2021 Fred Hollows Humanity Award

CELEBRATING THE 2020-2021 
HUMANITY AWARD AMBASSADORS 

The COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 a tough year for many and we might not feel normal for some time. But a lot of people chose to accept the challenges in front of them and are determined and ready for change.  
 
Despite the difficult time, The Fred Hollows Foundation is encouraged by the nominations to this year’s Humanity Award. A group of remarkable students have recognised and addressed the needs of the community. Through observation, proposing plans to help and executing the activities, the students have all shown a mature and pragmatic attitude. They are sincere and active in serving people in need, which echoes the values of The Fred Hollows Foundation - integrity, empowerment, action and collaboration. 
 
Professor Fred Hollows, The Foundation’s founder, once said, “The basic attribute of mankind is to help each other”. The kindness of the students has brought us hope in difficult times. We would like to congratulate all the Ambassadors and applicants who have played their part in making Hong Kong a better place. 

2021 Fred Hollows Humanity Award Awardees:

Ambassador of Hope

Kwan Yu Ching, Kau Yan School 
 
The COVID-19 pandemic was particularly hard on grass roots communities. Yu Ching, a fifth-grader, specially planned a one-month project to serve the elderly and low-income community by providing them meals. Her plan was to earn pocket money by completing housework at home to buy food. She also invited relatives and friends to donate food. All food was donated to Food Angel which redistributed the food to the underprivileged community.  
 
The Fred Hollows Foundation appreciates Yu Ching’s initiative, coming up with the idea, planning and implementing the entire plan by herself. She shared her idea, plan and action very clearly in her submission. The Foundation appreciates her spirit of service and hopes her action can inspire more similar programs.  

Ambassador of Action

Chong Pak Yu, Invictus School (Hong Kong) 
 
Pak Yu started joining volunteer services when he was three. He has been visiting elderly homes and supporting people with mental and physical challenges, and joined food waste recycling programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pak Yu learned from his mom how to use a sewing machine to sew cloth masks to overcome  mask shortages. He also assisted his mother to teach older people to sew cloth masks in elderly centers, and distributed hygiene packs to them. 
 
Pak Yu has submitted a very detailed account of his volunteer activities, and provided thoughts after each activity. The Foundation would like The Award to encourage him to carry on his action and kindness in the future.  

Ambassador of Compassion

Olivia Saunders, The Peak School 
 
Grade 5 student Olivia Saunders from The Peak School organised a bulk purchase of fidget toys and has spent time to rebag the toys into individual packs.  She set up a stall in her building where she sold most of the fidget toy packs. Olivia acknowledges how much the fidget toys used at Peak School have helped her with her anxiety and focus and wanted to help other children who had the same needs. Olivia raised HK$1750 and donated the money to Mind HK. The Fred Hollows Foundation appreciates Olivia’s concern and care for people having the same needs as she does, and putting it into action to raise awareness of mental health.  

Liliana Nixon, The Peak School 
 
Liliana is passionate about the charity Mother's Choice. In a school project to investigate and create something of their choice, Lili did a lot of research and interviewed staff from the Mother’s Choice. She then decided to combine it with her passion for baking. Lili created a website called Baking For Babies where people from her building could order baking from Lili. At last count, she has raised around HK$3,000 for the charity. It is an  amazing effort from a 10-year-old girl of her own accord, to create a website, conduct interviews, create QR codes, and finally deliver baking to her community. Liliana is still baking for good now. 
 

Ambassador of Kindness

Corliss Chan, Harrow International School Hong Kong 
 
Corliss wrote and published three books last year and raised a total of HK$13,500 for The World Wide Fund for Nature and the Children’s Cancer Foundation. She wished to help preserve the planet and endangered animals. Corliss also wanted to “give children around the world a better life”. It takes a lot of work and creative thinking in writing and publishing not only one but three books! The Fred Hollows Foundation appreciates Corliss’ creativity and efforts and looks forward to her next collection.  

Junior Ambassadors
  

Huang Ruiteng, Chun Wing Hin, Lam Hoi Yan, Li Ho Chak, Hong Siu Pan 
Buddhist Wong Cheuk Um Primary School  

This group of five joined the DREAM STARTER project and originally planned to design electric sweepers to ease the work of street cleaners. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic paused the plan, since the students could not go back to school to carry on the project. But they did not give up on their plan to support the street cleaners. Thus they collected about 1,000 masks, over a hundred hand sanitizers and protective gowns which were donated to the cleaners. They learned that giving is more blessed than receiving. The Fred Hollows Foundation appreciates their agility and kindness. We hope the team will continue the design of the electric sweeper to benefit the workers! 
     

Wong Yin Leong Samuel, Hong Yung Tanya, Lau Ngai Sum, Shek Siu Wai Silas 
Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association Branch Primary School 

The group of students noticed that people from all walks of life and different social status were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. People like medical staff, bus drivers and the elderly might not get the support they need. As a result the students and teachers formed a volunteer team to purchase masks and produced some thank you cards, which were repackaged to be sent to the above mentioned social groups. They cooperated with the community center near the school to visit and chat online with the elderly living alone. Through close cooperation and division of labour, the team has brought care to the community during the pandemic, which deserves appreciation. 

Ben Robinson, Harrow International School Hong Kong 

Ben climbed Hong Kong’s three tallest peaks over three consecutive days between Christmas and New Year. He raised a total of HK$4,300 for the World Wide Fund for Nature to tackle climate change and protect biodiversity. Ben was praised by his nominating teacher for his initiation and planning. Ben even made sure he ate the right diet for the challenge! 
 

Students of Merit

Wong Lai Pui Edward  
Kowloon City Baptist Church Hay Nien (Yan Ping) Primary School 

Edward is a frequent volunteer. He participated in church activities in 2021 to raise funds to buy food to donate to the church’s food bank. He also helped distribute hygiene packs to the elderly and people in need in the community.  
  

Yau Cheuk Yi 
Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial Primary School 

Cheuk Yi always serves the community with enthusiasm and has carried on for many years. Besides selling flags to raise funds to help low-income families  and people who live in cubicles, she also collected food leftovers in wet markets which were sent to people who could not afford it.  

Sin Yuet Fu 
AD & FD POHL Mrs Cheng Yam On Millennium School  

Yuet Fu is a volunteer with perseverance. She and her mother went to a farm to help clean up weeds after the typhoon. During the COVID-19 pandemic,  she participated in activities by Hapi School by reading stories to elderly people online. Later she became a volunteer of the group and chatted with elderly people every weekend via Zoom. Her commitment to serve every week is commendable.  
  

Chan Ho Ying 
Salesian Yip Hon Millennium Primary School 

Ho Ying has participated in different types of walkathlons since she was six and raised funds for patients with cancer and chronic diseases and low-income families. During the pandemic, she and her mother went to a farm in Yuen Long  to help a farmer who was physically challenged to harvest. She also participated in selling raffle tickets to help raise money for patients with chronic and mental illnesses. 
  

Man Lap Shun 
Y.O.T. Tin Ka Ping Primary School 

Lap Shun has participated in different volunteer activities with his mother and brother since he was small. He is also a Scout and a volunteer at his community center. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lap Shun did not stop volunteering. He and his family distributed meals to the elderly, gave out masks and hygiene supplies to the public, and also distributed goodie bags with his classmates at the community centers. His spirit of service over the years is worth praising.   

Tse Tsz Fung 
W F Joseph Lee Primary School 

Tsz Fung chatted with elderly people online as organised by the school during the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his classmates taught the elderly to dance and draw which showed their care and created joy. 
  

Ghale Onish 
Li Cheng Uk Government Primary School 

Ghale is interested in doing social services and is involved in serving the ethnic minority in Hong Kong. He has tried planting trees and collecting plastic garbage from hiking areas. Ghale also once learned to make Nepalese dumplings from his mum and served the food to people at elderly homes. He believed that the experiences of helping others were valuable.  
  

Yu Kok Leung 
The Church of Christ in China Heep Woh Primary School 

Kok Leung distributed masks, hand sanitizers and COVID-19 information to elderly people  living alone. This greatly helped to safeguard the community during the pandemic.  
  

Cheung Chun Ming 
Kowloon City Baptist Church Hay Nien (Yan Ping) Primary School 

Chun Ming helped give out masks and painted greeting cards to security guards and cleaning staff, as organised by the school, to thank them for their hard work during the pandemic. 
 
  

Cheung Lok 
St. Paul's Convent School 

Cheung Lok is a member of a Ping Pong club which organises a lot of volunteer activities. Lok has joined the team and gave out meals to homeless people. She could feel the warmth looking at the people eating the hot meals. She has also given out masks to members of the group, joined charity sales to different NGOs and helped clean the beach. Lok said although she was young, she could still use her knowledge to help people in need.