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The Social Welfare Department (SWD) held the 2011 Sharing Session for Promotion of Volunteering in Community Organisations cum "Caring for Our Community" award presentation ceremony today (July 23). The department also announced a new volunteer scheme to promote collaboration between resident volunteer teams and local shops in taking forward innovative volunteer service in the community.
The Assistant Director of Social Welfare (Youth and Corrections), Mr Fung Man-lok, said during the event that the Sub-committee on Promotion of Volunteering in Community Organisations recognised the significant role of local shops in serving the community. To encourage more local shops to utilise their expertise to serve the needy, the Sub-committee would launch the "Community Caring Shops Recognition Scheme" to promote co-operation between resident volunteer teams and local shops in order to help more needy people in the neighbourhood.
Mr Fung and Convenor of the Sub-committee, Mr Caecage Siu, also officiated at a ceremony to launch the 2011-2012 "Hong Kong Citizen - Hong Kong Heart" Volunteer Ambassador Programme. In 2010, more than 300 organisations participated in the Programme and over 80 000 gifts, handmade by volunteers, were given out during visits to people in need. The proprietors of three Caring Shops, namely Mr Eddy Lui of Optometrist Authorised Contact Lens Practitioner of the Grant Optical Centre, Mr Lee Fong-fai of Kiwi Sweets and Mr Fung Ka-kiu of Tak Fat Restaurant, also shared their experiences in serving the community. Mr Siu said he hoped that volunteers would be inspired by their sharing.
In order to further raise public awareness, the Sub-committee initiated a "DIY Suggestion Scheme" this year and invited the public to propose creative ideas. Among the 65 proposals received, three were chosen as the key items and the result was announced during the ceremony.
The 2010 Caring Estate Highest Service Hours Award, 2010 Leading Caring Estate Logo, and 2010 Volunteers with Service Hours exceeding 10 000 Award were also presented during the ceremony today.
The Steering Committee on Promotion of Volunteer Service had chosen "Volunteering - New Attitude in Life" as the theme of 2011, hoping to encourage volunteers to integrate the core values of volunteerism into their daily lives.
Since the promotion of volunteer service by the SWD in 1998, more than 2 188 agencies have committed themselves to volunteer service and over 945 000 people have been registered as volunteers. Registered volunteers devoted a total of approximately 22 million hours of service to the community in 2010.
Ends/Saturday, July 23, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:01
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