On May 23, President Mark led a team including Past President Grace, Past President Theresa and her son, and Past President Webster and his sons to distribute hot meals to over 200 elderly in the Cheung Sha Wan area. The young volunteers may be young, but they were enthusiastic and tireless. Through the process, they learned not only the needs in our community but also the work of Rotary and its service partners.
Our Club experimented with a virtual fireside sharing on May 18, with Rotarian Kelvin Yeung as sharer. Kelvin is Professor in orthopaedic biomaterial research at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Over a glass (or two!) of wine, Kelvin shared with us one of his research topics: a light-driven nano-structured system to assist the elimination of SARS-CoV-2. He also shed some light on the current development of the pandemic. The only thing possibly better than this fireside sharing is if Rotarians sat physically together while enjoying a tipple or two, but for the time being, this virtual experience would do, until better days arrive.
On May 14, Ms. Lai and Ms. Lo from Yuk Chi Resource Centre joined our Club meeting on Zoom. Ms. Lai shared with us how the Centre coped at the outset of the pandemic, and how their programs have since been redesigned so that the Centre can be reopened to serve the community while adhering to SWD, CHP and EDB guidelines. In particular, the Centre has switched to smaller class sizes, with more focus on one-to-one training and individual attention. Curriculum is also condensed without reducing quality or scope. Ms. Lo reported that parents welcomed the reopening of the Centre as it bridges a critical loophole in the early development of their children with early learning challenges. Going forward, Ms. Lai says she will explore potentially live-streaming a class to members of our Rotary Club so that Rotarians can observe classroom changes in response to the pandemic, without having to physically be in the classroom and risking unnecessary cross infection.