Time to Give: A charity art auction by Robert Lam and Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation
In line with the season for contemporary arts, Time to Give is a collaborative charity art auction between renowned photographer and artist Robert Lam and the Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation.
Hosted by Robert Lam at his eclectic art-filled office-cum-showroom, about 30 vibrant contemporary artworks will be exhibited throughout the venue for the charity art auction organised by Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation. It will be a rare glimpse into the imaginative world of Robert Lam and his artistic voyage.
No. 2. Title: Eve apple (915x1220mm)
Unlike the stylistic photography of Lam’s earlier works, he now delves into combining photo technique and digital system. The idea behind the collection is to combine basic art theory with numeric digital technique, and merging photography and painting together in exploring colours and movements.
Robert Lam next to art piece No. 1. Title: Sunday (1210x1510mm)
“The opportunity was a very nice surprise”, Lam says. A few months ago, after having created several pieces within the collection, Lam was looking for someone to give the artworks to. “Coincidentally, I met with Professor Alice Chiu, a very good friend of mine, and we had started to discuss doing collaborative work for her Sheen Hok Charity Foundation. The title of the charity art auction is Time to Give and I am prepared to give”, explains Lam.
No.13. Title: Famous Singer (1200x900mm)
The charity art auction will welcome a community of star-studded guests and the city’s creme dela creme of the high society art lovers, including Professor Chiu’s personal friends and supporters of the Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation.
No. 5. Title: Flower Dance (915x1220mm)
The art pieces are specifically for the charity art auction Time to Give. The money raised will go to Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation to help Hong Kong special education students and their families under the The Sheen Hok Rising Sun Project.
No.14. Title: Art Deco (915x1220mm)
“I was so excited and happy when I heard that Robert was looking to give his art pieces to someone. I really needed the support from different sectors, companies and friends. In fact, some of my friends have been supporting me to help the youth in need. In addition to providing medical assistance, I hope to improve them in education and art and increase professional training, so that they will have skills to improve family incomes in the future. I think this is the right way and right direction for our foundation to contribute to society”, says Professor Chiu. “There are many people who require our help that I believe charity services will never end. I will not consider stopping, and it will never be enough.”
The private viewing will be held at the Robert Lam Colour – Photobition on 16 & 17 August 2022. All 30 art pieces within the collection will then go to auction the following day on 18 August.
International Women’s Day: 8 influential Hong Kong women breaking the bias
Managing teams at work, orchestrating change, leading the way, breaking the glass ceiling in a very male-dominated world, making key decisions, inspiring young women along the way – empowered women, empower women – truly, no better time to reflect on those words than today, on International Women’s Day. With the theme #breakthebias, Gafencu shines the spotlight on eight influential, powerful women who are truly working to make their fields more open, inclusive and accessible to all…
On a crusade to fight the burgeoning rise of single-use plastics, Yolanda Choy has made it her mission to to educate the public on the environmental damage of single-use plastics and hopes to create a greener, more sustainable future. With roots in fashion and Marketing and PR, she connects with corporates to provide solutions for sustainability and encourages lifestyle change on both the individual and community level through campaigns that promote sustainability initiatives. She also co-founded Central Weddings, a luxury bridal salon.
“Education plays a big part, because, by and large, many people might be throwing away things that contaminate the entire collection bin unrecyclable and sent to a landfill instead…We educate people different ideas on how they can make a difference to create a better, more sustainable world for future generations.”
For the thousands of foodies and discerning diners in Hong Kong, there is high chance you have dined in one of Yenn Wong’s many establishments that embrace an array of culinary concepts. As the owner of multinational F&B company, JIA Group, the continuously growing vibrant and diverse gourmet flavours have Yenn Wong to thank for. Especially, during strict social distancing rules, JIA Group has spearheaded bringing fine-dining and Michelin-star menus to the comfort of patrons’ homes through its digital platform JIA Everywhere.
“We pride ourselves on providing a range of gourmet experience, ranging from casual to fine dining, all of which place equal emphasis on the quality of the cuisine and the dining environment. Our outlets not only aim to satiate a customer’s appetite, but also deliver a visual feast. It’s a formula that resonates with our guests and one I take a great deal of pride in.”
Brand and Product Transformation Director of Plaza Premium Group
It’s no secret that aviation has been the hardest hit global industry in the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, but Mei Mei Song exemplifies what rising from adversity looks like. She took the tumultuous Covid period to revamp, regroup and reinvent the brand, making travel better with initiatives such as opening their first pay-per-use lounge in Africa, introducing pet-friendly services, valet, baggage-wrapping, buggy and a plethora of other convenient amenities at key international airports, and tapping into new markets such as train lounges in China and launching their first zero carbon footprint lounge in Helsinki. Song is creating a new benchmark of sustainable, convenient, premium hospitality in the travel sector – her team aims to increase their current 230-plus global lounges to be at 550 by the year 2025.
“Founding a successful business is not enough. How you conduct that business and the strength of your vision and values are key.”
With a degree from Cornell University and a masters from Harvard University and stints in prestigious global design firms like Herzog & de Meuron and OMA, Betty Ng is Hong Kong’s leading architect and has already amassed an impressive body of work and founded her own Hong Kong-based firm, COLLECTIVE Studio, all before her late 30s. A diverse amount of local and international work can be credited to her name including the “Things, Spaces, Interactions” exhibition space in the new M+ museum, all four Kapok lifestyle stores, and is currently working New World Development on their twin tower and commercial podium project in Cheung Sha Wan. Having only started COLLECTIVE Studio six years ago, they have already been awarded a MIPIM Asia ‘Best Futura Project’ Award in 2021, for the King Lam Street commercial development. Betty strongly believes in giving back and inspiring the next generation of architects through her work, she teaches at the prestigious Chinese University of Hong Kong, and hopes that more young women will follow in the future.
“Personally, I don’t think too much about whether I am female or male – I am an architect. I focus on the designs I create. In return, fortunately, I am surrounded by people who see me for what I bring to the table rather than my gender. I hope to inspire the younger generation and remind them that in 2022, disrupting the state of play is certainly possible.”
For a girl discouraged by her father to work, Helen Ma blazed a trail in fashion, beauty and catering. After a slew of successful businesses which range from launching a magazine, Helen Ma Loves Muse, running a successful F&B venture and introducing the French-influenced Japanese luxury skincare brand Evidens de Beauté to Hong Kong – the style guru and beauty goddess has done it all. But no venture comes close to the gratification of being a mum to 9-year-old, Shymie. Currently running her lifestyle e-commerce platform, One Plus One, Ma is eyeing yet another successful, quality lifestyle venture with the idea of creating healthy food, sustainable trends, home styling and engaging experiences. Her advice to the modern-day career woman juggling family and home:
“Balancing a thriving career and a blissful family will take too much of your strength and resilience. Try to live guilt-free [and] happy.”
Having started her career teaching from Zhejiang University’s Faculty of Science, followed by a stint in its School of Management, before pursuing other passions such as designing Chinese jewellery, and following her lifelong passion for beauty and skincare by leading the DS Regenerative Medicine business in the field of regenerative beauty and medicine. Recently, she has gone back to her teaching roots and started a new youth education venture to raise awareness of artificial intelligence for young minds. Her company, DS Regenerative Medicine was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2017.
“Our company currently helps more than 200 primary and secondary schools across Hong Kong, training them to develop requisite skills within this sphere. We also host activities to increase awareness and encourage development, be it annual competitions or even international conferences. I believe it’s something that fills an unmet need, and that’s very meaningful to me.”
Daughter of Lam Kin-ming and successor of Big Honor Entertainment, Veronica Lam is an innovative promoter of musical talent, even co-founding Hardbit Music with her brother, to put a new light on alternative music and DJ events in the city. Despite the hard hit that the entertainment industry took throughout the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, her response has been confident and resilient. She launched B.Live app to bring the experience of live music and theatrical shows to audiences in the safety of their won home; allowing people to enjoy music while interacting in chat rooms. All the while pursuing her own passion in photography work through VL Visuals.
“At a time when in-person musical events are all but non-existent, we have to keep creating new spaces for musical acts within the entertainment industry. B.Live is a streaming app that offers viewers multiple angles during broadcasted events, so they can decide how they take in their favourite acts.”
A major in biochemistry at the University of California, Christal Leung had a natural inclination towards the science of beauty. Growing up, her mum ran a beauty centre where she spent her weekends. Seeing her mum’s approach to skincare – customising products with fresh fruits and vegetables – and watching the way she brought joy and confidence to her customers, sparked a keen interest in beauty. Skin Need, her hugely successful line of skincare with an exceptionally attractive, minimalist packaging was launched with the same childhood passion of simplifying beauty, customising products according to the need of the skin and bringing joy from within. A firm believer in sustainability, clean products and bespoke products, Christal credits her accomplishments to a loving family, a brilliant team and the loyal customers.
“Our philosophy evolved from the experiences and skincare problems that my mother encountered over her career, and how she felt beauty products should actually be addressing those needs.”
For most of us, Christmas is a time of feasting and drinking, family and fun, shopping and social obligations, wrapping and later opening presents. The instinct of gifting is pure, but the pandemic has made the season colder than usual for thousands of Hong Kongers whose lives have been upended. Due the Covid-induced economic downturn, it won’t be such a merry time for nearly 17 percent of households who were rendered unemployed or underemployed in 2020 – that’s 1.1 million people who need some loving support.
Homeless in Hong Kong
An overnight headcount by seven NGOs in Hong Kong estimated that more than 1,500 people are sleeping on the streets, though the true figure is thought to be much higher. This is a 22 percent increase during the pandemic, and most will spend Christmas, the merriest time of the year, alone and without shelter. It’s not just adults who are affected – in 2018, Hong Kong had more than 235,000 children living in poverty, and today one child in four under the age of 16 is not getting three meals a day.
If materialism is the Christmas devil, charity is the Christmas angel, and two years into the pandemic, giving back means more now than ever before. Thousands of people are doing their bit by pledging time or money to the 9,000-plus charitable organisations in the city working on worthy initiatives. To help you give generously, we’ve prepared a handy guide of charities that need your support.
“If materialism is the Christmas devil, charity is the Christmas angel, and two years into the pandemic, giving back now means more than ever”
Hope for Children
(Photo courtesy of Box of Hope)
Founded in 2008 by Nicole Woolhouse and Harriet Cleverly, Box of Hope has a simple mission at year’s end – collecting boxes with everyday essentials, toys and books for children who might not receive anything at Christmas. As charity director Sian Taylor says, “The aim is to give hope to a child who has never had a gift.” In the year prior to Covid, they distributed more than 32,500 boxes to underprivileged youngsters in Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. Last year HK$1.1 million was raised, but with the poverty rate at a 12-year high in Hong Kong, demand has drastically increased, leaving thousands facing their first Christmas without any aid.
(Photo courtesy of Chi Heng Foundation)
Donating your dollars to the Chi Heng Foundation, founded in 1998 by Chung To, is another way to feel spiritually uplifted. It’s one of few charities working on providing long-term, holistic support to minors diagnosed with HIV or AIDS in Hong Kong and mainland China. Despite extraordinary medical strides in treatment since the ’80s, people living with the virus continue to face stigma and disdain on a daily basis.
Chi Heng, which means “wisdom in action”, has worked tirelessly to change those misguided assumptions, empowering more than 29,000 poverty-stricken, HIV+ students through educational courses, vocational training, financial assistance and emotional counselling. The foundation funded orphans, vulnerable children and youth programs to the tune of HK$31 million in 2019, and with an administrative spending cap of 20 percent, you can be assured that your donation is not lost on middle men.
Food for Hungry
(Photo courtesy of Food Angel)
One in three elderly people in the city can’t afford to feed themselves, yet more than 1,000 tonnes of perfectly usable food goes to waste on a daily basis from hotels, restaurants, wet markets, food production and the like.
The Hong Kong government was slow to form a food waste strategy – publishing a blueprint to reduce wastage only in 2013 as the three local landfills approached capacity – thus the work of charities like Food Angel and Foodlink Foundation, which redistribute surplus food, becomes vital. Plugging the holes in the food chain, they supply more than three million meal boxes annually to underprivileged communities.
(Photo courtesy of Foodlink)
Founded in 2011 by the Bo Charity Foundation, Food Angel rescues more than 35 tonnes of food each week and supplies some 15,000 fresh nutritious meals, while distributing another 9,000 meal boxes per day across the SAR. The foundation raised HK$71.5 million in the fiscal year ending in March 2020 and served nearly two million meals. In tough times like today, the demand is even higher, and December and January are usually the busiest months. Working with more than 200 charity partners and operating through seven community centres, Food Angel is staffed predominantly by volunteers and welcomes anyone able to help serve in their kitchens.
Kind Kitchen
Homelessness is serious issue and becomes even more dire as temperatures drop. Just HK$6,000 can keep one homeless person in a shelter for a month. That’s how easy it is to tackle the problem, that is if we collectively decided to make a difference. Founded by long-time resident of Hong Kong, Jeff Rotmeyer in 2017, local charity ImpactHK, dedicated to providing hot meals and shelter to the homeless as well as those who have lost their jobs in pandemic-induced lay-offs, is striving hard to help the needy. Working through a range of services to help people settle in safe spaces, whilst restoring their health and wellbeing, ImpactHK strives to aid around 425 people each week with basic life essentials.
(Photo courtesy of Rosewood Hong Kong)
Acutely aware of the challenges this noble endeavour, Rosewood Hong Kong has partnered with ImpactHK to provide meals and shelter to the homeless as well as find solutions to aid an independent livelihood. Through its year-long multi-tiered approach, the hotel will give back by sponsoring a full-time Kind Kitchen (ImpactHK’s new kitchen in Tai Kok Tsui) staff trainee for an entire year. They also aim to lend culinary expertise in providing cooking workshops every two months for the food and beverage staff of Kind Kitchen. That’s not all, in the spirit of giving, they will be donating HK$1 per guest dining at any of their seven packed-restaurants from 20 to 31 December. In fact, even if you purchase Christmas hampers from the hotel, 5% of the proceeds go directly to the charitable organization. From January 2022, Rosewood will also deliver a total of 3,600 freshly cooked meal boxes for an entire year on a bi-weekly basis, the meals will be prepared and packaged by the highest standards at the hotel’s kitchen. Call it the next level hospitality but in trying times that’s the need of the hour.
Mind Matters
At any point of time, one in seven Hong Kongers suffers from a mental health issue. While we have journeyed far in tackling the stigma attached to mental illness and its lack of funding, a long road remains to be travelled. According to the mental health charity Mind Hong Kong, even in 2021, more than 75 percent of sufferers do not seek professional help.
(Photo courtesy of KELY Support Group)
Stress levels of young people have been severely impacted by the ongoing pandemic. Student suicide is at an eight-year high in the city, with at least 23 youngsters tragically killing themselves in the 2019-20 school year. Given this scenario, KELY Support Groupplays a crucial role, providing mental health support both in schools and the lives of young people – just as it has done for the past three decades. Founded in 1991 by Samantha Martin, a young woman overcoming drug addiction, KELY is an acronym for ‘Kids Everywhere Like You’. It raised more than HK$7 million last year, using donations to counsel youths aged from 14 to 24, focusing on drug and alcohol awareness, mental health and wellbeing, and positive youth development.
“Hong Kong certainly has no dearth of billionaires and philanthropists, and our ordinary citizens have a charitable heart, too”
Hong Kong certainly has no dearth of billionaires and philanthropists, and our ordinary citizens have a charitable heart, too. The SAR once ranked highly at 20th in the World Giving Index, though in terms of donations it slipped back to 43rd out of the 114 countries surveyed in 2021. The number of local people volunteering this year to support charitable endeavours was shown to be wanting though, so let’s rally in the holiday spirit this month and make a difference. Knowing that your gift – whether it’s through cash or time – will lessen some suffering is a wonderful feeling to have.
Covid has affected many lives and businesses in the city across different demographics but many might not realize that local charities have also taken a huge hit during this trying time. With the effects of the pandemic and due to social distancing regulations, it has made them vulnerable even more vulnerable as charities have had to cancel volunteer programs and fundraisers. The closure of restaurants has also put a hamper on daily donations to charities that feed the needy. Nevertheless, these charity organizations continue to push for change and serve the different social needs of the underprivileged.Image from ImpactHK
ImpactHK
The pandemic has left many people out of a job and pushed some to sleep on the streets. ImpactHK, however, is one of, if not the only, highly active charities that are making an impact in the lives of the disenfranchised and homeless in Hong Kong. Founder, Jeff Rotmeyer, has long advocated for children with down syndrome with his first charity, Love 21 Foundation, and the social movement turned registered charity organization, ImpactHK. Rotmeyer has long pushed for the kindness and visibility of the homeless people he calls his friends, by providing them a safe house, free laundry, job opportunities, haircuts and more importantly, kindness, with the support of his active volunteers and staff. The organization has been bold in taking on the most difficult issues and overcoming hurdles in alleviating the homeless issue in the city by constantly setting up new programmes and initiatives to not only help underprivileged communities but offer volunteers a hands-on opportunity to get involved and make a difference.
This Christmas, the charity has organized an art exhibition, Perception 2020 Art Show, that showcases pieces from six different artists at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre between December 16 and 21
Contact: www.impacthk.org
Box of Hope
With school closures, limited overseas travel and shipping barriers, Box of Hope has experienced some struggles in following through on its annual charity project which delivers over 30,000 boxes of donations from local school children and organizations to children in poverty across Hong Kong and Asia, leaving the children even more in need this year. Nonetheless, co-founder and director, Sian Taylor, is persistent to serve children in need and their families by delivering over 200 boxes of supplies across town. Residents can also spread the joy this Christmas season by participating at the “White Christmas Village” at ELEMENTS. The lavish West Kowloon shopping mall has partnered up with the charity in a “Box of Hope” donation campaign from now until 3 January. For every HK$250 donation, two boxes of gifts will be made in the same amount and be given to children in need. Contact: www.boxofhope.org
Foodlink foundation
Foodlink Foundation, founded by Vanessa Hwang and directed by her daughter, Robin Hwang, is a local charity that organizes food runs to deliver meals to individuals, children and families living in shelters, street-sleepers, asylum seekers, the unemployed and the elderly. It is one of the local charities that took a hard hit due to the current pandemic. Social distancing regulations led to several food and beverage establishments to close their doors which caused the charity to lose 70% of food donations. Regardless, of the struggles the organization has faced, they continue to push through with their objective to feed the less fortunate in a recent partnership with DBS in setting up a Faster Payment System (FPS) so people can efficiently and conveniently donate on the organization’s website.
Contact: www.foodlinkfoundation.org
CDMF Carol Singing Festival raises city’s spirits for a good cause
The 10th successful iteration of the Child Development Matching Fund (CDMF)’s annual Carol Singing Festival came to a rousing close as students from the prestigious Harrow International School sang at the One International Finance Centre (IFC) Concourse this month.
The event, which aims to raise awareness and funds for the problems faced by underprivileged youth across the city, saw over HK$100,000 raised for CDMF through the youth performance.
In addition, in the wake of the months-long troubles that have gripped the Fragrant Harbour, the young singers also expressed their love and support for the people of Hong Kong through their vocal talents.
This year, the choir was organised and directed by Christy Yung, a high school student from Harrow International School, along with her classmates ‒ Natalie Tsz and Sammie Zhangas. The 20-student-choir performed seven Christmas carols.
Apart from spreading strong and meaningful messages, the troop did not fail to emphasise on the spirits of Christmas through this event.
CDMF is a charity group that encourages people to invest on matters that will aid the future generations. They believe that “inter-generational poverty” is one of the most significant problems in Hong Kong.
Cancer Fund HK Launches Self Check Pink Revolution 2019 Campaign
This Tuesday, 3 September, within the shopper’s paradise of Festival Walk, Hong Kong Cancer Fund (HKCF) – the city’s largest cancer support organisation and provider of free professional services for cancer patients and family members – launched its Cancer Fund Pink Revolution 2019 campaign.
Aiming to bring awareness to breast cancer education in Hong Kong, HKCF was founded in 1987 by Sally Lo, and will now feature singer and actress Sammi Cheng as the Pink Ambassador for the Cancer Fund Pink Revolution. As a community-focused initiative, HKCF strives to not only educate the community about breast cancer but also to raise funding for women and their families who have been affected by the disease.
Among the guests in attendance were Dr. Janice Tsang a Medical Oncology Specialist and the Founding Convenor of the Hong Kong Breast Oncology Group, and a young breast cancer survivor Queenie – who courageously shared battle with cancer with the crowd. Both women, along with Lo and Cheung encouraged women to be empowered – “Be Smart • Self Check”.
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One in every 15 Hong Kong women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who wish to learn more about Hong Kong Cancer Fund (HKCF) and the Pink Revolution 2019 campaign can visit their website here.
Asia Society Hong Kong hosts annual Arts & Culture Benefit
Asia Society Hong Kong, the city’s go-to destination for all things art and culture-related, invited friends and patrons of the arts to its annual Arts & Culture Benefit last Wednesday. Showcasing the society’s upcoming projects and exhibitions, guests began their evening atop of the centre’s rooftop garden for cocktails before heading into the art-themed dinner, which was created exclusively by AMMO‘s Chef Cyrus So, within the JC Hall .
So began an action-packed evening of entertainment, featuring performances from soprano singer Jasmine Law and pianist Linda Yim, a live auction showcasing rare porcelain plates by artist Yoshitomo Nara, the opportunity to win a private tour with teamLab and lunch in Tokyo, and more, with all funds going towards future programmes for the centre.
Big Give-Aways: What are the tell-tale signs that even philanthropy doesn’t come free?
The typical ultra-high net worth (UHNW) philanthropist donates some US$25 million to sundry good causes over the course of their lifetime. While it’s a huge sum, for the vast majority, it’s often way less than 10 percent of their total assets. Even so, it’s an act of altruism, a worthy disinterested gesture in a world where such acts of kindness are rare indeed, right? Well…
At a time when everything from the media (social and otherwise) to celebrity and from fashion to ethnic faction has been weaponised, co-opted by causes of various worth and retooled in line with what reality really isn’t (or shouldn’t be), is it perhaps folly to think philanthropy could remain immune?
Pinpoint Philanthropy
Gone are the days of laissez-faire largesse. Today’s more diligent dosh-dispensers want to know exactly where what they are giving is going. In line with this, corporations are far less inclined to sprinkle strings-free sums across the communities in their immediate vicinity, topping up the funds of local schools or making the bank balances of proximate hospices a little healthier. Instead, such funding is being funnelled towards foundations dedicated to facilitating said corporation’s long-term goals.
In the case of Microsoft and Toyota, for instance, this has seen the two high-tech behemoths steer all their corporate social responsibility (CSR) cash towards backing the kind of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational programmes set to churn out would-be workers with just the right skills to staff their future production lines.
The Charity Vote
Not so long ago, Capitalism with a Conscience was seen as likely to end all the world’s ills, with the wealth trickling down from the globally most-haves to the far more frequently-found most-needs set to Make Poverty History, while leaving no super-richee with an unsalved conscience. That’s what it pretty much said on the press release anyway.
In practice, under the guise of giving, many of the world’s most well-heeled have actually diverted their divestibles towards steering the ship of state in the direction that best suits their longterm personal profitability. Hence, it’s lobbyists, candidates and oftopaque ‘think tanks’ that find themselves in receipt of million-dollar donations rather than Nepal’s least-well resourced leprosy alleviation facility or the West Minsk Home for the Physically Challenged and The Terminally Crotchety.
One of the issues here is that, where once think tanks were funded to identify and solve the world’s most pressing problems, now they’re more likely to be bankrolled to churn out bogus studies, which either align with the aims of their benefactors or counter the claims of those that don’t. No doubt, a few quid also goes to keeping “wealth disparity” off the must-resolve list of legislators everywhere.
Benefishy
Back in 2015, the infamous Panama Papers became inexplicably public, giving the wider world an unexpected insight into how one Central American legal firm – Mossack Fonseca – had done way more than most when it came to fabricating bogus bestowals on the part of the fabulously wealthy. With the ultimate self-serving beneficiaries buried within a labyrinthine legalish structure, not only could the mega-rich have their cakes and eat them, they could render all such analogous comestibles wholly tax-deductible.
Fast forward four years, 23 jurisdictions have jointly recovered some US$1.2 billion in sneakily sequestered taxes, while many money-laundering miscreants are now settling into serious stretches of penal servitude and Mossack Fonesca is no more. A practice curtailed? The little smart money still in circulation is not being wagered on that, with the publication of the British Virgin Island Volumes, the Luxembourg Letters or the Guernsey Grimoires almost daily anticipated.
Ego-nomics
So, is all philanthropy really nothing but fancily packaged fraud, with the donor and the beneficiary, if not as one, in all likelihood joined at the metaphorical hip? Despite the old adage, can money actually buy you everything – respect, gratitude, your own way and even redemption – you could possibly crave? Well, as perhaps a tiny hint of consolation, when it comes to redemption, at least, the tide may be turning, even if only by a trickle.
Just recently, for instance, a charity dedicated to providing free education to impoverished Haitians sent back a US$100,000 cheque to Robert Kraft, the 77-year-old owner of the New England Patriots football team, who is currently facing trial on two charges of soliciting prostitution. Clearly not wanting to be tainted by the funds nor to play any part in restoring Kraft’s respectability, the head of the charity admonished: “We cannot do good by doing bad. The end cannot justify the means.”
Despite such small victories, though, the world of philanthropy is far murkier than it might first appear. It is, of course, possible to argue that, no matter what the true motive, doing good is still doing good, and should the donor and the beneficiary both benefit, well that’s hardly the end of the world. But it’s harder to find a plus, when the supposed recipient is either mythical or merely the cheque-signer themselves with a curly wig and big glasses.
While we can all nod at the home-spun wisdom that “charity begins at home”, it’s an axiom that becomes all the less palatable when that home turns out to actually be a second or even third home, with a swimming pool, a helipad and a taxman kept very much in the dark.
For the full article, please find the latest issue of Gafencu’s print magazine or the PDF version on the Gafencu app. Download the app from the GooglePlay Storeor AppleApp Store.
Asia Society Hong Kong Centre Presents the Arts & Culture Benefit
The Asia Society Hong Kong is hosting its annual benefit event to celebrate and support the arts initiatives of the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre.
In what is promised to be a truly unforgettable night, the society will showcase upcoming art projects from its centre, and gather together patrons of the arts and guests to raise money for the programs to come.
Kicking the night off atop of the Roof Garden with a cocktail or two are two spring exhibitions A Story of Light: Hon Chi-fun and Yukaloo by James Turrell, then to follow an art-themed dinner in the JC Hall, and the of course, the true purpose of the night – the auction.
With the auction now open online and with over 15 items to bid on this year, here are some of the most attractive lots. Happy Bidding!
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Those keen to bid on the auction items can do so here.
When: Wed, 5 Jun 2019
Time: 6:05pm – 10 pm
Where: Jockey Club Hall, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty
Tickets: Asia Society
The One 2019 Gala Dinner honours local and international humanitarians
On Wednesday, 8 May, the Holiday Inn Golden Mile hotel‘s ballroom was transformed into a space for celebration for the eighth edition of The One 2019 Gala Dinner and was attended by nearly 400 of the city’s celebrities, socialites and industry leaders. The evening saw nearly HK$2 million in prize money awarded to winners and runner-ups.
Founded by Hong Kong entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr. David Harilela, The One annually acknowledges the ultimate unsung heroes from the 852 and beyond, awarding one with a grand cash prize of HK$200,000, and the two runner-ups with HK$80,000. The prize money is then used to bolster the humanitarian’s efforts and expand on the existing service projects they lead.
Taking home the grand-prize and honour as The One this year was Maria Law, a single mother to an intellectually disabled daughter. Ms. Law operates the Holy Café in Cheung Shan Wan, where she employs her daughter as well as other individuals with intellectual disabilities, giving them the chance to be employed and trained in restaurant service. The runner-ups were Chow Shu Tak, a street hawker in Jordan who provides care to the homeless and intellectually-disabled, and Nip Yeung Sing, a former businessman, who has developed programmes for Hong Kong’s elderly including funeral services and food distribution.