Several Club members attended Intercity Meeting on December 7, including Past District Governor Belinda (Committee chair), Past President Grace (Committee member), President Sam, Charter President Patrick and Rotarianne Wendy. Recognitions included: (1) Arch Klumph Society – Foundation Circle: Patrick S.C. Poon & Wendy Y.P. Fok (2) Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour 35th Anniversary Endowment Fund (3) Major Donor Level 2: President Sam; and (4) (new) Paul Harris Fellow: Immediate Past President Mark.
District Rotary Foundation Seminar was held on November 27. Attendees from our Club included Past District Governor Belinda (chair of the District Rotary Foundation Committee), Past President Grace (member of the District Rotary Foundation Committee), and Past Presidents Angela and Eddie (seminar presenters). Charter President Patrick was a special VIP guest, while President Elect Eliza attended to understand more about the works of The Rotary Foundation within the Rotary movement.
We are happy to support the premiere of the Hong Kong Hymnos Festival, conceived and expertly run by Past President Angela and Maurice. Great effort was put into creating the two concerts and assembling the many performing artists and guests. On November 10, President Sam, Past President Grace and Jerry, and Past President WT attended the opening concert. On November 15, at the closing concert, Immediate Past President Mark performed as part of the Vox Antiqua choir. Holy Cafe’s Mrs Sung and her daughter performed as part of the festival choir.
Every year, our district organizes the Rotary Leadership Institute course. Clubs are encouraged to nominate future leaders to attend. November 13 was Part 1 of the 3-part course, and our Past President Grace served as one of the trainers.
On November 12, President Sam, and Past Presidents Grace, Eddie and WT visited Ms. Lai and Ms. Lo at the Yuk Chi Resource Centre. The main purpose was to observe the District Grant project in action. Ms. Lai explained to the group the high demand of obtaining a comprehensive developmental assessment of age-6 or under children with suspected developmental problems. Underprivileged families may need to wait 15 to 18 months at the Department of Health. Our Club’s District Grant project will help 45 such families this year. Our Rotarians observed an assessment of a 4-year old girl for 20 minutes. Through playing with toys and engaging her in specific tasks the clinical psychologist was able to test the girl’s motor functions and assess her developmental progress. After the visit, President Sam led the group to a Singaporean restaurant (A Taste Above Shiok) in Causeway Bay for afternoon tea.
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.
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.
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 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.