planning period, she said.

Yuan said she was sad because they had spent nearly two months planning the activity. But on the other hand, that failure made her understand the importance of risk awareness.

Compared to where she started, she has come far, Yuan said. The experience as a volunteer all those years has allowed her to make many friends, broaden her horizons, and improved her ability to plan and organize.