Delivering Soup—and Smiles—to Hong Kong’s Elderly

We are delighted to highlight a HandsOn Hong Kong initiative we are particularly proud of: “Soup for the Elderly”. Volunteers work together in small teams to make home visits to impoverished elderly with low mobility or who live alone. During these visits our volunteers deliver soup and spend time talking with the resident; they are also able to observe their living conditions and report back to their local centre. Since 2014, our volunteers have helped more than 1,000 elderly in need through the program, which continues to grow.

Creating Employment Opportunities For Youths with Disabilities

One of the new initiatives we've been working on recently is a project that teaches coffee making skills to young people with disabilities. We mobilized over 50 volunteers across 10 sessions, who worked closely with a group of students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities.

Our role was to implement the training syllabus, identify students who could potentially benefit from the training, recruit the volunteers and plan for and set-up the workshops themselves. The sense of satisfaction each student received through taking part in the program was very clear to see—as was that of the volunteers.

As a result 10 intellectually disabled youths now have an excellent chance of applying their new coffee brewing and "Art Latte" skills in an employment setting.

International Youth Day: Outing to Support Capacity Building of A Local Farm

In the context of the International Youth Day, HandsOn Hong Kong invited young changemakers to donate their time to support the work of a local organic farm.

Although the weather was unstable, this city farming activity was a soul healing experience. Our young volunteers helped with land preparation, seed sowing and irrigation.

Thanks to our contribution, the farm will be able to harvest water melon 2 months later. The crops will be used to support the living of poverty families after sold.

Recycle Food and Save our Planet

Hong Kong is often cited as a "foodie paradise". However, the city also produces 3,200 tons of food waste each day. The majority of this ends up in the landfill.

By partnering with Food Grace, HandsOn Hong Kong launched the Food Recycling program. Previously, we worked together to collect 180kg of food from the local market after sales. Our volunteers recycle the food, then make it into fresh meals or distribute to disadvantaged groups.

For the sustainability of the program, HandsOn needs the support and participation of volunteers. Please join this meaningful event! Let’s ease the burden of the environment and poverty together!

Empower Disadvantaged Elderly through Digital Technology

Help reduce isolation and facilitate communication for the elderly by making them more digitally connected!

The era of constantly-changing technology creates a major communication issue for our city's elderly, including their ability to communicate with younger generations. To re-engage the elderly with society, HandsOn Hong Kong launched the "Tech for the Elderly" program to collect and refurbish small tech items and redistribute them to needy elderly citizens, as well as teach them how to use the devices.

The smartphone learning class teaches elderly about the various features on a digital phone, including communications tools and apps, game playing, movie watching.

Bringing Smiles to People with Disabilities at HK Disneyland

Some of Hong Kong's intellectually disabled reside in dormitories, living away from family, even on weekends. The limited contact with the outside world is a major hinderance to their ability to thrive and integrate into our community. Many of HandsOn Hong Kong’s programs supporting people with disabilities are designed to address the isolation and provide them with exposure to people and experiences they normally do not have.

Recently, HandsOn Hong Kong volunteers took a group of nearly 20 students with intellectual disabilities to Hong Kong Disneyland. The students are from Pok Leung Kuk Yu Lee Mo Fan Memorial School and were generously provided free admission tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland. Our volunteers deserve a big thank you for their help on the outing. Their participation made it possible for the students to improve their social skills and have an exciting day away from their dormitory. Thank you, HandsOn Hong Kong volunteers!

Soup Delivery for Elderly at Sha Tin

We are pleased to announce that beginning in May, HandsOn Hong Kong will extend its soup delivery program for the elderly to Sha Tin district. Many of our city's elderly live in poverty, alone and immobile. The soup delivery program will bring freshly made traditional soup and much needed smiles from our volunteers to disadvantaged elderly.

Starting from July 2014 until today, 666 of our volunteers in this soup delivery program have delivered 2,000 service hours, benefiting nearly 800 elderly households in Wong Tai Sin, Tin Shui Wan and Tuen Mun districts. In 2016, we are expanding our program to cover more disadvantaged elderly in Sha Tin.

Earth Day Beach Cleanup: 350kg litter being removed!

Recently, HandsOn Hong Kong volunteers marked Earth Day by joining hands with 100 volunteers and four corporate partners to clean Ha Pak Nai beach on 23 April. Our volunteers, including many families and children, collected 350kg of litter from the beach. A healthier and cleaner area is available for the mangroves to grow and the costal species to breed and feed this summer.

"Make It Better" Art Workshop with Kids

What can "Arts" do? Arts can be used as rehabilitation, education and therapy.

Every Saturday, together with our NGO partner, The Sovereign Art Foundation, HandsOn Hong Kong's volunteers interact with the children in need through the process of creating unique art work.

"Make it Better" is a series of art workshops to engage with children in need. Children can learn about art and improve their self-confidence during the workshop.

House Cleaning for Elderly Living Alone

A group of HandsOn Hong Kong volunteers helped several elderly households clean their apartments. Maintaining proper hygiene, especially in kitchen and toilet areas, is important for our health. However, it is not an easy task for many elderly to do. Our volunteers visited eight elderly households to not only brighten their homes, but their spirits. Many elderly living alone lack regular visitors and these visits provided them a much needed boost. Thank you to our volunteers for their support of our city's elderly residents!

Chinese New Year Flower Market Visit with Children with Disabilities

HandsOn Hong Kong volunteers spent their day off with students with disabilities during Chinese New Year Eve. Students visited the Flower Market, and learned traditional CNY customs during the interaction with volunteers and the stalls sellers.

Thank you to our volunteers for their generous heart and spreading the joy to the community during Chinese New Year!

Truly Christmas Giving - Buffet Lunch with Students with Physical Disabilities

Going for a buffet lunch seems quite simple to most of us. But for children with disabilities, it's a luxury.
On Dec. 26, our 25 volunteers chose a non-traditional way to celebrate this Christmasaccompanying 30 children and teens with disabilities to a buffet lunch at Courtyard Marriott.

The experience enabledthe children and teens to enjoy tasty food, step outside their sheltered world, and have more contact with the community. Meanwhile, it offered a chance for our volunteers to get more insight into these children’s world. After the buffet, they found out these children are much like everyone else. They also increased their understanding of the difficulties their families faced.

Homework Class for Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Known as an international city embracing new arrivals, Hong Kong is the choice of many foreign people who are forced to leave their home countries because of political persecution, wars, starvation and etc. They stay in Hong Kong as a transfer stationuntil they (hopefully) receive asylum in other countries. This process usually lasts several years during which most of them are stuck in poverty because the HK government does not allow them to work.

Starting from 2005, it was determined that children of refugee and asylum seekers are allowed to receive education while they are in HK. However, there are many barriers that make this challenging for these families. In particular, most refugee and asylum seekers cannot afford international school, meaning that they can only access local public schools which are predominantly instructed in Chinese. This often results in children of children of refugee and asylum seekers struggling in Chinese schools to simply learn the language, let alone stay ahead of their studies. They are not provided with or able to afford tutoring and other support services in order to succeed.

Chungking Mansions Service Centre is our charity organization partner which aims to match volunteer service with the needs of these refugee children. The main program provide offers homework tutorial services to those having problems in local schools. Considering the sensitivity of refugee issue, this activity is not visible in our calendarto volunteers who have not taken the Meet & Greet course listed on our calendar. The course orients you to the issues facing these young people and how best our volunteers can work with them.