​Remote Volunteering Activities in Hong Kong (China) 

The pandemic has not stopped us from caring for our community and those in need. In the second half of 2021, our volunteer team in Hong Kong (China) has organized some fun and thoughtful volunteering activities. We are grateful to see that our volunteers contributed their time, craftsmanship and creativity for showing love to the community.

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Santa Letter Workshop​

Did you ever send a letter to Santa wishing for gifts when you were a kid? What would do you think if you received a reply from Santa? It must be very surprising!

Partnering with non-profit organization Mymailbox852, we organized a Santa Letter Workshop which aimed to share love and happiness through handwritten letters in this digital world. Participants were invited to reply (in name of Santa Claus) to the Christmas cards and letters collected by Mymailbox852 from various regions such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Malaysia.

In the three-hour online workshop, participants first attended a briefing by the founder of Mymailbox852, where they learned more details about the initiative and things to note when responding to the letters. They then divided into 3 small groups and started discussion on writing the reply letters. Many of them put a great deal of effort in making the cards visually appealing by drawing and the use of stickers.

DIY Hand Cream Donation

Hands are very important to us as they help us to perform different tasks in our life. They are also communication tools for those who are not able to hear and speak. With the onset of dry weather in winter, moisturizing hand cream becomes an indispensable item of people's personal belongings to protect our hands.

In the DIY Hand Cream Donation activity, participants had the opportunity to learn how to make handmade hand cream. Each participant made around 3-4 bottles in the workshop and could keep one bottle for themselves. The rest of the hand cream bottles (a total of 72 pieces), together with some household items were donated to the Hong Kong Association of the Deaf for the hearing-challenged people.

Volunteer Service Skills Training – Effective Communication Skill

Good communication skill is essential for us to build trust and connection with others. With effective communication, we can express ourselves better, share our thoughts and show our care to others easily. To better equip our volunteers with service skills, our volunteer team arranged an Effective Communication Skill Training workshop for our volunteers. The workshop was delivered by social workers from the Agency for Volunteer Service – an NGO which is experienced in volunteer training and has been providing many local volunteering opportunities since its establishment in 1970.

The following topics were covered in the workshop:

• Building effective communication skills
• Emotional intelligence
• Improving on your relationship building skills for teamwork
• Building empathy and learning to understand the thoughts and feeling of people-in-need