
*********************************************************
The Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, today (January 31) presented awards to 40 civil service voluntary service teams as a tribute to their dedication to voluntary work.
At the awards presentation ceremony, Miss Yue congratulated the winning teams for their active participation in the Civil Service Volunteer Action, contributing to the well being of the community.
She said the teams had participated in voluntary work in their leisure hours and extended the community-oriented service culture into their private lives.
"This activity is more than just a voluntary work event. It is also one of the events in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," Miss Yue said.
She hoped that the team members, together with more colleagues and their family members, would continue to live out the spirit of "We care, we volunteer" by serving the community and helping those in need.
Miss Yue pointed out that since the launch of the Civil Service Volunteer Action in April, 2007, members of the voluntary service teams from more than 40 departments and their families had participated in voluntary services.
"It is encouraging to note that as at October, 2007, more than 4,700 participants had spent more than 37,000 hours on voluntary service, organising or attending more than 300 events."
Among these, 12 were jointly organised by departmental voluntary service teams and the Civil Service Bureau, and were related to the five themes of Civil Service Volunteer Action.
The five themes were protect and conserve our environment, share our work with the community, caring for the community, promote a healthy lifestyle as well as promote arts and cultural activities.
In addition, a number of promotional activities are being organised. These include roving exhibitions at nine venues starting from mid-December last year, promoting civil service voluntary activities through the press and the broadcast of video on public transport.
Ends/Thursday, January 31, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:05
NNNN