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An "NGO Service Day" launch ceremony will be held this Sunday (December 30) from noon to 2pm at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza C to raise public awareness of community care for offenders. Admission is free.
Members of the public are welcome to express care and concern for offenders by writing down words of encouragement on cards distributed at the event venue. The cards will then be delivered to offenders in various correctional institutions on the same day by more than 200 staff members and volunteers from some 40 non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Apart from delivering the cards, NGO staff and volunteers will also provide various rehabilitation services to offenders, including religious and counselling services as well as organisation of cultural ventures and recreational projects.
The NGO Service Day, jointly organised by Correctional Services Department (CSD) and The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong, will highlight the importance of such services, which are being provided to offenders by over 60 NGOs with some 2,000 volunteers.
In addition, the CSD Rehabilitation Volunteer Group, established in early 2004, currently comprises 256 members and has held more than 490 rehabilitative activities.
Entertainment programmes at the launch ceremony include a marching band display and singing performances. The Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Kwok Leung-ming, and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong, Mr. Justice Pang Kin-kee, will officiate at the ceremony. Event ambassador, cyclist Mr. Hung Chung-yam and event sponsor, Professor Cheng Shing-lung, will also attend to appeal to the public to support offenders' integration into the community as law-abiding citizens.
Ends/Friday, December 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 11:30
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