On June 24, our Club met at Regal Hong Kong Hotel. To ensure proper social distancing, Regal has given us a large room, with 4-person tables separated by ample spaces.
President Mark began by inviting President Elect Sam to summarize arrangements for Club Installation and District Installation. Club Installation shall include a Paul Harris Fellows (PHF) recognition session in which 14 members shall be recognized for achieving new PHFs or new PHF tiers. President Elect Sam also briefly talked about ”The Familiar Strangers” charity concert on August 3. The concert, organized by Suicide Prevention Services, shall be one of incoming President’s first fellowship events. President Elect Sam says that a Whatsapp signup sheet shall be circulated in due course, and urges members to sign up themselves as well as their families and friends. President Mark reported that our sister Club, Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen, has done a great job donating health supplies to local hospitals to combat a surging Covid-19 pandemic in Taiwan. Heeding their call for help on social media, our Board has approved a special donation to their Club to join their humanitarian effort. The donation is further topped up with extra donations from individual members and friends. The transfer shall be completed either in the last week of June or first week of July.
Before Club Assembly, President Mark took time to summarize events during District Conference, which was held the weekend before. To our Club, the most significant event of the two-day conference was District Governor Eric Chak presenting our own Past District Governor Belinda with Rotary International’s Service Above Self Award. Members received the news with loud cheers and approval. Also significant was the recognition of Charter President Patrick and Wendy as the #1 donor in our District, as well as our Club being recognized as #1 in the entire District, both in terms of total Rotary Foundation giving and per capita contribution to TRF annual fund.
When all the celebratory reports were settled, President Mark invited President Elect Sam to preside over Club Assembly. After a brief introduction, President Elect Sam invited President Mark, who reported Club finances on behalf of Treasurer Barry. President Mark then gave a summary of significant events and projects that happened in the past 12 months, thanking every member along the way. President Elect Sam then returned to the rostrum to summarize incoming Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta’s Rotary theme as well as incoming District Governor Keith Chow’s priorities and goals, and revealed some of his own plans for the coming months. President Elect Sam also quickly re-introduced his incoming Board of Directors (see next page). In addition, President Elect Sam specifically pointed out that there will be equal emphasis on all avenues of service, and will soon start planning for our Club’s 35th Anniversary, most likely to be held in mid-March, 2022.
