On September 18, President Sam and Rotarian Jason attended District’s Public Image Seminar. This year the Public Image Committee is headed by Immediate Past District Governor Eric Chak and includes our Past Presidents Dora, Lily and Angela. Past President Lily was the organizing chair of the seminar this year. Immediate Past District Governor Eric and Past President Dora began the day with a briefing on “What is Rotary Brand,” and District’s Public Image goals, its social media and newsletter. Speaker Ms. Ruby Wan presented on “The Significance of Brand Building & Positioning of Rotary Brand.” Speaker Mr. TM Wong taught us “Special Tips on Mobile Video-Taking.” Speaker Roger Ng (Past President of Rotary Club of Peninsula) presented on “How to organize and execute on-site journalistic photography to beautify Rotary services.” Finally, Past President Angela kicked-off this year’s People-of-Action Photo Competition, which will include a video category in addition to People-of-Action photos.
On September 18, while others are at the District Public Image Seminar, Past President Grace, on behalf of our Club, attended Rotary Club of Pudu’s 1st Virtual International Youth Exchange. Rotary recognizes the importance of empowering youth through Leadership Development Programs. Rotary Youth Exchange is one of the many Youth Leadership Development Programs offered by Rotary. The objectives of the Rotary Youth Exchange include but not limited to: (a) Promoting International Understanding and Goodwill among the youth; (b) Creating positive changes by empowering the youth; (c) Making lasting connections. With these objectives in mind, the International Service Committee of the Rotary Club of Pudu (RID3300) is organizing this Virtual International Youth Exchange with its Sister Club, the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong, Philippines (RID3800), from September 2021 to February 2022. It will be a virtual youth exchange between the Interactors and Rotaractors sponsored by the Rotary Club of Pudu and the Rotaractors sponsored by the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong respectively. The Organizing Chairman is Past Assistant Governor Mike Tung from Rotary Club of Pudu. An international award-winning guest speaker, Ms. Andrea Zsapka from Budapest, Hungary, gave a creative leadership talk during the opening ceremony. Ms. Andrea is a Professional Master Life…
On September 12, several of our members and friends, including: President Sam, Past President Lily and Ken, Past President Samuel and Amy, President Elect Eliza and Tiffany, Coco, Yvonne and Kelly, went to Suicide Prevention Services Headquarters in Choi Hung Estate to take part in an elderly outreach service program for Mid-Autumn Festival. Past President Lily gave a tour around the headquarters which housed the well-regarded SPS call center. Heading out in four teams, the teams visited elderly cases in the East Kowloon area and gave them care packages which contained mooncakes, biscuits, masks and other daily items. After the teams returned, a debriefing with each team and a social worker concluded the day. It was a great Mid-Autumn festival service outing that benefited the elderly in the district.
On September 9, Assistant Governor Sunny Chen visited our Club. The main purpose was to prepare our Club for District Governor’s visit (to be held on September 30). Assistant Governor Sunny shared with us this year’s District focus, mainly: Membership, Youth, TRF, Health and Public Image. “Each One Bring One,” Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta’s membership theme, is central to District Governor Keith’s goals this year. President Sam noted to Assistant Governor Sunny that our new member, David, was an Interactor, Rotaractor and RYLA participant, which surely will score big points in District Awards. Finally, Assistant Governor Sunny reminded President Sam to complete reports for District Awards and Club Citation, as this is a recognition for all members of our Club.
On September 4, President Sam had an hour to fill and joined the Zoom training session about District Youth Protection Policy. It is a serious topic. For Clubs that are doing service projects or engaging youth partners (e.g., RAAS, Interact), we must pay attention to how we handle under-18 volunteers or students. The District will conduct several more of these Zoom training sessions and produce certain templates for Club’s use. The session also covered the sexual harassment policy (above-18).
On September 2, President Sam, Past President Grace, Past President Webster and President Elect Eliza met with the outgoing “cabinet” of the Rotaract Club of HKU Lap-Chee College International at the Indonesian restaurant, Kaum: Potato Head, in Sai Ying Pun. Lap Chee members included Crystal (fellow), outgoing President Anushka, Bobby, Cindy, Gabin and Anuj. Cindy, from Jakarta, helped to order the food, and explained to us the dishes and how they would be served in her native country. Over the course of the dinner, we learned about our Rotaract friends’ studies and career plans, and life on-campus. The new Rotaract leadership will be recruited in the coming month and announced to our Club members!
Members attended District Learning and Development Academy over the weekend, and learned about Youth Policies of Rotary International and Digitization of RMB. Our own Charter President Patrick founded DLDA to promote learning of Rotary knowledge and, through expert speeches, learn about critical issues outside Rotary.
Vocational Service is one of Rotary’s five avenues of service. We were happy to speak, via Zoom, to multi-cultural students and parents about careers in accounting and law. We thank Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Outreaching Team for Multi-Cultural Community for inviting us to do this program with their service beneficiaries. Our speakers included: Past President Webster and his colleagues Emily and Amandeep (on careers in accountancy and auditing), Past President Charles and Catherine (on careers in law). Rotarian Jason worked behind the scenes to manage logistics and technical details.
In our 4th regular club meeting of the year, we had Past District Governor Ada come speak to us about “Integrating Integrity and Ethics in Your Rotary Journey.” It is always good to go back to basics like Rotary’s Four-Way Test and the Code of Conduct. While we join Rotary for years and focus on community service projects, we have to remember what makes Rotarians stand out from other membership organizations. Rotarian Jason gave a vote of thanks, while President Elect Eliza presented Ada with a precious gift: organic soap, handmade by Eliza!
On August 25, in search of our own Preserve Planet Earth Project, the day brought President Sam, Past President Eddie, and President Elect Eliza to Lei Yue Mun, Sam Ka Tsuen Ferry Pier. It was not for seafood, but to see an A.I.-self driven boat that collects ocean trash. It was very interesting to see young Hong Kong entrepreneurs working on this project. TVB was also on hand to interview the founders and learn about the boat.