On August 24, our Club met for the fourth time in this Rotary Year. Our speaker talked about U.S. China relations and what the future holds. Meanwhile, we had quite a number of visitors: we welcomed back Past District Governor YC Ho who yearned to join our meeting after years of absence due to Covid-19; Immediate Past District Governor Norman Lee, who came specifically to thank Past President Antonio and Pat for making a significant donation to The Rotary Foundation at the tail end of this past Rotary Year; Helen and Natalie from our service partner Yuk Chi Resource Centre; and Crystal Lee, former tutor and Rotaract Advisor of our Rotaract Club of HKU Lap Chee College International.
On August 18, President Jason and Past Presidents Grace and Samuel visited Yuk Chi Resource Centre to discuss our strategy for our upcoming collaboration.
President Eliza and President Elect Jason went to the Presidents-Elect Training Seminar (PETS) II in the morning session in Alexandra Hotel before getting on a taxi to Chi Fu, Pokfulam for the Opening Ceremony of the Scout Trail Walk where Past Presidents Grace, Dora, Eddie and ex-member Past Presidents Theresa and Kennedy were there together with Yuk Chi Resources Centre’s team. Then President Elect Jason rushed back to attend the afternoon session of the PETS II. After the opening ceremony, Yuk Chi’s team together with children and parents hopped on a coach to go to the Peak. Meanwhile, President Eliza walked the steep route from Pokfulam to the Peak together with her brother and Ms. Laura Lo, one of this year’s speakers during our regular meetings and a senior scout leader. Past President Mark joined in right before the Peak walk together with President Eliza and team. District Governor Norman and his wife Isa joined the award ceremony at 4:30pm and presented Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour Award to the 50km walk winners. The funds raised at this walkathon would support our service projects, including to Yuk Chi Resource Centre to provide professional therapy service for children with special…
We had a very joyful Christmas Lunch Party with lucky draw! Charter President Patrick donated cash prizes on the spot so that all 21 attendees got a Christmas present to bring home! Before the lucky draw, we welcomed two service partners from Yuk Chi ResourceCentre. They were Agency Head Miss Helen Leung and Social Worker Ms Jacqueline Lai. While our club has been partnered with Yuk Chi for three decades, for benefit of new Clubmembers, we invited Helen to give an introduction of Yuk Chi. Yuk Chi has been established since 1991. At the beginning, it was to provide educational seminars andgroups to parents and caregivers of disabled children, including children with autism, physically handicapped, and those with special educational needs (SEN). The Centre serves families with disabled children in the New Territories and after 30 years, the number of members has increased to over 8,500, with 2,100 SEN children. Jacqueline informed the club members that besides the routine training for parents /caregivers and educational training for the children, the Centre would mount special projects from time to time. In 2013, with assistance from our club, a multi-sensory activities room was built fortherapy training and assessment. The room was, and…
We visited our Sister Club, Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen during their regular lunch meeting via Zoom. We had President Eliza, President Elect Jason, Past President Eddie, Past President Samuel, Past President Grace, Past President Dora and Past President Lily attended the meeting. During the meeting, Past President Samuel helped to promote the Yuk Chi Global Grant and received positive feedback. A follow-up Zoom meeting with Past Presidents Kevin and Ronald of Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen was also held on December 14.
Our Club, chiefly through Rotarian Jason’s liaison and planning, organized a COVID-19 talk together with Yuk Chi Resource Centre, our service partner, for the benefit of Yuk Chi’s members. The talk aimed to provide unbiased information related to the pandemic, and general advice as to how to detect, manage, and overcome illness. Speakers included: Vice President Dr. Kelvin and Dr. Catherine Lam, focusing on adult and child care respectively. On behalf of our Club, our Past President Peter made souvenirs to thank our two speakers.
On November 12, President Sam, and Past Presidents Grace, Eddie and WT visited Ms. Lai and Ms. Lo at the Yuk Chi Resource Centre. The main purpose was to observe the District Grant project in action. Ms. Lai explained to the group the high demand of obtaining a comprehensive developmental assessment of age-6 or under children with suspected developmental problems. Underprivileged families may need to wait 15 to 18 months at the Department of Health. Our Club’s District Grant project will help 45 such families this year. Our Rotarians observed an assessment of a 4-year old girl for 20 minutes. Through playing with toys and engaging her in specific tasks the clinical psychologist was able to test the girl’s motor functions and assess her developmental progress. After the visit, President Sam led the group to a Singaporean restaurant (A Taste Above Shiok) in Causeway Bay for afternoon tea.
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.
Club members and spouses delivered 2200 masks and sanitizing supplies to Yuk Chi Resource Centre and Home Care for Girls, two of our service partners. The supplies were then distributed via our service partners to their service targets, benefiting over 200 families. The masks were generously donated by donors to our District’s “Giving Masks, Rotary’s Task” program and then subsequently allotted to our two service partners. 300 bottles of alcohol sanitizers were also bought by our Club and donated to our two service partners.
On January 14, Service Projects Director Kelvin, together with Past Presidents Eddie Leung, Grace and Angela delivered Chinese new year pudding packages to the volunteers and staff of Yuk Chi Resource Centre. They first assembled in Causeway Bay to pick up the packages from Regal catering, and then delivered 60+ pudding packages to Yuk Chi in Tuen Mun as part of our Club’s annual tradition to show our heartfelt appreciation of the hard work of the staff and volunteers of the Centre. Our Club’s delegation was led by Service Projects Director Kelvin, who reported that the delivery was smooth and that the recipients were all very happy to greet and meet with us. The visiting Rotarians also took time to tour the Centre and learned about the Centre’s latest developments.