WITH the first China International Import Expo to be held on their doorstep in Qingpu District, volunteers in Xujing Town are giving their all.

There are about 20,000 registered volunteers in Xujing.

They call themselves “Smiling Clovers,” taking their name from the clover-leaf shape of the National Exhibition and Conference Center that will host the expo in early November.

The center held its first exhibition in 2014, and since then the Smiling Clovers have been indispensable at 25 major events there.

The November expo will be the biggest event in Shanghai since the 2010 World Expo and the biggest job to date for the Clovers.

So far, they have taken part in an emergency evacuation drill and have gone into the streets to ensure road safety and to pick up litters.

Wang Li, 34, a residents’ committee official, has been a Smiling Clover since 2016. She volunteers two or three times every month.

When guiding Metro passengers to bus stops, she works 90-minute stints during morning and evening rush hours.

With many visitors to the area, and bus stops relocated due to construction work around the exhibition center, Wang’s work can be exhausting, especially on hot days.

In other roles, volunteers may have to work for up to 10 hours each day.

“Our mission is to stick to our assigned post and do our job,” Wang said.

Wang said her work as a volunteer influences her life when she’s not wearing the blue vest of the Clovers.

“I often find myself reminding people to not park their cars in the wrong place or telling them not to throw things out of their car windows,” she said.

Another Smiler, Wan Yifeng, 28, is a town official who thinks the group’s efforts really do make a difference.

“As a resident, I see fewer pedestrians and scooter riders ignoring traffic rules,” he said. “That’s largely down to the volunteers.”

More than 1,000 Smiling Clovers worked at the annual International Automobile Industry Exhibition when it was held at the center. They helped provide information and served as guides to a million visitors.

The Xujing Town Volunteer Service Center, which oversees the activities of the Clovers, has a wide ranging set of regulations to ensure that they work effectively.

Supervisors periodically check that volunteers are at their posts. If they spot problems, advice is given.

Everyone is in the same group on WeChat, so they can easily exchange information.

Volunteers are encouraged to ask questions and supervisors are responsible for answering them.

When volunteers are assigned to large exhibitions, supervisors provide them with detailed information about their responsibilities, hours of duty, transportation and parking.

To safeguard the well-being of volunteers, rules preclude them from working long hours in hot or other extreme weathers.

Meals and transportation are provided during large events.

As with all the 3.5 million registered volunteers in the city, Smiling Clovers can exchange their service hours for drinks and snacks through a “time bank.”

The service center said dozens of foreign students from the Shanghai National Accounting Institute in the town have signed up to join the group for the Import Expo.

The foreign volunteers are starting their training now.