HKJC shares festive fun with 200 Tin Shui Wai elderly singles at CNY lunch

26 February 2008

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has a long-standing commitment to serving the community with the aim of improving people's livelihoods. To celebrate the new Year of the Rat, the Club today (26 February) hosted a lunch gathering in a box at Happy Valley Racecourse for nearly 200 elderly single people from Tin Shui Wai. Chairman John C C Chan and Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, as well as the Club's Executive Directors, joined the employee volunteer team C.A.R.E.@hkjc to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the seniors.

Following the Club's new initiative to set up a new HKJC Telebet Centre cum Volunteers and Training Centre in Tin Shui Wai in 2009, the employee volunteer team C.A.R.E.@hkjc has decided to target its community activities in that district this year. Today's Chinese New Year lunch gathering was the first such event, providing an enjoyable day out for 200 elderly people living alone in Tin Shui Wai. Officiating guests included Deputy Director of Home Affairs Miss Adeline Wong; Yuen Long District Council Chairman Leung Che-cheung and Vice Chairman Tang Yun-chor; and Vice Chairman of Pok Oi Hospital Poon Shiu Man.  Yuen Long District Officer James Chan and Assistant District Officer Clement Chan also attended the event.

Welcoming the visitors, Chairman John Chan said that in the next 18 months prior to the opening of its Telebet and Training Centre, the Club would be launching a series of events for Tin Shui Wai residents, including today's gathering, a Mothers' Day Carnival and some Weekend Workshops. "We hope that these activities will encourage the recipients to become volunteers themselves and in turn pass their experience onto other needy people," he said. "In the long run, we want to help them lead more fulfilling lives, serve the neighbourhood and enhance new developments within the district."

Among the entertainment offered during the lunch banquet was a traditional lion dance show along with singing performances by John Chan, C.A.R.E.@hkjc members and elderly representatives.

After the performances Mr Chan, Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges and the Executive Directors distributed lai see packets and Fortune Bags to the elderly, closing the event on a happy note.