A bowl of rice and a bread roll may not seem like much to most people, but for people in need and elderly people living alone, rice and bread not only satisfy their physical needs but also give them a sense of warmth. A group of volunteers from our Chai Wan Elderly Neighbourhood Centre called the “Super GoldenAge Volunteer Team” has been feeding the needy in their neighbourhood since 2016. This year, their selfless contributions to society not only won applause from the public; their efforts also won them the Group Spirit Award at the Hong Kong Spirit Awards 2019!
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The Super GoldenAge Volunteer Team is made up of members from our Chai Wan Neighbourhood Elderly Centre. Even though the youngest member of the team is over 70 years old, their age does not stop them from serving others with passion and culinary skill. While some members of the team are responsible for food preparation, others collect surplus bread from a nearby bakery for needy seniors in the neighbourhood.
One 73-year-old team member, Ting-Chung, talked about her volunteer experiences. “Most of us are retired and some of us are housewives who received no formal education when we were young. That said, we want to let everyone know that aging does not mean you become useless or a burden on society. We must constantly strive for self-improvement, and that’s why we enjoy serving seniors with our home cooking and bread – we want to give those seniors a sense of warmth. I remember an elderly diner once thanked us for our cooking and said it tasted just like her dearly departed mother’s cooking. That was a very heart-warming moment for me.”
![YMCA Volunteers Embody YMCA Volunteers Embody](/sites/ymca_main/files/newsletter/201909-249/03.jpg)
Celestine Chow Ching Yi, the YMCA Programme Secretary who set up the team, said that the volunteer recruitment process was comparatively smooth and easy, since most of the volunteers were quite eager to participate in the programme. “They have had a strong sense of collaboration from the start. For instance, if one team member is unable to perform a particular task, another team member will immediately take on her duties. If one cooking team needs help, say, preparing cooking materials the night before a delivery, the other cooking team is always willing to help them out.”
Though most of the volunteers are women, there are also a few men. Celestine continues, “A bakery in Heng Fa Chuen was willing to donate some surplus bread, and one night there were over 70 bread rolls. This was a tough job for our volunteers to collect them in such hot weather. I was touched to hear that one of our male volunteers found the task quite meaningful. He told his wife that he was about to bring happiness to 70 needy seniors as he had collected 70 bread rolls.”
Although the Centre stopped running the elderly canteen at the beginning of this year, this doesn’t mean that the volunteer team is now unemployed – far from it! Celestine related how the team is now making soup for needy seniors instead of cooking meals, and working with volunteers from other elderly centres to serve even more seniors living alone and elderly couples and their families.
Celestine concluded by saying that the Chai Wan Neighbourhood Elderly Centre will continue to improve its services. The Centre also recently added a shower room to provide more seniors in need with access to essential bathing amenities.
We are incredibly proud of the Super GoldenAge Volunteer Team and congratulate them on receiving their Hong Kong Spirit Award 2019. The awards are jointly organized by the South China Morning Post and Sino Group.
Please
click here to view the Super GoldenAge
Volunteer Team’s introductory video.