July 2014 - Hope of the City Newsletter
It’s Graduation Season!
As part of our efforts to support children from low-income families, Hope of the City has been providing English tuition to some 95 students in the Sham Shui Po area. It has been a delight over the past few weeks to join these children, along with their parents and teachers, in celebrating the completion of their most recent English courses. Our graduates include children attending classes at the YWCA, St James Settlement, Living Stone Lutheran Church and The Hub. What a thrill it was to see the children’s beaming faces as they received their certificates, with their obviously proud parents cheering them on. We are so grateful for the thoughtfulness of supporters who sponsored the tasty feasts that made these celebrations truly memorable. Our desire in providing these tuition programs is to not only help the children improve their English, but also to encourage them to enjoy learning and to let both the children and their parents know that they matter to us.
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Summer Interest Class
Hope of the City is joining our partners in launching summer interest classes for kids. Here are a couple of examples:
Superhero’ Character-Building Classes (Jul - Aug)
A 4-week program led by teachers from miniMinds which provides an environment where children can receive positive reinforcement and learn about respect, affirmation, trust and love through group activities, songs, Bible stories and crafts.
Public Speaking Training (July)
Taught by a well-known Hong Kong expert, this training allows the students to stretch themselves and develop the self-confidence to make their voices heard in a meaningful way. |
Happy Shopping Fair
This is a program run by St. James' Settlement Kindness Centre, which allows low-income residents to purchase basic items like oil, rice and washing detergent at discounted prices. Hope of the City’s volunteers have been helping to provide a home-delivery service for those elderly or individuals who could not carry the items themselves - thank you to all of you who have participated so faithfully! After a successful year of cooperation with St. Jame's Settlement, we are excited to announce that Happy Shopping Fair program has been extended for another year, until June 2015. This means more volunteers are needed! If you're available to help in the morning on either Aug 23 or Sep 20, please email us.
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Family Environmental Day = Fun with a Purpose
Family outings are a rare treat for those living below the poverty line. That’s why it was so special for a group of North Point families to be invited to join the Family Environment Day at the Asia Society in June. Smiles were everywhere as parents and kids teamed up to make recycled paper, decorate book covers with cartoon cut-outs and race throw a maze in ‘cars’ built from recycled materials. Hope of the City wants to thank Bank of America Merrill Lynch for their generosity in sponsoring this event, as well as providing the enthusiastic volunteers who accompanied our families throughout the day.
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Sailing into a Unique Opportunity
This summer, for the first time, Hope of the City is teaming up with Life Front-line Sailing Ministry to offer young people an opportunity to acquire valuable life skills through learning to sail. This exciting ministry is providing overnight sailing outings to two groups of teenagers in July – 9 students from Wai Kin College in Shek Kip Mei and 10 students from J-Life. The participants develop confidence, discipline and leadership abilities through the unique experience of spending time with their counsellor/instructors out on the water. Bon voyage, everyone
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