Our speaker of the day, Walter Cheung, was introduced by Rotarian Fei. Walter is well known in the public relations field, having served under five CEOs at Hang Seng Bank and is currently Managing Director of Walter Cheung Communications. Walter (水哥) is an avid marathon runner and shared with us his journey of 100 marathons. Inspired after reading Richard Branson’s autobiography, Walter wanted to do something unconventional and wanted a breakthrough. In 2002, at the age of 44, he signed up for his first full marathon. Battling leg cramps, he crossed the finish line merely 10 minutes before the time limit of five hours. At the age of 57, Walter completed his 50th full marathon. This past October, Walter completed his 100th full marathon at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Some of the highlights of Walter’s marathon journey, include: 50th marathon in Paris; 70th marathon in Rome; being the first Hong Konger to run a marathon in Bhutan; and completing the Great Wall marathon in 2008 and the Everest marathon in 2012. As a public relations professional, Walter used various media channels to document his journey and to build a personal brand. Even though he is not a professional…
Several of our members were active at this year’s End Polio Now Walk & Carnival. Past District Governor Belinda, chair of District Rotary Foundation Committee, led the District’s End Polio work this year along with support from Past President Grace and Past President Eddie from our Club and others. Rotarian Jason, on the other hand, led our Club’s effort. President Sam, Past President Grace, Past President Dora, President Elect Eliza and Rotarian Jason’s friend Ken had lunch at Tai Po Cooked Food Centre. The group was guided by food recommendations from Charter President Patrick, as well as Past Presidents Ka Hing and Lily. After lunch, Past President Grace went ahead to Science Park to help to set up the special ceremony. Rotarian Jason, President Sam, Past President Dora, President Elect Eliza and Ken went on a 5.5km walk from Tai Po to Science Park as part of the End Polio Now Walk. The Carnival was full of games, and arts and crafts booths. Our Club was recognized by District Governor Keith Chow and Past District Governor Belinda for its contribution to the PolioPlus fund. The ceremony was also live-linked with Macau and Mongolia.
President Sam and Charter President Patrick joined Lap Chee College’s High Table Dinner on November 5. This was the first such dinner in a year and a half. Master of the College, our Honorary Member MF Yuen, welcomed everyone to the dinner. Professor Tsui Lap Chee, in his name-sake college, and Charter President Patrick presented gowns to several Lap Chee students. Professor Tsui gave the keynote speech. Past President of Rotaract Club of HKU Lap Chee College International, Sally Oh, is now a tutor of the college and is working on student development matters on campus. Crystal Lee, fellow of the College, was excited to share some of the plans of the Rotaract Club this year.
On November 3, several members of our Club attended Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East’s regular club meeting, thus resuming our annual tradition of visiting our beloved mother Club. President Sam led a large group consisting of Charter President Patrick, Past District Governor Belinda, Past President Grace, Immediate Past President Mark, and President Elect Eliza. President Bernard Lee and his members gave the visiting Rotarians a warm welcome. During the meeting, we learned much from the day’s speaker, Rotarian Benson Ng, who talked about anti-money laundering. While there, Past District Governor Belinda took the opportunity to promote various Rotary Foundation-related activities. President Sam, while accepting gifts from the host, invited members from mother club to attend our 35th anniversary dinner, to be held in March 2022. We thank President Bernard, his Immediate Past President Leo Yu and other members of Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East for their warm hospitality and overall generosity.
Our lunch meeting on October 28 was attended by 16 members. Spouses Pat and Maurice, and Past President Theresa joined our lunch. Past President Daniel Lo of Rotary Club of Central and ex-Rotary Information Center senior staff Steve Kwok introduced to us Run To Your Home Foundation. It is a volunteer service platform that uses running and runners as a common element. The foundation has done a number of outreach services and can use your support and donations. Our speaker of the day, Mr. Clement Li, is a Project Manager at Baguio Green Group. He talked about the iRecycling app which combines the powers of marketing and recycling. Through commercial incentives (like coupon offers), users are able to send recyclable glass and plastics to. Incentives can be as much as HK$5 per bottle. As an integrated service provider, Baguio is able to provide pick up services at the user’s location. In the Q&A session, members were very curious about their buildings’ recycling programs. Clement suggests that members look at the waste management services contract to see if recycling is within the scope of work. If not inside the scope of work, it is likely that the recycled waste at your…
On October 23, President Sam, Past President Grace, Immediate Past President Mark, Rotarian Jason and friends of Rotary volunteered at Holy Cafe, handing out hot meals and face masks to the elderly.
Thanks to Past President Webster, our Club lined up Ms. Jenny Tung, Executive Director of Médecins Sans Frontières Hong Kong, to visit our Rotary Adopt A School (and Interact) partner, St. Clare’s Girls’ School, to talk about global issues via the lens of a global non-profit organization. Past President Grace attended the talk, and reported that Ms. Tung was a fantastic speaker and spoke frankly about world problems. Past President Grace was hopeful that the secondary school students at St. Clare’s learned much from the talk.
On October 16, led by Assistant Governor Sunny Chen and Deputy Assistant Governor Stella Law, it was Area 3’s turn to be promoted on Ming Pao as part of our District’s Public Image initiatives. Our Past President Lily and Past President Thomas Yeung from the Public Image Committee was on hand to help with the day’s work. President Sam represented our Club and described the major works of our Club and the signature 35th Anniversary Endowment Fund. It was a wonderful afternoon in Stanley and Presidents had an enjoyable fellowship.
On September 30, District Governor visited our Club (at President Sam’s office). President Sam, Charter President Patrick, Vice President Kelvin, Past Presidents Kay, Grace and Webster, President Elect Eliza and Rotarian Jason represented our Club and our Board. District Governor Keith Chow led a full team from the District including: Assistant Governor Sunny Chen, Chief District Secretary Ron Chan, Deputy Assistant Governors Stella Law and Stacy Ho, and District Secretaries Brian Ho and Louis Ma. It was also agreed that District Governor Keith will be our speaker at our January 13 lunch meeting.
On September 23, our Club inducted Dr. David Lee as our newest member. Proposed by Past President Grace, David’s classification is “Medical – Western and Chinese Medicine.” Rotarian David comes to us with quite a bit of Rotary experience, having been an Interactor, Rotaractor and RYLA 2006 participant. President Elect Eliza hosted our first Club Assembly of the year. On the agenda was membership, Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour 35th Anniversary Endowment Fund and our Club’s 35th Anniversary Dinner. President Sam reported that the Endowment Fund will commence fundraising shortly in November with an eye on the InterCity Meeting on December 7. Planned completion of the fundraising is March of 2022 (total to be raised: USD 250,000). President Sam at the Club Assembly pledged to donate the first USD 25,000 to establish the Endowment Fund. President Sam will send details of the fundraising to all members once ready. President Elect Eliza reported on the 35th Anniversary Dinner. An Organizing Committee has been formed. Several venues and dates were proposed. Themes were discussed. The meeting concluded that Regal (Hong Kong, Kowloon, Airport) should be under final consideration, considering that social distancing regulations may be fluid and Regal offers the best…