Our Club, chiefly through Rotarian Jason’s liaison and planning, organized a COVID-19 talk together with Yuk Chi Resource Centre, our service partner, for the benefit of Yuk Chi’s members. The talk aimed to provide unbiased information related to the pandemic, and general advice as to how to detect, manage, and overcome illness. Speakers included: Vice President Dr. Kelvin and Dr. Catherine Lam, focusing on adult and child care respectively. On behalf of our Club, our Past President Peter made souvenirs to thank our two speakers.
On March 26, our Club met on Zoom to celebrate our Club’s 35th Anniversary. District Governor Keith Chow, Immediate Past District Governor Eric Chak, District Governor Elect Norman Lee, District Governor Nominee Andy Li, District Governor Nominee Designate Nigel Lo, Chief District Secretary Ron Chan from the District joined our Zoom celebration. Past Club members including Douglas Hsia, Yoshie Takenaka, Kennedy Tang, Veronica DeKrey, Eddie Wong, CK Chan, Charles Lam, Patric Lee and Theresa Chan also joined. Organizing Committee Chair and President Elect Eliza, President Sam, District Governor Keith, Charter President Patrick and Past District Governor Belinda gave us opening remarks to kick off this special celebration. We also played snippets of video congratulations messages from Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta, Past Rotary International President Gary Huang, future District leaders, as well as Presidents of our sister Clubs. President Elect Eliza announced winners of the 35th anniversary photo competition. Past Presidents Ricky and Webster led us through a wonderful edition of Hong Kong Harbour ABC quiz. We particularly thank Organizing Committee Chair President Elect Eliza and the rest of the Organizing Committee for planning the original physical celebration and then this Zoom celebration.
On March 25, President Sam, Charter President Patrick, Past President Webster and President Elect Eliza met with College Master Thomas, Associate Master Victor and Student Affairs Officer Denny. Our Club gave background information on chartering Rotaract Clubs and alerted Hang Seng about the new rules of “Elevate Rotaract” due to take effect on July 1, 2022. We also introduced the concept of Rotary Community Corps.
This meeting we welcomed our own Rotarian Tony as speaker. Immediate Past President Mark made the speaker introduction, noting that Rotarian Tony’s hobby, in fact, is doing community service. As the Head of Mainland Strategic Development of Hong Kong Jockey Club, Rotarian Tony’s topic was “Social Betterment Projects in Mainland.” For most of us, when we think about Hong Kong Jockey Club, we think about horse racing, Mark Six and sports betting. Rotarian Tony’s presentation gave us an overview of the community service portfolio of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Established in 1993, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, reflects the evolving nature, scale and scope of donations. The Charities Trust is one of the world’s top ten charity donors. Approximately 90% of the Jockey Club’s annual operating surplus after tax is donated to the Trust, enabling it to play a significant role in the community’s development. Locally, in Hong Kong, we are familiar with Tai Kwun, a heritage site developed and preserved by HKJC. Ocean Park, at its inception, was also a HKJC project, providing locals and visitors alike with a world class recreational facility. There are many more community projects. HKJC has 10 areas of community contributions,…
Immediate Past President Mark participated, as group facilitator, in Peace Camp 2022, jointly organized by Li Po Chun United World College and Rotary District 3450. The Peace Camp was planned to be a physical one, but moved to Zoom due to the ongoing pandemic. Immediate Past President Mark reported that he and another facilitator (a Li Po Chun Initiative for Peace fellow) managed a diverse group comprising of teenagers around the world, including two living in Mongolia and one in Armenia, and held discussions on peace and conflict resolution. The camp was from 9:30am to 4pm, with speaker programs and breaks in between.
On March 16, President Sam, Past Presidents Grace and Webster, Immediate Past President Mark, and President Elect Eliza met with the incoming cabinet of Rotaract Club of HKU Lap Chee College International. Our Honorary Member MF also joined. President Sam gave an overview of Rotary and Rotaract. President Elect Eliza gave updates of upcoming Rotary and Rotaract activities. Past Presidents Grace and Webster shared valuable past experiences with Rotaractors.
At the start of the meeting, we sang Happy Birthday to Past President WT. Charter President Patrick followed by reporting on the 35th Anniversary Endowment Fund. To date, US$125,646 was raised towards the US$250,000 target. Treasurer Barry gave a report on Club accounts and President Elect Nominee Jason reported on recent pandemic relief support engaged by our Club. President Elect Eliza promoted the 35th Anniversary Celebration (Zoom) to be held on March 26, from 9pm till late. On May 7, President Elect Eliza plans to have a Charity Walk to raise funds for a service project to be launched in 2022-23.
This week, we welcomed our speaker Mr. Kevin Chuc and Charter President Patrick’s guest, Professor Heiwai Tang of the University of Hong Kong Business School. President Sam gave a summary of postponed and cancelled District events due to the pandemic. Sergeant-at-Arms Past President Dora congratulated Past President Ricky on his business expansion. Our Club’s introduction of the speaker was given by Honorary Member Vivien, while vote of thanks was given by Past President Dora.
Today we celebrate Rotary’s 117th Birthday! On February 23, 1905, Rotary started with the vision of bringing together professionals with diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service. Members have a long track record of addressing challenges in their communities and around the world.
Past President Anthony Ngai, chair of the District Preserve Plant Earth (PPE) Committee and member of Rotary Club of Hong Kong South, was our speaker. His topic was “Supporting the Environment”, Rotary International’s 7th Area of Focus. In our District, there are a number of initiatives, such as tree planting, beach cleaning, sustainable seafood, PPE education and newly-added PPE project advisory for clubs. When asked, Past President Anthony believes it is not too late to adopt green practices to reduce carbon and plastics. In terms of beach cleaning, Past President Eddie brought up a point that educating people about plastics and responsible waste management is even more important than physically cleaning the site. Past President Anthony also gave an example of a cutlery renting service to reduce plastics consumptions. This service will be pushed to large District events to minimize plastics use, and Past President Anthony encouraged our Club and Lap-Chee College Rotaractors to consider this service in our activities. Our meeting was visited by Rotaractors from Rotaract Club of HKU Lap-Chee College International. Rotaractors included a majority of the incoming 2022-23 team: President Thomas, International Vice President Siqi, External Vice President Subaita, Si Man (International Service), Katherine (Professional Development),…