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, nearly 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…
President Eliza and President Elect Jason attended a meeting with Hong Kong Scouts Island Region at the Hong Kong Scouts Centennial Building. This year, both physical andvirtual runs are on, with the cornerstone physical race to be held on March 19, 2023.
A team of 11 including President Eliza; Charter President Patrick, his son Charles and grandson Derek; Past President Kay and grand daughter Celeste; Past Presidents Samuel, Lily and Mark; President Elect Jason; and ex-Rotary Ann Coco helped to deliver hot meals to elderly and to register the next batch of eligible elderly at Holy Cafe Training Centre. President Elect Jason and Past President Mark home delivered hot meals toan elderly at So Uk Estate who were unable to walk to Holy Cafe. Thereafter, some of us cooled down by having a laughter-filled fellowship afternoon tea at Holy Cafe’s new venue.
Past President WT (as coach), President Eliza (as Advisor) and President Elect Jason (as Observer/Helper) attended the first online workshop of the 6th HK Secondary School Peer Mediation Competition which was jointly organized by Rotary International District 3450 and Joint Mediation Helpline Office (JMHO). This year, there were 16 schools joining for the workshop and competition and 6 schools joining the workshop only. Our Club was one of the sponsors on this meaningful event to promote peace through mediation. Topics including what is peer mediation, opening statement, the 5 step procedures (調解五部曲) in running a mediation, listening and reframing skills, non-verbal communication skills such as “SOLER” etc. The heats will be held in City University on 4 March and the semi final and final will be held in the Function Hall of Department of Justice on 25 March 2023. After a 1.5 hours presentation by the key trainer, the students performed two role plays where they were assessed by the very experience coaches. A two-hour in-school training by another coach will be given to the students before preparing for the Heats.
Our Club met to celebrate Christmas and to elect our Club Board for RY2023-24. President Elect Jason chaired the dinner meeting while President Eliza took leave of absence due to illness. There were 22 attendees, including our Honorary Member MF and his wife Ping, 13 members, and 7 spouses. President Elect Jason began by summarizing past activities and upcoming ones, including our women’s health screening project with Caritas. Thereafter, PE Jason moved onto the main focus of the evening: our Annual General Meeting. After quorum was met, PE Jason declared the General Meeting opened. He proceeded to move through the agenda, including putting up his nominations for next Rotary Year’s Club Board, for members’ consideration. In the end, all nominees put forward by President Elect Jason were elected by acclamation. After AGM was declared closed, our fellowship began. For sharing, President Elect Jason brought two prized bottles of single malts, while PP Mark brought two bottles of red wines. Sumptuous dinner was provided by Regal, followed by an exhilarating game of Bingo, hosted by Past President Webster, Past President Lily and President Elect Jason. After Past President Eddie playfully complained in our Club Whatsapp group that not everyone won something,…
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.
Regular Club meeting was held at Regal on October 27. We kicked off the meeting with activity reports from the previous weeks. Most significantly, President Elect Jason helped us to refresh our memories of our participation in End Polio Walkathon and Carnival on October 22. We then welcomed Dr Laura Lo, an Associate Vice President at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Chairman of HK Tech 300 Incubation Subcommittee. She is no stranger to members of our Club; she is not only a good friend and colleague of our Rotarian Fei, but also a good friend and scouting colleague of President Eliza’s brother. She came to talk to us about tech and innovation in Hong Kong, and specifically about HK Tech 300, an entrepreneurship program organized by CityU to encourage young minds to take their first steps to become entrepreneurs. Eligible participants receive some training before applying for HK$100k seed funding. After this initial funding period, eligible participants compete for angel funding, up to HK$1 million. Anyone affiliated with CityU is eligible to enter this program, including the general public who enters into licensing agreements to deploy intellectual property developed by CityU’s academics. Dr Lo admitted that while most…
Past Presidents Eddie, Grace, Samuel, WT, Lily and Mark, together with President Elect Jason and Sara and Mango started off with a brunch fellowship at NO BOUNDARY in Kennedy Town. Afterwards, they began an easy walk from Kennedy Town to Cyber Port (3.5 km), arriving at Cyber Port just in town for the End Polio festivities. Past District Governor Belinda received a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of our Club for our Donation to The Rotary Foundation’s End Polio Fund.
Regular Club meeting was held on October 13. We welcomed back President Eliza, whoreturned after taking some time off recovering from a medical condition. We also welcomed Past President Mark’s son, Wally, who was enjoying his term break and managed to join our meeting and say hi to all the Harbour aunties and uncles. Members took turns to give activity reports from the past weeks, including one adventurous trip to Lai Chi Wo (荔枝窩). Members thanked Past President Webster for the arrangements. President Elect Jason reported that President Eliza and himself attended District Incorporation Committee’s Consultation Session regarding reorganization of District’s legal entities. President Elect Jason further encouraged members to sign up for End Polio Walk, to be held on October 22. Past President Mark, our Club’s Preserve Planet Earth Chair, also encouraged members to sign up for District’s Carbon Reduction and Ecology Summit (October 30) as well as Mangrove Sapling Plantation and EcologicalConservation Tour (November 5). Ms. Sandia Lau, Director of Centaline Property Agency, was our speaker. She talked about Hong Kong real estate market’s transformation during the pandemic. In the pandemic, Sandia argued that “work from home” has changed how buyers perceive a home, now often preferring larger…
Immediate Past President Sam kicked off the first meeting on our Club Constitution and Bylaws Review. President Eliza, President Elect Jason and Past President Grace attended. Hardworking Immediate Past President Sam did the first cut and was setting some specific questions for the team (including Charter President Patrick, Past District Governor Belinda and Past President Kay as well) before the next meeting.