YMCA 2024 April Perspective
22-04-2024
Cover Story
Hong Kong Secondary School Mini-Movie Competition 2024 is now open for application!
Acclaimed as "the Oscars of the education sector", Hong Kong Secondary School Mini-Movie Competition 2024 is now open for application. Participants can create their own mini movies to express their concern for society and hopes for the future. This year's competition echoes the four pillars of the YMCA Vision 2030 established by the World Alliance of YMCAs (WAY) in 2022, namely "Community Wellbeing", "Meaningful Work", "Sustainable Planet", and "Just World", with "Our 2030" as the theme of the competition. Participating teams are invited to produce mini movies based on the four development directions of "YMCA Vision 2030" to share their views and aspirations on topics ranging from community development, career planning, learning and education, sustainable development to peace and justice.
To equip participants with storytelling skills, the Association invited Mr Louis Cheung, a renowned publicity ambassador, to demonstrate his acting skills and Director Jack Ng, who has recently won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film this year for "A Guilty Conscience", to share with participants the essential storytelling tips and techniques, thereby empowering participants to "tell stories with their works".
Publicity Ambassador Louis Cheung teaches participants his acting skills
With an extensive career spanning from child star to actor, Louis combined his formal training at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a workshop where he taught participants tips on how to understand scripts and characters, and different ways of interpreting the roles. Louis advised students on the importance of exploring things and discovering details in their daily lives before filming in their daily lives before filming, so that they can immerse themselves in their roles smoothly when filming. He also encouraged students to actively participate in film production competitions, which can be a great opportunity to hone their skills. Instead of stressing too much about winning, the most important thing is to "gain experience". To make a great movie enjoyed by the audience, the key is to not give up easily, keeping the passion alive to live up to one's own dreams.
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Hong Kong Film Award-winning Director Jack Ng shares his experience on constructing ideas
This year's competition has also invited Jack, winner of Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film, to be the judge of this year's competition. In the recent workshop, he shared the theories and techniques of constructing ideas for film storytelling, and taught the formula for storytelling called "Nine Beats" and the basic plot structure of "Four-act structure", which enabled the participants to become more skillful in filming both long and short films. Jack also revealed the tips and techniques of storytelling, screenwriting, casting, and filming, and shared his journey starting from a script supervisor and scriptwriter to debut director creating a billion-dollar box office. He encouraged participants to treasure the opportunity and actively participate in the competition. "If you have a story in mind that you want to express, don't let it go to waste. Just film it and speak out through the mini movies", he said.
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Hong Kong Secondary School Mini-Movie Competition 2024
Application Deadline: 31 May 2024 (Friday)
For details and application: www.ymca.org.hk/minimovie2024
Enquiries: 2857 7700 (School Social Work Department)
What's News
Jockey Club "The Year of Go!" Series Now in Action
With the generous donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, YMCA has joined hands with different organisations to launch the Jockey Club "The Year of Go!" Series, an 18-month programme aimed at serving local young people aged 12 to 17 by encouraging them to go out and discover something new and exciting.
The programme features three main activities: 1) Go! Propose! is an event where young people are invited to submit their very own "Project of the Year", and the top 10 projects selected by youths through a judging and voting process will receive funding to realise their dreams; 2) Go! Voucher! provides 60,000 young people with HK$400 e-vouchers to encourage them to participate in a cultural, sports and arts programme with their peers to explore their hobbies and interests; 3) Go! Experience! offers five themed programmes including team sports, media production, performance, outdoor adventure and arts and crafts training to over 15,000 young people.
A series of outdoor challenges will be offered free of charge to no less than 3,000 young people, including abseiling, high event adventure, backwoods cook, diving, canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding and more.
For the latest update, please follow us on Instagram at ymca.goadventure
For enquiries, please contact Mr. Lok-wai Ho at 9667 6832.
The Cityview honoured with Agoda Golden Circle Award and Caring Company Logo
The Cityview has been awarded the 2023 Agoda Golden Circle Award by Agoda, the world's leading online travel service platform. Since 2009, Agoda has been selecting a handful of the best partners worldwide each year in recognition of their excellent and world-class service to customers, the ultimate in customer satisfaction, and the seamless and successful partnership built with Agoda over the past year. The Cityview is honoured to receive this recognition from Agoda, and looks forward to providing an unforgettable stay for all guests.
In addition, The Cityview has been awarded the Caring Company Logo 2023-2024 by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service for the first time, in recognition of the hotel's commitment to fulfilling its corporate social responsibility with its partners in the past year in the three areas of Caring for the Community, Caring for the Employees and Caring for the Environment.
Featured Programme
YM Buzzer Hong Kong Youth 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament 2024
With full support from Tencent Charity Foundation and Gaw Capital People's Place, the YM Buzzer Hong Kong Youth 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament 2024 Final and Sports Carnival are coming soon. The event offers an opportunity for the public to try out new sports and enjoy the exciting basketball matches at the venue. Come and join via online registration. A limited quota will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.
Date: 1 May 2024 (Wednesday, Public Holiday)
Time: 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm for the Prize Presentation Ceremony. Participants will receive a towel souvenir)
Venue: Kai Yip Recreation Centre (Rooftop of the Kai Yip Mall car park, 18 Kai Yip Road, Kowloon Bay)
Free Stalls: Mölkky, roundnet, street workout, cornhole, dodgebee, reaction light, pilates, floor curling
Registration Form: https://forms.gle/Kc7cACh7LHfhMtat5
Enquiries: 2642 9108 (Mr Chung)
Programme Highilghts
"Cycling for Love 2024" - Low Carbon Lifestyle and Holistic Wellness in Practice
Co-organised by YMCA, Yunnan Youth Federation, Kunming Youth Federation, Kunming Youth Volunteers Association , "Cycling for Love 2024" was successfully held in Kunming from 28 March to 2 April.
After four years, the fundraising event " Cycling for Love" made its return this year with the theme of promoting holistic wellness and low carbon lifestyle. More than 80 participants from Hong Kong, mainland China and the United States cycled for about 72 kilometres along Dianchi Lake, the largest plateau freshwater lake in Yunnan Province, passing through scenic spots such as Baofeng Wetland Park, Haiyan Village for sunset spotting, and Nandianchi Wetland Park, to experience the beauty of nature from a close distance.
During the trip, participants took part in a number of activities, including visiting a centre to better understand the importance of the Dianchi Lake to Kunming and its biodiversity; stocking the Dianchi Lake with native carassius auratus to help inhibit the growth of algae for ecological restoration in Dianchi Lake; making woodblock prints inspired by local biological species; mushroom picking, and more. In addition, participants got to enjoy the Yunnan Erkuai dishes with their own utensils, to support sustainable development in action.
Funds raised from the event will be used for environmental projects such as the construction of solar-powered street lamps and the stocking of local fish, in an effort to promote green and low-carbon development.
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Gerontechnology Service Promotion and Experience Day
YMCA InnoTech Movement Working Group organised the "Gerontechnology Service Promotion and Experience Day" in March 2024, which attracted 10 youth volunteers and 10 elders to participate in the event. Apart from learning the use of new media by the youths, the elderly were also allowed to get a taste of the gerontechnology products, so as to promote digital inclusion.
On the two training days in March, professional instructors from Motive Force guided the youth volunteers on the use of virtual reality (VR) equipment, while colleagues from the working group shared their experience and tips on service delivery to the elderly, so that the youth volunteers became well-prepared beforehand. After two days of training, the youth volunteers were all set to introduce the elderly to the gerontechnology products. Apart from the exciting virtual boxing experience through the VR equipment, the volunteers had also arranged sensory games on video games and tablet computers for the participants to enjoy the fun of doing sports in different forms. The event brought together the young volunteers to interact with the elderly and strengthened their confidence in participating in the promotion of digital inclusion within the community.
Chinese YMCA Primary School visits elderly centre
In line with the spirit of service embedded in YMCA's mission of " To serve, not to be served ", Chinese YMCA Primary School encourages its students to be caring of the community. As such, it arranged for the students from the after-school activity group "AI Chess" to visit the Neighbourhood YMCA Po Shek Wu Neighbourhood Elderly Centre on 23 March 2024, where the students volunteered to accompany the elderly to play Chinese chess while chatting with them. Before parting, the students gifted an AI chess machine to the Neighbourhood Elderly Centre on behalf of the school for the elderly to use in their leisure time. The participating primary school students showed their patience and love during the activity, demonstrating the results of intergenerational integration.
YM HAIR Community Volunteer Haircutting Service
Receiving donations from Y-Care's corporate partner, TÜV Rheinland Hong Kong Ltd., YMCA's social enterprise, YM HAIR, offered haircutting services and vouchers to needy grassroots primary school students, families and the elderly in the community from February to March 2024, benefiting 200 individuals.
In addition, supported by donations from our enthusiastic members, YM HAIR deployed stylists to Siu Lam Long Stay Care Home, to give new haircuts to 20 residents. With the participation of young stylists led by YM HAIR's senior stylists, the volunteer haircutting service provided the service users with a sense of compassion from the community and strengthened their ties with the community, while improving the skills of the young stylists and promoting the building of a caring and inclusive community together. All are welcomed to extend your support for our social enterprises and youth employment programmes in serving the local community in need.
YM Support Café on Wheels
Shatin Youth Outreaching Social Work Team and Kwai Tsing & Tsuen Wan Youth Outreaching Social Work Team organised the "YM Support Café on Wheels" for five consecutive days from 12 to 16 March 2024 at a total of 10 locations in Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan and Shatin districts.
Set up in a mobile vehicle by the two outreaching social work teams, the "YM Support Café on Wheels" proactively reached out to more than 1,000 children and youths in the districts, providing community activities such as preliminary mental health assessment, Ombré Mocktail drink, Time out bottle crafting, and venting area, which helped young people express their emotions and alleviate their stress, and publicised the services of the outreaching teams among the community members with information on the avenues of seeking help. More than 400 youths completed the emotional health assessment questionnaire, and the outreaching social workers will contact and follow up with those youths who are in need of emotional support.
ESG Focus
Ever since 2019, the Association has been actively aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, embracing and implementing sound environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. Since 2022, we have also been following “YMCA Vision 2030” to promote sustainability in Hong Kong. In addition to publishing our annual ESG Impact Report, we aim to integrate ESG principles into all aspects of our operations. We will continue to share significant updates regularly with our members in this column.
YMCA receives two awards at the ESG Green Development and Carbon Neutrality Awards 2023
As part of our efforts to bring sustainable positive impact to the community, YMCA is committed to promoting the YMCA 2030 vision and responding to the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all units. Some of the sustainability initiatives include energy management policies to address climate change; strengthened Health Care Professions services to address demographic changes and ageing; high standards of transparent governance to protect the interests of different stakeholders; and the establishment of service guidelines and a reporting mechanism to ensure service quality.
In addition to the promotion of sustainability, the results of our ESG endeavours are presented in the ESG Impact Report published annually. After receiving the ESG Special Recognition Award in TVB ESG Awards 2023, YMCA has recently awarded the "Excellent Sustainable Enterprise-Non-Listed Co (Charity) " and the "Excellent Green Application-Green Project (Charity)" in the am730 ESG Green Development and Carbon Neutrality Awards 2023. YMCA will strive to further its efforts in global sustainability.
PAIN Kick Zone
As city dwellers who often work overtime and frequently perform repetitive motions, we are more susceptible to joint pain or sports injuries that can affect our quality of life. The Association’s Health Care Professions Department is launching a regular monthly column and publishing short articles about self-care. Topics covered will include arthritis, joint pain and self-healing. For more detailed health-related information, please visit our website www.ymca.org.hk/hcp or call 2783 3616 for inquiries.
Flat Feet
Flat feet is a commonly discussed issue. Generally, when we talk about "flat feet," it refers to a low or absent foot arch on the inner side of the foot.
It can be congenital or acquired and be further classified as:
- Flexible (The arch is maintained when the foot is non-weight-bearing but collapses when weight is applied)
- Rigid (The arch collapses regardless of weight-bearing)
Flat feet can lead to intertal rotation of the lower limbs and pelvic tilting forward. There may not be any obvious symptoms initially, but the following problems may arise if it has been left untreated for a prolonged period of time:
- Plantar fasciitis
- Achilles tendonitis
- Lower back and knee pain
The following illustrates an exercise to strengthen foot muscles that helps support the inner arch of the foot:
Short Foot exercise
- Sit on a chair and place both feet flat on the ground.
- To contract the muscles around the inner foot arch, lift the inner arch of your foot while keeping your toes relaxed as shown in the photo. Avoid curling your toes.
- Maintain this position for approximately 3-5 seconds.
- Relax and allow your foot to return to its neutral position.
Repeat the above steps for a total of 10 times, three sets per day.
Discovering YMCA Channel
Promotional Video for Hong Kong Secondary School Mini-Movie Competition 2024
＊Some of the activities were subsidised by the Social Welfare Department
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