District Rotary Foundation Committee 2020 – 21 Update, by PDG Jones Wong

District Rotary Foundation Committee 2020 – 21 Update, by PDG Jones Wong


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IT IS A TIME OF GIVING & SHARING

I just read a message from Foundation Trustee Chair PRIP K.R. Ravindran in December Rotary Magazine and I would like to share with you.

“HUMANKIND IS OUR BUSINESS“

On a foggy Christmas Eve in Victorian London, the old miser sits at his desk. Bitter and disillusioned with the world, Ebenezer Scrooge has only one interest: his bottom line. He declines his nephew’s invitation to Christmas dinner, refused to support the poor and deprived, and reluctantly grants his underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, time off for Christmas Day.

After he arrived home, strange things begin to happen. Jacob Marley, his deceased business partner, appears as a ghost tethered to a chain, telling Scrooge to change his self-centered ways, lest he meet the same fate. That is the premise of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’ classic tale of a man’s transformation from hardened recluse to generous humanitarian.

To me, it offers valuable lessons for all, regardless of belief or time of year. In one of my favorite passages, a spirit magically transports Scrooge to the Cratchit household. There, he sees his clerk from a new vantage point, observing a humble but heartfelt holiday gathering. Scrooge then understands that gifts like friendship, family, and gratitude can’t be recorded into any ledger. By the end of the story, Scrooge has learned the most important lesson of all: that as long as we are still alive, it’s not too late to devote ourselves to serving humankind.

The year-end holidays are upon us. It is a time of giving and sharing, but it is not limited to our loved ones. It is also for the people we have never met and will never see, for those who are not so fortunate as we and could use a helping hand. The miracle of giving that Scrooge discovered on Christmas Eve is exactly what The Rotary Foundation does 365 days a year. Our Foundation serves simultaneously as charity and performer in the field; Rotarians are on the ground, volunteering their skills and business expertise in support of grants that are funded by you. In this way, we carry out some of Rotary’s most important work, such as projecting mothers and their babies and helping communities recover from the shocks of COVID-19.

Please remember The Rotary Foundation during this season of generosity. Remember that your gifts to the Foundation amplify our work in all areas of focus. They are perpetuated, not just today but long after we are gone. And the Foundation will continue to work its miracles in service to others tomorrow as long as we keep supporting it today. On behalf of The Rotary Foundation Trustee, I thank you for sending your generous contribution before 31 December.

K.R. RAVINDRAN, Foundation Trustee Chair

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Now we can see why we have been telling the Rotarians keep making contributions of all kinds to support The Rotary Foundation all year round. Your generous contributions to The Rotary Foundation will definitely help people in need in your community and in other parts of the World. Although it is a tough time worldwide with the Global COVID-19 pandemic, we are still striving to succeed some nice reports in our District.

Up to November we have 10 clubs achieved with 100% PHF Club status including RC Kowloon Central, RC Mandarin HK, RC Queensway, E-Club Tamar, RC Golden Bauhinia HK, RC Penha Macao, RC Causeway Bay, RC Happy Valley, E-Club Lantau, and RC Amizade Macao.

We have also made a new record on achieving 310 new PHFs, and a new record on achieving 8 new Benefactors.

End of November, our Annual Fund is US$388,746.65, Other Fund is US$164,335.50, Endowment Fund is US$11,000.00, Totally US$564,082.15.