The 63rd District Conference was held on May 20-21, 2023, at Regala Skycity Hotel. Many of our members attended: President Eliza, Past District Governor Belinda, Past Presidents WT, Angela, Dora, Ricky, Lily and Mark, and Rotarian Ka Man. Past District Governor Belinda chaired the Foundation sessions, while President Eliza managed the Preserve Planet Earth breakout. Past President Lily was on hand at the leaders’ lunch on the first day, while Past President Angela led group discussions during a Diversity Equity and Inclusion breakout. Past President Dora was in the Conference Organizing Committee, managing the conference floor and banquet. President Eliza also reported that she was part of the welcoming party that received our Mongolian Rotarians at the airport the day before the Conference.
On May 11, Immediate Past President Donald Chan of Rotary Club of Golden Bauhinia Hong Kong was our speaker on the very hot topic of Generative AI – way forward changing our lives. Immediate Past President Donald showed us how AI world could replace many of our jobs, particularly in the design world that you only need to type what you want in the poster and get it done in minutes. Prompt Engineering is the new job type to go for! Past President Dora encouraged Club members to attend the upcoming Rotary Club of Pudu installation on 10 June 2023. We had cake cutting to celebrate Past President Mark’s Wedding Anniversary. President Elect Johnny of Rotary Club of Auckland Harbourside, the Club that President Eliza always visited when she was in Auckland, visited our club today. Immediate Past President Donald also brought his friend Weston who so happened to be President Eliza’s common friend. Rotarian Clive Tsang from Rotary Club of Hong Kong Northeast also visited our club too.
On May 5, President Eliza, Past Presidents WT, Dora and Webster, and President Elect Jason represented our Club to attend the 25th Anniversary Celebration dinner of our sister club, Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen. All Clubs within the same Area of District 3481 joined the dinner celebration too! One of the highlights was the charity painting auction for one of the Food Banks in Taiwan.
On 19 April, District Governor Norman Lee and the District Foundation Committee Chair Past District Governor Belinda Yeung co-hosted a special event to celebrate Paul Harris 155th Birthday, and to show appreciation to Major Donors, members from the Bequest Society and Paul Harris Society. The Dinner sponsored by the Regala SkyCity Hotel was held at its state-of-the-art Ballroom. Besides Past District Governor Belinda, other Rotarians from Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour also joined the Dinner; including Arch Klumph Society members Charter President Patrick Poon, Mrs Wendy Poon and Immediate Past President Sam Poon, and Major Donor Past President WT Wong. Others include Past President Angela Hui who was Chair of the Organizing Committee, while Past Presidents Grace Yen and Dora Liu were members of the Organizing Committee.The night was spent under lots of fun and entertainment. District Governor Norman sang “Imagine Rotary” and help raised funds for the District Foundation. Our own Charter President Patrick succeed in auctioning a limited edition painting by artist Darren Jones, who is the brother of the Rotary International President Jennifer Jones.
On April 13, our regular lunch meeting was held at Regal Hong Kong Hotel. Because President Eliza was still traveling in Taiwan, President Elect Jason wore the Presidential Sash as acting President for the day. District Governor Norman paid an unannounced, surprise visit. Six Club members attended. Due to the low attendance, our speaker program was postponed to the coming weeks, with details to be announced soon. Many Rotarians were absent as they were either out of town or bedridden due to sickness. President Eliza (Taiwan), Past President Kay (Italy), Past President Dora (Korea), Past President Mark (New York), President Nominee David (Edinburgh) and Rotarian Tony (Shenzhen) sent their apologies from abroad. All three Rotarians (Past PresidentAntonio, Past President Mark and Rotarian Tony) who were scheduled to be on duty were out of town and unable to perform their duties. Thankfully, they found three willing replacements (Past President Webster, Immediate Past President Sam, and Rotarian Fei) who calmly reported that not much duty was needed as the meeting turned into an intimate gathering where conversation flowed freely. District Governor Norman gave a summary of past and upcoming District activities. In the end, Rotarians and our District Governor wished those who…
As part of our Club’s mission to raise awareness of each of our personal carbon footprint, our Club challenged our members to calculate their own annual carbon footprint using Hong Kong Government’s carbon calculator. 46%, or twelve, of our members did the calculation. We then asked those who did the calculation to consider offsetting their carbon emissions by purchasing Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) through United Nations’ Carbon Offset Platform, a program under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Of those who took the time to calculate their carbon footprint, all agreed to offset their annual carbon emissions. Our Club identified a project in India that converts agriculture waste into energy, and subsequently purchased CERs specifically in support of that project. We purchased CERs as a group, the record of which can be found here. We thank all our members who took time not only to better understand global warming and carbon emissions but also to calculate their own carbon footprint — an important step in raising awareness. We look forward to future challenges, in particular to find out if, by becoming more aware of personal emissions, those members who calculated their current footprint manage to reduce their future footprint…
President Eliza and President Elect Jason went to the Presidents-Elect Training Seminar (PETS) II in the morning session in Alexandra Hotel before getting on a taxi to Chi Fu, Pokfulam for the Opening Ceremony of the Scout Trail Walk where Past Presidents Grace, Dora, Eddie and ex-member Past Presidents Theresa and Kennedy were there together with Yuk Chi Resources Centre’s team. Then President Elect Jason rushed back to attend the afternoon session of the PETS II. After the opening ceremony, Yuk Chi’s team together with children and parents hopped on a coach to go to the Peak. Meanwhile, President Eliza walked the steep route from Pokfulam to the Peak together with her brother and Ms. Laura Lo, one of this year’s speakers during our regular meetings and a senior scout leader. Past President Mark joined in right before the Peak walk together with President Eliza and team. District Governor Norman and his wife Isa joined the award ceremony at 4:30pm and presented Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour Award to the 50km walk winners. The funds raised at this walkathon would support our service projects, including to Yuk Chi Resource Centre to provide professional therapy service for children with special…
On March 9, our Club met for our third Club Assembly of the Rotary Year. The most exciting highlight of our meeting was the attendance of Past President MK and Lina. Past President MK, having escaped death by lightning strike, duly presented his Treasurer report. President Elect Jason, as Chair of the Assembly, gave details of the upcoming Scout Trail Walk and the upcoming 36th Club Anniversary Celebration Party. President Eliza did a recap of Club and District events in the past quarter, and gave updates to our ongoing District and Global Grants. Past Presidents Mark and Dora, and Rotarian Ka Man also stood up to share. Potential member Summly also joined our lunch gathering.
We visited our Sister Club, Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen during their regular lunch meeting via Zoom. We had President Eliza, President Elect Jason, Past President Eddie, Past President Samuel, Past President Grace, Past President Dora and Past President Lily attended the meeting. During the meeting, Past President Samuel helped to promote the Yuk Chi Global Grant and received positive feedback. A follow-up Zoom meeting with Past Presidents Kevin and Ronald of Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen was also held on December 14.
On September 8, our Club conducted our regular meeting during dinner time. A total of 16 club members together with 5 Rotary Anns (Pat, Amy, Grace, Rita and Coco) attended. In addition, Mr. Dennis Wu attended as speaker, while Assistant Governor Brian Ho and Deputy Assistant Governor Betty Chiu attended as part of their official business. Rotarian Heiwai did a great job in his first time as Duty Rotarian. Assistant Governor Brian spent about 20 minutes in updating the upcoming District activities, Rotary Student Service Ambassador Program, Digital Transformation including the update of member data in Optitable, measure our carbon footprint aiming to achieveEvery Rotarian Carbon Zero promoted by Preserve Planet Earth Committee as well as preparing for District Governor Visit details covering membership, foundation, digital transformation, community service, public image, vocational/youth and health services. DAG Betty also shared with us the Pandemic Relief Project working with SoCo in distributing anti-pandemic packages and goodies bags to the underprivileged. Currently there was 7 Rotary Clubs in Area 3 jointed including our Club. What followed was a fantastic speaker program arranged by Rotarian Fei. The CEO andexecutive director of Dennis Wu, AEC Group, gave us a guest talk about carbon neutrality. He…