On September 26, President Mark led a team consisting of Past President Grace, President Elect Sam, Past President WT and past Interactor Michael Yan of King’s College to deliver hot meals to 200+ elderly living in Cheung Sha Wan and Lai Chi Kok areas. Additional supplies, donated by other anonymous donors, were distributed. President Elect Sam, Past President WT and Michael also managed to visit some grassroots families in housing estates nearby, as well as sanitation workers at a refuse collection point.
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…
On July 23, our Club met on Zoom due to heightened pandemic conditions and gathering restrictions in Hong Kong. The meeting was conducted in the evening. Undeterred by the time difference, Past President Angelica Rinehart (Rotary Club of Fremont, Ohio) woke up early to join from the United States. Past President Angelica last visited us in February and March 2019. Everyone was surprised to see her and was most happy to welcome her back! The meeting, in addition to the usual report by Club President, had two highlights. The first highlight was our Club’s first-ever virtual induction of a new member. The induction began with Past President WT giving a brief introduction of our newest member: Eliza Ning. No stranger to our Club and our District, Rotarian Eliza is already an active Rotarian who has served on both the District Peace and PPE Committees. Eliza also has additional connections with our Club: Past President WT was her mediation mentor when she began studying the discipline some years ago. Furthermore, through her involvement in District’s Sustainable Seafood program, Eliza has previously worked with President Mark, Past President Grace and many of our Interactors in the past. Eliza has also worked with…
On July 12, 14 members attended District Installation, held at HKCEC. To comply with gathering restrictions, members were separated into four tables, with Charter President Patrick sitting at the head table with guest of honor, Jasper Tsang, invited by Rotarian Fei and Charter President Patrick; Past District Governor Belinda sitting at the Past District Governors’ table; and the rest of the members split into two separate tables. Past Presidents Angela and Grace had OC duties throughout the day. During the Club Presidents Installation ceremony, Past President Lily stood in to pass the presidential sash one more time to President Mark. In one significant moment of the evening, Charter President Patrick received on behalf of Rotarianne Wendy the rare and prestigious Rotary International award: “Rotary International 2019-20 Excellence in Service to Humanity Award”.
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 May 2, Past President WT led a team consisting of Past Presidents Grace Yen, Dora Liu, Samuel Chung, Rotarian Sammy and spouses to distribute hot meal and health supplies to the needy.
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.
Past President WT reported that he had a lot of fun at the Zone Institute, held in Manila from November 29 to December 1. Past President WT was invited to be a panelist to talk about mediation and arbitration as a model for resolving conflicts within Rotary and in society.
On September 21, President Mark Tong, Past President WT Wong and Rotaractors Anuj Bhatia and Cindy Effendy attended the District Peace Night Dinner at Regal Kowloon Hotel. Rtrs Anuj and Cindy are respectively from India and Indonesia. Our Club arguably sent the most internationally diverse group of attendees to Peace Night (if one also counted el niñito, the Mexican cowboy…)