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KINGSPARK NEWS Club Number: 30119 2007-08 Rotary Year : Issue 3 : 1 August | ||
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is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong | ||
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| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan | ||
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Editorial
(Another
Rotary Year) - By Francis Wann | ||
| District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship | ||
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Another Rotary Year
Today Peter Wong holds a range of titles and sits on a number of committees and advisory boards, but he never forgets his humble background. He finished his secondary education at Tak Ming Middle School and took the Chinese School Certificate Exam before working for Dairy Farm at the lowest level. Concerned about his career prospects, he later went to University of East Asia (1984 - 86) for his MBA. Macau in those days was of course not the Macau we know today, and he was only able to make his trips after work. As company secretary, he was involved in all levels of transactions, including takeovers and acquisitions. Now he's been with Tai Fook for more than thirty years and gradually gets himself established in the trade. "My working life has always evolved in Central," he laughed. How did he first join Rotary? Peter went to Rotary meetings as speaking guest because of his rich background in management, and it seems a natural course that he became a Rotarian of East Kowloon in 1992, and president in 1996-97. He had fond memories of his overseas trainings before he took up his present position. Has he been planning to run for DG? "No, it just occurred naturally and it gives me an opportunity to see the whole picture." It was indeed an eye opener attending RI functions as you understand how Rotary ideals are conceived in other countries. Peter mentioned water which didn't seem anything special, but in some poor countries, it can be a matter of life and death. What will be his immediate goal? DG Peter has been having meetings with district administration and RIC which he said was in urgent need of a revamp. We talked about public relations and Rotary image. I reminded him some two years ago Peter (Wan) initiated the Rotary Image committee with a host of sub-committees. We also got PolyU to produce a Rotary-commissioned report to coincide with the installation. But has our image improved? Or have we got an image at all? Peter laughed at my comments. It certainly is not easy to promote Rotary image when we're not able to position ourselves precisely as a service model. It seems that our new DG wants to lay his hand on many issues - membership, youth, wealth gap, Rotary image¡KPeter was passionate when he mentioned areas like Tin Shui Wai where poverty was rife. He was also optimistic about Adopt-a-School, also a project started by PDG Peter Wan. I said Rotary should make its presence at the management level if we were serious about education. Peter agreed. Our conversation went from subject to subject and it was only shortly after the release of the report on the case of HKIEd. We didn't go into anything specific but Peter was clearly disappointed with our education system. He had his hopes in our Rotaractors and Interactors whom we strive to nuture. One of our important roles, he said, was building the future. When I told him I checked his DG newsletter in the district page but couldn't find anything, he reassured me it would be there the next day - and it was indeed. I was hoping to see something different in this year's district governor but I was slightly disappointed. Our new DG is certainly a doer - not a talker - and he must have inspired many other through his hard work alone. I asked how he wished to be remembered when he steps down next July, and rather than spelling out something on moral highground, he said he didn't want to be remembered for anything specific. He saw his role as district governor an honour to serve others, especially the less fortunate. " I usually help along (whatever they are doing), and get the input message across. It's a kind of sharing¡K" DG Peter was Assistant Governor when our CP John was District Governor. He told me his encounter with John began much earlier - when John was still in the Treasury and when Raphael Hui was still with the Government. Yes, those were the days. | ||
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President's
Column
District Installation Many Kingsparicans, friends and families joined the July 6th District Installation that was held at the Grand Hall of Hong Kong Convention Center. The main theme was to "install" DG Peter Wong as our District leader for the Rotarian year 2007-2008. Highlights of the evening were the speech made by the Honorable Mr. Stephen Lam, JP; the inauguration address by the newly installed DG Peter Wong; the group signing by all incoming Presidents to signify their support for DG Peter Wong; and finally the performance by children of Heep Hong with Rotarians and Rotaractors. The speech of Honorable Mr. Stephen Lam, JP, was about sharing, which coincided with this year's theme - "Rotary Share". DG Peter Wong addressed the audience and re-emphasized his goals for year 2007-2008 as annual giving of US$200,000; striving for Every Rotarian, Every Year; continuing polio eradication commitment; net gaining of 2 members per Club; forming one new Rotary Club, Rotaractor Club, and Interactor Club; supporting Hepatitis B and Leprosy projects in China; and furthering Adopt-A-School project in Hong Kong. The program was followed by a sumptuous dinner and various award presentations; one of which was won by our Rotaractor Virginia Seung as the "Best Rotaractor" of the year! Congratulations, Virginia! The program concluded with the performance of children of Heep Hong with thundering drum beats. Club Affairs Now let's shift our focus to our club affairs. I regret to inform that four members have resigned from the club, and they are PP Tom Hui, Alice Chau, Neil Mok, and Andy Leung, so our club's active member list stood at 27 as of June 30th, 2007. Many thanks to these members, especially PP Tom who now resides in Shanghai, who have made valuable contributions to our club. The good news is that next month, we will most likely induct one new member assuming there shall be no objections among Kingsparicans. The CV of the incumbent had been distributed to all members for their approval as of the week of July 22nd, 2007. In addition, PP Peter Lo, Service Project Director, had recruited PP Thomas Chan, Rtn Feroz Sultana, Rtn Michael Au, and Rtn Spark Lam to assist him in various Vocational, Community, and International projects this year. Thanks to PP Thomas Chan, Rtn Feroz Sultana, Rtn Michael Au, and Rtn Spark Lam for helping out, and PP Peter, well done. PP Edward Lau, Club Administration Director, has reconsidered the "One Kingsparican, One Sharing" program that was initiated few years ago; the program shall be reinitiated this August. The spirit of the program is to foster further Kingsparican's understanding and relationship by having each Kinsgaprican to share something about him/herself, which can be his/her work, hobbies, etc. that he/she sees fit for the maximum benefits of other Kingsparicans. PP Edward shall arrange this sharing to take place on the 3rd Thursday of each month and will contact each Kingsparican in due course. Thanks PP Edward and all for your support. The board has unanimously approved the trial of a 6-month meal charging plan as follows: (1) pay for the entire 6-month lunch meals upfront and enjoy a 20% discount at HK$200 per meal, or (2) pay for each lunch meal at full price at HK$250 per meal. The key consideration for this change is to ease our administrative workload yet to balance the need of solvency for the club. The plan has been kicked off and emails will be distributed to all Kingsparicans on the week of July 29th, 2007. For Kingsparicans to enjoy the savings, the plan is effective as of July 1, 2007, and all debits shall be made in accordance with Kingsparican's choice. Rotaractor Installation July 28th was the 12th installation of our Rotaractor Club. IPP Rachel Leung had installed President Edith Wong at Ease House Cafe in Mongkok. CP John Wan, AG Johnson Tsang, PAG Rainbow Li, PP Edward Lau, PP Peter Lo, PP Dominic Ko, IPP Patrick Wong, PE Joyce Mak, and President Marvin Lai all attended the installation ceremony. This year's Rotaract Officers are President Edith Wong, External Vice President Florence Tong , Internal VP Vinky Lau, Treasurer Tommy Lau, Secretary Virginia Seung, and Sergeant-at-arm Sidney Lee; Directors are Club Service Cedar Kwok and Gigi Chau, Community Service Amelia Lo and Iris Chan, International Service Clarence Au and Polex Lam, Professional Development Karen Cheng and On Yee Tam, and IPP Rachel Leung; Rotarian Advisors are Rtn Alex Kar, PP Dominic Ko, PP Edward Lau, PE Joyce Mak, P. Marvin Lai, IPP Patrick Wong, and PP Thomas Chan. P. Marvin shared his thinking with all regarding our Rotaractors' key success factors that lie in its strong leadership and its members. These led to great Rotaractors' accomplishments of having 4 DRR's in the recent past. Furthermore, P. Marvin attributed to Rotaractors' spirit, compassion, passion, friendship, and love for the community for the success of their "little"-series projects such as little smiles, little shoes, little school bags and little water bottles. In addition, P. Marvin appealed to all Rotaractors to participate in all three key service projects to be organized by our club as follows - "Home for Blindness": this project is to charter a team of Rotarians and siblings to visit a "Home of Blind People" in order to bring not only joy to the ones who suffer, but also to educate our young the importance of protecting our eyes and caring for disables! "Elderly Folk Song": this project is to again charter Rotarians, friends, and families in order to bring cares to elderly people in Hong Kong by hosting "Folk Song" listening in neighborhoods during the upcoming Chinese New Year. "Career Talk": our signature project, which has recently been selected by Area 8 as the Area project of the year, is to provide career insights and guidance to F5-F7 students across Hong Kong. The installation ceremony concluded with various gift presentations by CP John Wan, AG Johnson, PAG Rainbow, Chairlady Grace, P. Marvin, IPP Rachel, and P. Edith, fun games, and laughter that shall excel this Rotaractor club to yet another successful Rotary year! | ||
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From
the Charter President
President Marvin has reported that we lost four members and apparently felt saddened for that. I admire his compassion, but when I looked at the list of casualties, I cannot help feeling a sense of inevitability. When was the last time we saw them at our club meetings? When was the last time they made any contribution, in kind or cash, to any of our service projects? And when did they last contribute to the Rotary Foundation, if at all? In short, we did not lose them on 1 July 2007. We have lost them long before that date. Lest I am misunderstood, let me hasten to say that I personally treasure every relationship, and I am mindful of the mental and physical processes that accompany the cessation and termination of any one of them. In a community, we identify ourselves through relationships; and somehow, everyone can be related to everyone in one way or other. Back to membership development. As recent as July, the RI Presdient reiterated the importance of membership development in Rotary and reaffirmed his commitment to the exercise, offering every support to clubs and districts to fulfill their membership goal. We need more members so that we can be more effective in taking our services to the people who need them. That is the single most important motivation and reason for bringing in more members. It follows that each club must constantly look for service projects, meaningful projects that would motivate service-minded men and women to join the club, to continue to stay and to bring in more like-minded people. So our club, often spoken of as a star club in the district, is losing members. For some time now, RI has asked clubs to conduct exit interviews on standard forms. Such information would help RI establish trends and the big picture, which would in turn help the centre to help clubs and district in their work on membership development. The 2001 Council on Legislation passed a non-binding resolution to urge RI to achieve a membership total of 1.5 million by 2005 when Rotary would celebrate its fisrt centennary. The first centenary has come and gone, even though the ring of the centennary bells can still be heard, albeit, getting fainter by the day. On 30 June 2005, we had 1,224,297 members; the number fell to 1,193,137 on 1 July 2006, and on 31 May 2007, we had 1,221,298. Are we failing in our membership development efforts? It may not be too meaningful to answer the question direct, for statistics can tell different stories in different hands. A question that would be more meaningful to ask would be, have we helped more people over the years; have we become more efficient and more effective; and we are retaining the right people in the movement. As a club, the issues would be clearer, more direct, and easier to monitor. Let's hope that our new leadership would take the club through the web of obstacles and emerge as an even better one he has inherited. | ||
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Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. | ||
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President :
Marvin Lai | ||
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