A total of 11 Club members attended the first regular lunch meeting in 2023. Thanks to ex-
Rotarian Ann Coco, a new potential member Summly Lee was introduced to our Club. Summly is a Barrister-at-Law by profession. We also have Miss Wong Ka Man (guest of Charter President Patrick) joining us for the second time. Guest Speaker was Miss Si from Society for Community Organization (“SoCo”), who shared with us the topic of poverty and housing inequality in Hong Kong.
Miss Si of Society for Community Organization (SoCo) gave us a brief introduction
of SoCo. Founded in 1971, SoCo serves the underprivileged. SoCo also undertakes original social policy research, lobbies Hong Kong decision making bodies and organizes direct action events. According to their research, as of 2020 Hong Kong has a very high poverty rate especially amongst children (27%) and elderly in poverty (45%) before policy intervention. Area 3 has been working closely with SoCo on a regular basis, visiting cage homes and sub-divided flats and delivering protection gears/food/food voucher to the needy since this past Rotary Year. So far, President Eliza and Past President Grace had joined the visits. During the visits, SoCo will build up relationships with the needy and learn more about their need and do follow-up actions. On top of that, SoCo also provides outing and mentor training for children. On the transitional social housing side, SoCo offers over 300 units to over 500 persons as of 31 March 2022. The living area is around
7.5 square meters. Over 90% of the residents in these transitional social housing responded that their economic pressure, psychological loneliness, living
environment and mental health have been improved.
