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By PDG Belinda Yeung, JP, Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour

December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month

Rotary is dedicated to fighting and preventing disease.  Disease Prevention and Treatment is one of Rotary’s Seven Area of Focus.   Disease and illness result in pain and injury.  Prolonged severe illness may result in loss of employment and income.  It affects families.  It affects quality of life. 

Rotary and Rotarians are committed to helping people to live healthy lives.   Our signature project in this area is Polio Eradication.   But polio is not the only disease or aspect of healthy living on which Rotarians have expended energies.

Rotary Clubs at District 3450 have been responded to combat COVID-19 for the past two years in supporting the community from donating food and face masks to providing shelters for the homeless. A few examples to showcase how Rotarians helped fighting and preventing disease in the community.

Mask donation projects:

Under the Coronavirus-19 pandemic, the demand of face masks has been unprecedentedly high to prevent further transmission of the disease, especially elderly and young children population who are more vulnerable to COVID-19. A few project examples in local community:

• Masks Donation to the Community 2020 by Rotary Club of New Territories (July/ August 2020) – donated 220,000 masks

• Giving Masks Rotary’s Tasks by 4 Rotary Club of Neoteric Hong Kong and SoHo Hong Kong (March 2021) – donated 150,000 masks

• Masks Donation to Children Kidney Fund, SoCo, Martha Boss Luteran Community Centre, etc. by Rotary Club of Island East (September 2020) – donated 65,000 masks

• Colour Away Covid Children Face Masks with Rotary by Rotary Club of Island East (July 2020) – donated 30,000 masks

We as Rotarians also participate globally to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic:

A global grant was successfully obtained in collaboration with a total of 8 Rotary Clubs from D3450, Rotary Club of Modena D2072 and Rotary Club of Hope Island from D9640, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. With a matching fund from TRF, a total of US71,000 was raised to purchase 230,000 (level 2 and level 3) masks for hospitals and homes for the elderly in the City of Modena and arrived in end of February this year.

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Other projects related to COVID-19 projects:

• “Rice and Food Donation to the Community” by Rotary Club of the New Territories (July 2020) – donated 1,000 kg of rice to a number of social welfare organizations. Accompany with “Unfortunate Families under COVID-19” by Rotary Club of Dragon Hong Kong (October 2020) – arranged workshops for special needed kids, donated 10,000 masks and 200 face shields.

• “Caring tablets” by Rotary Club of Peninsula South (September 2020) – donated 60 new and used tablets to 3 schools where students stayed at home for zoom classes.

• “Connect for Food” by Rotary Club of Kowloon, Kowloon East, Wanchai and Kowloon North (October 2020) – donated 5,000 hot lunch meals distributed to 300 underprivileged families and 200 singleton elderlies in Sham Shui Po.

• “Rotary Emergency Shelter Assist Project” By Rotary Club of Kingspark HK and Kai Tak (July 2020)- provided a 28-days’ accommodation at hostel to 14 street sleepers.

DISTRICT ROTARY FOUNDATION SEMINAR AND GRANT MANAGEMENT SEMINAR – 27 NOV 2021

November is The Rotary Foundation (TRF) month and I’m proud to announce that Rotary Foundation Seminar and Grant Management Seminar were held on 27 November 2021 and achieved record high attendance.  We had 144 Rotarians joined us physically in Hong Kong and 35 Rotarians in Macau and over 20 Rotarians in Mongolia joined us via Zoom respectively. The enthusiasm of participants in the two seminars reflect that clubs and Rotarians are interested to understand more about the Rotary Foundation and determination in obtaining qualifications for Global Grant application.

With the honor of the presence of PRIP John Germ the U.S. and PDG ENT from Taiwan who joined us online. The Opening Session became the highlight of the seminar. ARRFC PDG Peter Wan was facilitator of the Second Plenary Session when participants in Hong Kong were overwhelmed with questions and all were excited in gaining insights from both leaders. I had the honor to have PRIP John Germ and PDG ENT to witness the donor recognition session for Arch Klumph Society members and Major Donors for their generous support to TRF.

Grant Management Seminar was held in the afternoon where key speakers from Hong Kong namely PDG Jason Chan and PP Betty Ko; PP Florence Hui and PP Synthia Chan from Macau to share with us various topics related to Stewardship and Grant Application. We also achieved another record high in attendance with 128 Rotarians physically in Hong Kong, over 25 Rotarians from Macau and 22 Rotarians from Mongolia.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Rotary Foundation Seminar Organization Committee Chair, PP Dominic Wai and Grant Management Seminar Organization Committee Chair, PP Stacy Ho. Special thanks to all DRFC members’ support and PP Thomas Chan who led his team in achieving great success.

What is Arch Klumph Society?

Named after the sixth president of Rotary, the Arch Klumph Society (AKS) was established to acknowledge and recognize The Rotary Foundation’s highest tier of donors — those who have contributed US$250,000 or more during their lifetime.

AKS Trustees Circle Member (US$250,000 to US$499,999)

01. I know that you have been an AKS member since 2015, why did you donate to the Rotary Foundation?

“My philosophy throughout my life is,” to do never do less than your best “ and to do the maximum good I can for the maximum people”. I could not think of any better way to accomplish that then to contribute through the TRF, an organization that ensures that the maximum good is done for the truly needy and that’s why I supported TRF.”

02.What do you want to share with our Rotarians in supporting The Rotary Foundation (TRF)?

“I believe to be a truly caring human being we should contribute to the TRF as the monies go to the neediest of causes anywhere in the  world and in  so doing we really become global Human beings that contribute towards a better world for all mankind. Also for the 11^th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator – Rating for The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S. The Foundation The Rotary Foundation | Rotary International earned the recognition for demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. Thus I felt comfortable and happy to give to the right people.”

Mark Your Diary

• 19 April 2022 – Paul Harris Society Event