ROTARY COMMUNITY CORPS
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By PDG Jones Wong, Rotary Club of Island Green
Hello my dear fellow Rotarians, how are you? As per Rotary Theme “ SERVE TO CHANGE LIVES “ this year, how do you serve to change lives?
RI President Shekhar Mehta wrote in his President’ Message in Rotary February 2022: At the start of the Rotary year, I challenged every club to plan and host at least one practical and action-oriented Rotary Day of Service. The event should address a challenge your community is facing that fits into one or more of Rotary’s areas of focus and should bring together volunteers from within and outside of Rotary.
Rotary Days of Service can motivate Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact clubs to plan innovative and impactful projects. They can showcase your work as people of action and introduce prospective members to your club.
But, how and where do you plan to find such people and volunteers from within and outside of Rotary? There is a way for you to achieve it if you are going to establish a Rotary Community Corps (RCC) in your club without further delay.
There are plenty of community service projects all these months during the period of pandemic of Covid-19 which is still getting around in our cities. We need plenty of helpers and volunteers working together with our Rotarians. We need more hands help to pack and deliver the free lunch boxes for the elderly; to collect the surgical masks and sanitization equipment for distribution to the underprivileged; to help to package the Rapid Antigen Test Kit for medical centers; and many many more other assistances to the public. Therefore, RCC is a good solution to the above problems.
RCC ARE ACTIVE IN D3450
Let’s share with you some successful services from RCC of Lantau with details as below:
Lantau’s report
On March 31 of 2019, the Rotary E-Club of Lantau celebrated the inauguration of the Rotary Community Corps of Lantau (hereby known as RCC Lantau), another sponsored local volunteer group by the Rotary club. The ceremony has been witnessed by Legislative Counsellors, District Counsellors, various Government officials including the Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department and the District Officer (Islands) of the Home Affairs Department as well as social elites of the district. There are currently about 50 non-Chinese volunteers attached to RCC Lantau .
The operational objectives of RCC Lantau are four-folds:-
- To plan and carry out sustainable service projects and support Rotary club projects across Lantau and areas in dire need;
- To join Rotaract Clubs, Interact Clubs sponsored by the Rotary E-Club of Lantau and local NGOs in service provision to show care and concern to people of whatever age, gender, race, nationality and background;
- To assist in organizing and giving advice to Rotary Interact Clubs sponsored by the Rotary E Club of Lantau;
- To render any pertinent service projects based on actual need of the community and its residents.
As a matter of fact, although the official launch took place in March 2019, RCC Lantau has all along been actively supporting Lantau and outlying island district functions for over a year prior to the launch . On-going initiatives in the past few years include setting up Rotary Interact Clubs in secondary schools in Tunq Chung area, organizing Christmas parties and various events for Chinese immigrant families who have chosen Hong Kong to be their new home, conducting home visits to elderly people (Chinese and non-Chinese) whom are living alone and with walking difficulties, meeting with visiting overseas student groups to exchange views on volunteerism etc. From time to time, RCC Lantau has also taken the initiative to approach the Legislative Council as well as different government bodies to voice out the genuine needs of local ethnic minorities.
Describing the recent two years in just a word or two seems like a daunting task. These years have been unique and challenging for many, if not all. Members of the RCC Lantau experienced drastic situations like international confl ict, brutality and abuses of violence abounded in the streets of Hong Kong and so too the coronavirus pandemic ran rampant. To facilitate local residents to adapt to new realities such as quarantine, social distancing, and Zoom parties, RCC Lantau has in addition to maintaining its existing service projects mentioned in the previous paragraph, extended its arms to render relevant service projects to provide timely assistance. To name but a few:
- Gathering of surgical masks and sanitization equipment for distribution to the underprivileged;
- Providing short education talks on “Disinfection and Sanitization Tips Against COVID-19” whilst conducting regular home visits to the elderly;
- Offering “Cultural understanding” training programmes to hospital personnel and translation services between doctors and ethnic minority patients at North Lantau Hospital;
Organizing Zoom Workshop on “Building Mental Resilience Under Pressure” for Secondary school st udents .
Caring for the poor and needy people and helping them is a noble endeavor. Members of the RCC Lantau have been always giving deprived persons and families moral support , showing heartfelt humility and respect making the latter aware that someone in the neighbourhood really does care about them and trying to improve their condition. RCC Lantau welcomes any Rotary Community Corps in District 3450 to come and work in joint hands for the goodwill of mankind . Ot herwi se, please just take on a daily generosity practice in your own way.
Inauguration of Rotary Community Corps of Lantau in 2019
Board Members of RCC Lantau
Members of RCC Lantau as Advisors of Interact Clubs
Conducting home visits to elderly people whom are living alone and with walking difficulties
NEW RCC IS BORN
Please welcome our new RCC of Shatin, founded on 27 Feb, 2022. This is the 10th RCC of this year sponsored by RC of Shatin. Congratulations.
WHO’S NEXT?
Our target this year is 10 RCCs and DONE. Shall we make a new and small record? We need one more RCC from you.
