On July 4, President Mark led a team including Past President WT and Kelly, Past President Grace, President Elect Sam and Rotarian Jason to distribute hot meals to over 200 elderly in the Cheung Sha Wan area. SS also joined, as did Mark’s friend Newton and 8 of his young friends from church.
On June 20, Past President Dora led a team of 10 consisting of Past Presidents WT, Grace, Samuel and Angela, Rotarian Jason and spouses to deliver hot meals to the elderly at Holy Cafe. On occasion, our Club also sponsored 220 Tuen Ng Festival care packages, each of which included the following: 2 Tuen Ng Festival glutinous rice dumplings, a foldable fan, a vacuum flask, a bag of dried jujube walnuts, vermicelli noodles, and tea. The special “festival” hot meal included fish, roast duck, vegetables and white rice, each of which was carefully assembled, packed and delivered by Rotarians and spouses, in a hot but fun-filled afternoon.
On March 7, President Mark and Catherine, Past President Grace, Rotarian Jason and Sara helped at Holy Cafe to distribute hot meals to the elderly. Mrs. Maria Sung, the owner of the Cafe and the 2019 winner of The One Hong Kong Humanitarian Award, started distributing meals to her neighborhood when she realized that many elderly did not have a proper hot meal in the weekends. The pandemic exacerbated the problem because some of these elderly who might have visited their relatives or might have received visits from their relatives in the weekends were forced to be on their own as people avoided going out. On occasion, our Club donated some masks to Holy Cafe, a social enterprise, so that those elderly served by the Cafe could receive some extra masks. Our Club’s plan is to set up teams to help Mrs. Sung with her weekly hot meal distribution.
On February 13, our Club met for the first time after Chinese new year break. President Mark began the meeting by offering a very special welcome to all members and Maurice. President Mark then detailed the new arrangements of various Club and District events that are postponed or cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. Members then shared their stories of how they struggled but eventually managed to secure their own health supplies. Some members also shared their stories of how they managed to source thousands of masks from all over the world and personally donate to charities. Maurice made an impassioned and heartfelt plea to help refugees in Hong Kong who were just as neglected and in need of help as any group in Hong Kong. Past President Angela and Rotarian Jason shared stories about how Rotaractors came together as private citizens to help out those in need. Immediate Past President Lily also shared how she managed to buy boxes of masks while visiting Turkey during her annual vacation, and promptly donated a few boxes, in our Club’s name no less, to our District’s “Giving Masks, Rotary’s Tasks” campaign. It was also during the meeting that the idea…
On January 15, more than a dozen Hong Kong Harbour Rotarians and spouses were present at the naming ceremony of Patrick SC Poon Amity College at Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Patrick SC Poon, of course, is our Club’s Charter President and well-known philanthropist. During Charter President Patrick’s speech, he mentioned that Rotary philosophy of service above self is one of his chief guiding principles when he does philanthropic deeds. Plenty other District dignitaries were present, including District Governor Wilson Cheng, Past Governors Moses Cheng (Chairman of the University’s Council), Anthony Hung, Jones Wong, Peter Wan, Ada Cheng, YC Ho, and District Governor Nominee Keith Chow.
On December 14, President Mark and Catherine, Past President Samuel and Amy, Immediate Past President Lily, Rotarian Jason and Sara attended Home Care for Girls’ annual Christmas Party x Homecoming (關愛日). Our Club is the sponsor of the event, which was well attended by donors, families and friends of the Centre. Many girls who stayed at Home Care in the past returned, some of them even bringing their families and children! The girls gifted attendees with two performances – a hip-hop dance, and a chorus accompanied by a guitar.
President Mark Tong, Past President Webster Ng and Rotarian Jason Ling traveled to Taipei on September 28 to participate in Rotary Run 2019 the following day, organized by Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen, our Sister Club. The competition course, located in the hilly part of Ruifang District in New Taipei City, was specially designed by PP Kent Yen of RC of Taipei Mingmen, a seasoned runner who is never shy of pushing the boundaries. As such, the course meandered across the hillside of Ruifang, and included a steep altitude climb of nearly 500 meters followed by a rapid descent, all within a 4km segment of the course. PP Webster, who attempted that treacherous segment, confessed that it was one of the most insane and challenging runs he has ever experienced, certainly not helped by intermittent torrential rain throughout the morning. That said, all three agreed that it was one of the most unique and beautiful scenic runs ever attempted. For the occasion, the three of us, together with additional contributions from Past President CK Wong, raised 40,000 TWD for our Sister Club to distribute to various charities, including a food bank and a local secondary school.
Jenny Leung, director of marketing at Hummingfish Foundation, came to our Club meeting on June 27 to talk about her Foundation, based in East Timor. Amongst the many endeavors of her Foundation are development services for local coffee growers and soap makers. To cap off an amazing lunch meeting, she and her team also brewed all-natural coffee, made with East Timor beans, for Club members to taste.