The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust will donate HK$110 million to launch a “Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Scheme”, upgrading the facilities of about 250 elderly centres in the city, Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson announced today (21 April) at the annual Community Day race meeting held at Sha Tin Racecourse.
This donation supplements the HK$900 million “Improvement Programme of Elderly Centres” earmarked from the Lotteries Fund in the Government’s latest budget to improve the physical setting of such centres so as to cater for the rapidly ageing population. The total amount of over HK$1 billion will directly enable 200,000 users of the elderly centres to engage more fully in community life, and ultimately benefit all senior citizens in Hong Kong.
Noting that the Club was much more than simply a financial benefactor, Mr Stevenson said the Club had taken an active role in identifying social needs and working with community partners to come up with effective, long-term solutions to the challenges facing Hong Kong.
“Among the biggest of these challenges is of course the city’s ageing population trend,” Mr Stevenson said. “I am very pleased to announce today a new initiative of Jockey Club by approving a HK$110 million donation to launch a ‘Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Scheme’ to upgrade the facilities of about 250 public elderly centres in Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department (SWD). This donation will be used to procure non-standard furniture and equipment that meet the changing needs of senior citizens.”
Guest of honour at this year’s Community Day race meeting, Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said the Government was very grateful for the Trust's generous and substantial donation.
“Elderly centre service is one of the essential community support services at the district or neighbourhood level in facilitating our growing elderly population to ‘age in place’ and pursue ‘active ageing’,” Mr Cheung said. “By giving these centres a facelift and a new lease of life, we hope to encourage more elderly citizens to pursue continuous learning and exercise more, and draw out more ‘hidden elders’ to use the services of these centres and integrate into the community.”
The Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Scheme will be implemented in phases and be completed by 2018, with SWD being responsible for the implementation. Each elderly centre will be allocated a funding from HK$270,000 to HK$600,000, subject to its nature of services. Later, SWD will brief the NGOs operating these elderly centres about details of the Scheme.
The Club’s support will allow the elderly centres to procure non-standard furniture and equipment to meet the needs of the elderly under four themes, namely health promotion, promotion of continuous learning, prevention of dementia, and strengthening home safety and carer support. Examples of these items include gymnastic equipment with rehabilitative functions, tablet PC, musical instruments, photographic tools, facilities for setting up reminiscent corner and cognitive games for preventing dementia, electrical wheelchair, walking frame can be loaned to the elders, as well as facilities for home safety demonstration corners.
The donation, together with the contribution from the Lotteries Fund, which has derived its income mainly from the Club’s Mark Six operation since 1975, will enable users of the elderly centres in Hong Kong to engage more fully in community life, and will ultimately benefit all seniors in the city.
Promoting positive ageing and fostering a positive community attitude towards senior citizens has always been one of the priority funding areas for the Jockey Club Charities Trust. “Over the past 10 years, the Trust has donated more than $940 million to elderly projects, including The Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing in Sha Tin,” Mr Stevenson said. “In 2006, we took the process a stage further by proactively initiating a project called CADENZA, through which we aim to pioneer new approaches to elderly care and change the mindset of the general public towards senior citizens, through various training and public education programmes.”
Other guests of honour at this year’s Community Day race meeting included Executive Council Non-official Member Dr Leong Che-hung, Elderly Commission Chairman Professor Alfred Chan and Director of Social Welfare Patrick Nip, who were joined by over 150 representatives of Government agencies, non-government organisations, academic institutions and other groups.
The Club initiated the annual Community Day race meeting in 2005 as a way of honouring its successful partnerships with NGOs, Government agencies, academic institutions and other groups in building a better Hong Kong. This followed the generous donation of a silver racing trophy, over 150 years old, by Member Tobias Brown, in recognition of the Club's long-standing support for the community. It has since been renamed The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy (please refer to attachment for more details of the Trophy).
Today's winning horse was Bear Hero, ridden by W C Marwing. Mr Cheung presented the trophy to the owner representatives.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is not only one of the world's leading horse racing organisations but also a world top 15 charitable organisation and Hong Kong’s largest community contributor, donating HK$1.6 billion in 2011. It is also a major taxpayer, Hong Kong's single largest by far, generating over HK$15 billion a year for public funds. The Club pioneers technology applications for sporting and betting entertainment, striving for the highest levels of customer service. As a membership club, it is recognised as one of Asia’s most prestigious, with more than 23,000 members. These multifaceted roles make it a well-respected and remarkable organisation, dedicated to its mission of enhancing the quality of life for all Hong Kong people.
Attachment
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy
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Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson (front row, centre); Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung Kin-chung(front row, 3rd left); Executive Council Non-official Member Dr Leong Che-hung (front row, 2nd right); Club Stewards Anthony W K Chow (back row, 3rd left); Dr Donald K T Li (back row, 2nd left); Lester C H Kwok (back row, 3rd right); Michael T H Lee (back row, 2nd right); Philip N L Chen (back row, 1st right); Dr Eric Li Ka Cheung (back row, 1st left); Elderly Commission Chairman Professor Alfred Chan (front row, 2nd left); Director of Social Welfare Patrick Nip (front row, 1st left) and the Cluba£į?s Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (front row, 3rd right) and Donor of the Community Trophy Tobias Brown (front row, 1st right) toast the success of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day.
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Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson says the Club has approved a HK$110 million donation to launch a a£į?Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Schemea£į? to upgrade the facilities of about 250 public elderly centres in Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department, through procurement of non-standard furniture and equipment that meet the changing needs of senior citizens.
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Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung says by giving the elderly centres a facelift and a new lease of life, the Government hope to encourage more elderly citizens to pursue continuous learning and exercise more, and draw out more a£į?hidden eldersa£į? to use the services of these centres and integrate into the community.
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Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson (2nd right); Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung (2nd left), Elderly Commission Chairman Professor Alfred Chan (1st left) and Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (1st right) announce the launch of a£į?Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Schemea£į?.
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Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung (front row, 4th right) presents The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy to the owner representatives of the winning horse Bear Hero.
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Director of Social Welfare Patrick Nip (right) presents the Best Turned Out Horse award to the winning stables assistant of Go Baby Go.
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Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson (centre), Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung (left) and Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (right) tour the demonstration corner.
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(from left) Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson, Hong Kong Red Cross Deputy Chairman Vincent Lo and Secretary General Chan Kai-ming try the rehabilitation bike.
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The Cluba£į?s Executive Director, Charities, Douglas So (6th left), Director of Social Welfare Patrick Nip (6th right) pictured with the representatives of Social Welfare Department and operators of elderly centres.
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Over 150 community partners of the Club attend the Community Day race meeting.
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