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The wife of the Chief Executive and Volunteer-in-Chief, Mrs Regina Leung, today (November 22) commended volunteers from various sectors for their devotion in serving society's needy groups, thus helping to enhance social inclusion and harmony.
Speaking at the 2014 Hong Kong Volunteer Award Presentation Ceremony, Mrs Leung said, "The Volunteer Movement has developed rapidly over the years and established itself in all sectors of the community. More than 1.21 million registered volunteers are providing over 20 million hours of service to the community every year, and the number of participating companies and local organisations is also increasing."
She noted that volunteer work has also become more diversified and creative in recent years, with the spirit and core values of volunteerism integrating into people's daily life. This also fully demonstrates the sense of caring and mutual help among people in Hong Kong, she said.
Mrs Leung encouraged volunteers to continue to uphold the spirit of "Volunteering - New Attitude to Life", which is the theme of the Volunteer Movement, and to demonstrate that spirit in their daily life by showing love and care for people in need, in order to enjoy a fruitful life.
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Director of Social Welfare, Ms Carol Yip, said that looking ahead, the Volunteer Movement would focus on promoting the bond between volunteers and service recipients, as both parties would benefit in personal development through the process of give and take. It also demonstrates the importance of "influencing life with life" in volunteering, she said.
Ms Yip thanked the Steering Committee on Promotion of Volunteer Service, its four Sub-committees on Promotion, the 11 District Co-ordinating Committees, District Social Welfare Officers and all committee members for their commitment and active participation in giving their invaluable views in mapping out the direction and strategy of the Volunteer Movement, thus enabling volunteerism to move forward with depth and diversity.
She also noted that volunteerism has been getting more and more diverse and creative in the past year. With the convenient use of the Internet, individual volunteers and volunteer organisations have planned tailor-made service projects along with residents' organisations to tie in with the developmental needs of the districts. In addition, local shops have participated by providing resources as well as using their networks and expertise to serve others and show their concern. On corporate volunteering, large as well as small and medium enterprises have added new strength to the volunteer army by offering their resources and professional knowledge in a creative way to help different groups in the community, she said.
Today's ceremony, organised by the Steering Committee on Promotion of Volunteer Service of the Social Welfare Department (SWD), aimed to further promote volunteerism by paying tribute to the volunteers, to enhance people's understanding of voluntary services, and to promote a sense of caring and mutual help in the community.
Awards were presented to volunteers from various sectors for their outstanding contribution in the last year. They included 68 volunteers who have served the community for more than 20 years and those volunteer organisations from public and private groups with the highest number of service hours (please see Annex for the list of awardees (Chinese only)).
The results of the 2014 Volunteer Movement Video Contest, the first video contest launched by the committee to encourage creativity in video production to showcase the spirit of volunteerism and influence more people to become volunteers and show their concern for others, will also be announced in the ceremony.
Also officiating at today's ceremony were the Convenor of the Sub-committee on the Promotion and Publicity of Volunteer Service, Mr Lai Chi-tong; the Convenor of the Sub-committee on Promotion of Corporate Volunteering, Mr Kwan Chuk-fai; the Convenor of the Sub-committee on Promotion of Volunteering in Community Organizations, Mr Quentin Fong; and the Convenor of the Sub-committee on Promotion of Student and Youth Volunteering, Ms Theresa Tao.
Since the launch of the Volunteer Movement by the SWD in 1998, more than 1.21 million registered volunteers and more than 2,620 participating organisations have committed themselves to volunteer service. In 2013, registered volunteers devoted more than 22.52 million hours of service to the community.
Ends/Saturday, November 22, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:18
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