Our Club experimented with a virtual fireside sharing on May 18, with Rotarian Kelvin Yeung as sharer. Kelvin is Professor in orthopaedic biomaterial research at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Over a glass (or two!) of wine, Kelvin shared with us one of his research topics: a light-driven nano-structured system to assist the elimination of SARS-CoV-2. He also shed some light on the current development of the pandemic. The only thing possibly better than this fireside sharing is if Rotarians sat physically together while enjoying a tipple or two, but for the time being, this virtual experience would do, until better days arrive.
On May 14, Ms. Lai and Ms. Lo from Yuk Chi Resource Centre joined our Club meeting on Zoom. Ms. Lai shared with us how the Centre coped at the outset of the pandemic, and how their programs have since been redesigned so that the Centre can be reopened to serve the community while adhering to SWD, CHP and EDB guidelines. In particular, the Centre has switched to smaller class sizes, with more focus on one-to-one training and individual attention. Curriculum is also condensed without reducing quality or scope. Ms. Lo reported that parents welcomed the reopening of the Centre as it bridges a critical loophole in the early development of their children with early learning challenges. Going forward, Ms. Lai says she will explore potentially live-streaming a class to members of our Rotary Club so that Rotarians can observe classroom changes in response to the pandemic, without having to physically be in the classroom and risking unnecessary cross infection.
On May 9, President Mark, Past President Grace, Past President CK, Rotarian SS and Liliana distributed hot meals to over 200 elderly in the Cheung Sha Wan area. The day was hot, but light drizzles just before the start of the distribution cooled the air slightly. Rotarians improvised and added an extra distribution counter (thanks to the abundance of volunteering hands!), and accelerated the distribution to make sure that, even if drizzles turned into downpour, the distribution would be successful, as it was.
On May 2, Past President WT led a team consisting of Past Presidents Grace Yen, Dora Liu, Samuel Chung, Rotarian Sammy and spouses to distribute hot meal and health supplies to the needy.
On May 1, Immediate Past President Lily, Rotarian SS and Liliana braved the scorching summer afternoon heat and helped to distribute 3000 masks to elderly on the streets of Ngau Tau Kok. 2000 of those masks were donated by our Club to Holy Cafe, which helped to coordinate the weekend project.
On April 23, our Club conducted our meeting online, the second time ever. This is in part a response to government’s social distancing guidelines and recommendations to avoid large group meetings, and in part a response to Rotary International’s recommendation to move all physical meetings to online platforms. Michael Yan, Charter President of our Interact Club of King’s College, joined our Zoom meeting to share with us his life as a university student affected by the current pandemic. According to Michael, many classes are moved online, with a lot of focus on pandemic and related topics. As a medical school student at HKU, he found it unfortunate that all the lab and hands-on training had to be postponed. As a Riccian, however, he found more time to spend with his fellow hallmates, and made sure he stays healthy by exercising lots. He even participated in our Amity Walk for Living Water 2020, and logged more than 20,000 steps on the last day of the Amity competition. He also managed to volunteer his time, including delivering surgical masks to homeless and elderly with Professor Lai Ching Lung and his volunteer team.
On April 18, Past President Grace, Past President WT, Past President Angela and Maurice, and Grace’s friend Yvonne distribute hot meals at Holy Cafe. Over 200 meals were distributed that day. Past President WT and Maurice used their engineering skills to assemble face shields, which were given to the elderly.
Our Club conducted our first-ever online meeting on Zoom on April 9. This is in part a response to government’s social distancing guidelines and recommendations on avoiding large group meetings, and in part a response to Rotary International’s recommendation on moving all physical meetings to online platforms. It turns out that many of our members are already quite familiar with the platform, and most had no issues logging on and joining the meeting. After the meeting room opened at noon, members started trickling in. Some arrived early to make sure that audio and video issues were addressed before the official start of the meeting at 1pm. Others just joined early to chat, just like our fellowship time before our physical lunch meetings. The Zoom meeting followed our usual agenda items, with members taking turns to report items of which they are in charge and/or managing. President Mark reported on the statuses of various District and Club events. Past President Grace explained and reported on the treatment of Annual Dinner Gathering Fund already received from members. Past President Webster explained the mechanics of Amity’s Walk for Living Water 2020, and reported that he already started to engage our youth to participate.…
Amity Foundation has launched “Walk for Living Water 2020”. The Walk aims to: (1) encourage exercises even as we stay home and/or keep social distance; (2) increase awareness of potable water shortage around the world; (3) raise funds for Amity’s future projects. One can participate in one of the following two ways: (1) Register as a participant in the walk. The participant then records and uploads a day’s activity to Amity’s Whatsapp account or Facebook. Those who register enough “steps” win certificates, while those with the most “steps” win prizes. There is no restriction on where to walk, when to walk and/or with whom to walk, except where government social distancing guidelines and restrictions apply. To register, please click here. The deadline to register is April 24. (2) Donate directly to Amity’s fundraising campaign. Our Club has a main fundraising campaign, while Past Presidents Webster and Lily have set up their own fundraising campaigns. If you are donating, please donate to any of these campaigns so that we can track how much our Club, as a whole, is contributing to this event. The deadline to donate is June 15.
Amity Foundation, our service partner for many years, approached our Club as they started to plan their annual fundraising walkathon. In past years, their walkathon “活水行” was a well-attended event with hundreds of competitive participants and many more spending a day at the fun fair set up at the finish line. Due to government-mandated social distancing guidelines, however, the event has to be cancelled without a rescheduled date. The cancellation significantly impacts Amity’s operations as they plan projects based on how much they raise each year, and the walkathon is usually their largest fundraising event of the year. Undeterred, Amity proposes a “virtual competition” whereby participants do “walks” at their time of convenience, log the walk via smart devices, and submit their walk record to Amity. There is no restriction on where to walk, when to walk and with whom (though large group walks are not recommended). The competition is judged by how many steps one can do on any particular day during the competition. Our Club has agreed to be a supporting organization of the event, help to recruit participants, and help to contribute to their fundraising campaign. Our Club shall also recruit Interactors and Rotaractors to join the…