During the first week of January, 100 care packages were delivered to refugee families via Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The care packages included canned food, cereals and noodles, and packaged beverages. Care packages for Muslim families were repackaged such that all products with pork were swapped with other suitable items. The 100 care packages were generously donated by a restaurant in Tai Wai and referred to us by Past President Samuel. Our Club helped to liaise with Society of St. Vincent de Paul, who then arranged the deliveries to dozens of refugee families. We thank Past President Samuel for introducing us to the donor, to Rotarian Jason and Past President Angela for helping to liaise with Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and to Society of St. Vincent de Paul for helping to arrange deliveries to the refugee families in need.
Our Club continued to meet on Zoom due to pandemic conditions and gathering restrictions in Hong Kong. Past President Douglas Hsia, our Club’s Y2K President (RY1999-2000), joined from California. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by his presence and most happy to welcome Douglas back! The meeting began with the usual report by Club President, but not before Past President WT led a virtual chorus to celebrate Past President Angela’s birthday, in a few days. Thereafter, Douglas was invited to update us about his life in sunny northern California. Now belonging to the Rotary Club of Walnut Grove, Douglas told us that, like us in Hong Kong, the current global pandemic also made physical meeting difficult in California. He also mentioned that he was his Club’s lone representative at the RI Convention in Atlanta – our Club also had one representative that year – but did not remember meeting any Rotarians from Hong Kong. Personally, he found living in Walnut Grove, a designated U.S. Historical District, fascinating. A Chinese-American history buff himself, Douglas explained that Walnut Grove was steeped in Chinese-American history and traditions. Douglas ended his sharing by hoping to visit us in the future, whether physically or via Zoom. Next…