The 12th Board Meeting of Rotary Year 2022-23 was held at Holy Cafe, our long-term service partner, on June 19. Mrs Maria Sung, proprietor and community volunteer extraordinaire of Holy Cafe, crafted a fantastic menu for Board members in attendance. Past Presidents Ricky and Mark also joined as observers.
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.
It was a busy afternoon with 12 Rotarians and family members helping out, including: President Eliza, Past President Samuel and Amy, Past President Grace, Past President Lily and sister Alice, Past President Ricky with Grace and Boris, Coco, Rotarian Tony anddaughter. We helped to register 350 elderlies, including 65 new beneficiaries.
Past Presidents Webster and Lily, and President Elect Eliza joined the opening ceremony of Holy Cafe’s new shop on behalf of our Club. Past President Webster’s son, Shum Yeh, also joined. Special guest of the ceremony was Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR Paul Chan.
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.
On February 20, President Mark and Past President Grace helped to distribute hot meals to the elderly in Cheung Sha Wan/Lai Chi Kok area. Tutor and Rotaract Advisor Crystal Lee and Rotaractor Cindy Effendy joined. Our next outing is tentatively scheduled on March 6.
On April 18, Past President Grace, Past President WT, Past President Angela and Maurice, and Grace’s friend Yvonne distribute hot meals at Holy Cafe. Over 200 meals were distributed that day. Past President WT and Maurice used their engineering skills to assemble face shields, which were given to the elderly.
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.