The biennial Outstanding Volunteer Awards Presentation Ceremony is organised by the Welfare Council to recognize volunteers, corporate volunteers and group volunteers’ enthusiasm and efforts in social services. This year, the 21st Outstanding Volunteer Awards Presentation Ceremony was held on 11th March at the Assembly Hall, 4/F, North Tower, YMCA of Hong Kong, where Mr Stephen Sui, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, was invited as the officiating guest and 86 awards were presented. Among the awardees, the eldest volunteer was a 92-year-old granny while the youngest one was a girl of 15 years old. Last year, the Welfare Council dedicated 150,000 hours to a turnout of over 310,000 individuals. An impressive crowd of nearly 200 volunteers, representatives from corporate volunteers and group volunteers and guests attended the award presentation ceremony. The theme of ceremony was “Go the extra mile”, which aimed to encourage one to do small things with great love. At the ceremony, 3 “Honorary Awards” and 51 “Gold Awards” were presented to individual volunteers, while 18 corporations and 14 organisations were awarded the “Corporate Caring Awards” and “Organisation Caring Awards” respectively. Gold Award winners have accumulated more than 50 service hours over the past two years, and volunteers who received the Gold Award for 3 times were granted the Honorary Award. Mr Stephen Sui, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Loewe Lee, Executive Committee Member of the Welfare Council and Dr Jane Lee, Director of the Welfare Council, presented awards to awardees of different categories.
In his speech, Mr Stephen Sui, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, acknowledged the Welfare Council’s dedication to promoting voluntary services and grooming volunteers. He also affirmed volunteers for their contributions to society and organisations including the Welfare Council for their passion for motivating voluntary services so that volunteerism has established itself in all sectors of the community. “Different individuals, families, organisations and corporations made up a team of 26,700 volunteers of the Welfare Council, with the youngest one at the age of 6 and the eldest one being over 90. As a platform with individual volunteers serving over 100,000 hours and group volunteers dedicating over 30,000 hours, the Welfare Council has the ability to mobilize its volunteers in a large and significant scale,” he added. Mr Stephen Sui, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, also delivered his heartfelt gratitude to the volunteers for their silent endeavours and expressed his well-wishes for the Welfare Council’s work and achievements.
Dr Jane Lee, Director of the Welfare Council, applauded corporate and group volunteers for exercising social responsibility, serving the community amid hectic schedules and sharing love and care with the underprivileged groups. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Lee said, “The Welfare Council has never ceased to promote volunteerism and nurture volunteers. Through the biennial event, we have the chance to recognize volunteers’ selfless effort. Every year, the number of volunteers have grown: the number of volunteers up from 15,000 volunteers last year to 16,000 volunteers this year. The volunteers also produced excellent results: they dedicated 150,000 hours to a turnout of over 310,000 individual.” Dr Lee promised that the Welfare Council would join hands with Hong Kong people to bring warmth and care to the service users and create a harmonious society with various sectors.
During the ceremony, a video documenting thoughts of a number of volunteers was screened, which adhered to the spirit of “Go the extra miles”. A kind-hearted Chinese medicine practitioner, Mr Lam who pays regular home visits to elders living in Ping Chau and provides free medical consultation to children residing in villages in remote areas on mainland China, also joined the ceremony. He bought the guests special massage wards and delivered love and care to guests by teaching them a five-step massage.