Dear all HAC supporters,

As the old saying goes, “life itself is the most wonderful tale”, what is the extraordinary story of HAC in such a challenging year?

Last year, Hong Kong has gone through a series of unprecedent crisis when we’re attacked by several rebounds of COVID-19. The situation worsened at the beginning of 2022 when the infected cases soared and many people were unable to receive prompt medical treatment. Physical classes in schools were suspended for months and the local economy was severely shackled. Just like fallen into a dark abyss, many grassroot families had been severely hampered by under-employment or unemployment, and their children education were impeded. Their struggle in the abyss was a deep despair!

HAC was very fortunate to receive various supports, which enabled us to fortify our service users to fight against the crisis:

Storytelling for Social Impact

Stories are good nutrients for our hearts by pacifying anxiety and boosting positivity. We delivered quality storytelling programs by collaborating with the following partners:

• the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) to host the Easy Learning Internship Program
• Corporate volunteers from the Hang Lung Properties Limited to provide Learn Language From Storybooks Volunteers Program
• Hong Kong Poverty Alleviation Association Ltd. and Hong Kong Poverty Alleviation Foundation to run the Volunteacher- Primary Students Volunteer Support Scheme
• Hong Kong Council of Social Service to organise the Project Futuremark

With their helping hands and generous donation, we supported the children especially those affected by school suspensions or from inadequate houses to seize their golden times for learning. The benefits are not only academic, they learnt how to develop healthy habits, manage their timetable and set their long-term goals. All of these are indeed precious experiences for their life development!

Cultivate Positive Mindset

Positivity through building up proper mindset and partaking into meaningful engagements can fortify our immunity against adversity. With this in mind, HAC had implemented:

• Financial Smarty
• Kidder Banker

With a wide coverage in schools, kindergartens and NGOs, we promoted the financial literacy to young parents by providing them with bespoke education kits, children animation videos, training workshops and even large-scale flea markets managed by kids. The participants can learn the core concepts of Spending, Saving and Sharing from the Projects. Such knowledge is practical and useful for their lifetime.

We are very thrilled to share our joy with you that the long-term “Read to Change” Project had won the Excellence in Knowledge Transfer Award presented by the City University of Hong Kong. And the project achievements keep presenting in various international conferences.

Embrace Social Inclusion

Seeing that the population is aging, HAC actively engages stakeholders from different age groups for various community services. Intergenerational inclusion can be achieved when they learn from each other and show respect and are appreciated among themselves. Our cases include:

• Intergenerational Story Adventure
• Jockey Club Lamma Buddy Project
• A Blessing Journey in Lamma

With the strong bonding we have built up with a wide range of stakeholders, we are united to strive against different challenges. During the 5th wave of COVID-19, we were in full speed to collect necessary medical reliefs for the patients in remote villages. During my recent faraway hike in Lamma, I discovered that an anonymous volunteer had helped tidied up our publicity poster for “Express Anti-pandemic materials to Lamma”. This shows how deep they recognise our work.

We stringently implemented the captioned (Level One) to have regular reviews of the usage and reasonable level of Lump Sum Grant Reserve at the board meetings. As of 31st March 2022, the Provident Fund Reserve for nonsnapshot staff of the Social Welfare Department’s Lump Sum Grant subvented services unit was $247,083. It was included in the Lump Sum Grant Reserve which had a balance of $1,400,408. It is projected that the Provident Fund Reserve will be $210,000 at the end of the 2022-2023 financial year. The Reserve is to be used for provident fund contribution for nonsnapshot staff. To better utilise the Reserve, HAC planned to enhance the employment terms of staff and so on.

In 2021-2022, we steadfastly moved forward the above three service directions no matter how bumpy our journey was. Our services had 67 media coverage. May I take this opportunity to express our greatest gratitude to the Social Welfare Department, the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund, the Community Chest and Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. We are also very grateful for all the support received from various partners. Together, we can safeguard Hong Kong and our next generation.

The coming year marks the 60th anniversary of HAC. Along with a series of celebration events, HAC will always keep our beliefs, promote professional storytelling and reading services and enhance the After-School Support for children with Special Learning Needs. I cordially invite your standing by HAC during our adventure towards a better future.After the hard days that making us stronger, ours will be a beautiful story

HAC
Executive Director
May Wong