9th May 2012: sweltering summer heat and humidity are suffocating for the street sleepers and homeless, who are found sleeping topless by the side streets and bushes, feeding on scraps from garbage bins. There is much sadness in the dark nights of this glittering city
7th May 2012: we visited a caring center for the mentally disabled persons. Average age is 22, only female residents. Some are born with the mental problems; others as a result of depression or trauma or excessive drug use
7th May 2012: we welcome our newest donor – The Kowloon Hotel in Tsim Sha Shui. Today we kick-started the weekly collection from their lobby coffee corner with two full bags of sponge cakes (perfect for the elderly!), danish and croissants. Big thank you!
13th April 2012: We are so blessed to receive wholesome home-made cake pops from a donor, which we distributed to a street sleeper shelter consisting of 80 residents
8th April 2012: He is risen, just as He said. – Matthew 28:6 Happy Easter! During the holy week, we were blessed by volunteers taking their families (spouses and children) with them on the visits to elderly and nursing homes. Its so encouraging to see love in action and charity giving starting young.
23rd March 2012: two more weeks to Good Friday. We begin our Easter countdown by preparing a story book and making fun interactive presentations to the elderly people and homeless about the meaning of Good Friday and Easter. The presentation kits are in Chinese, colourful and pictorial with the aim for easy understanding of the gospel even for the illiterate
14th Feb 2012: to spread the message of love on Valentine’s Day, we bought candies and chocolates and packed them into sweet “love packs” and distributed to the residents of a street sleepers’ shelter. Each pack carries the message: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it keeps no record of wrongs.” – 1 Cor 13:4-5
“愛 是 恆 久 忍 耐 ， 又 有 恩 慈 ； 愛 是 不 嫉 妒 ； 愛 是 不 自 誇 ， 不 張 狂 ， 不 計 算 人 的 惡” – 歌 林 多 前 書 13:4-5
27th Jan 2012: one of our mission is to identify and give breads to the elderly picking up garbages and used cardboards for a living. Our observation is average age is over 80 years old, female, living alone. Daily income is HK$ 30 (US$ 3.50)
23rd Jan 2012: Year of the Dragon! Chinese New Year is particularly important to Chinese, where families and relatives reunite for feasting, home visits, and giving out money packs. It is humbling and sobering when we visited the Street Sleepers shelters where the homeless had no family celebrations to go to, and were freezing in the nights which had been cold and damp
26th Dec 2011: “He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” – Isaiah 9:6
25th Dec 2011: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy. Today a saviour has been born; He is Christ the Lord” – Luke 2:10-11
24th Dec 2011: Christmas Eve’s large volunteer event. Praise the Lord! Over 50 volunteers (adults and children) signed up for the event. We were able to distribute 200 Christmas presents (breads and cookies) to two elderly homes in Kowloon, as well as the people sitting in the cold in public parks in Yau Ma Tei. We sang Christmas carols indoors and outdoors, hoping to bring joy to everyone. It was an amazing experience
23rd Dec 2011: We sent 180 packs of Christmas goodies with (special Christmas packaging and messages) to Neighbourhood Care Foundation in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, to minister to low income/single parent families, homeless and broken families. We also distributed Christmas goodies to the vulnerables on suicide watch, drug addicts, triads and sex workers
19th Dec 2011: We had our first Christmas caroling – three of our wonderful volunteers took their children aged 5 to 6 on our regular Monday lunchtime visits to two elderly homes and the adorable and courageous children sang Christmas songs to the grandpas and grandmas there. So super CUTE!
15th Dec 2011: Many thanks to King’s Bakery store in Happy Valley as our newest bread donor!
8th Dec 2011: We are thankful that Classified restaurant has been donating wholesome breads from its Star Street and Hollywood Road stores. Now it confirmed that it will also be donating breads, croissants and muffins from its newer stores in Happy Valley and Tai Hang Road. We are thrilled by this extended partnership in the common mission of reducing waste and showing care for the underprivileged. Thank you!
11th November 2011: A simple meal with love is better than a feast where there is hatred. – Proverbs 15:17
20th October 2011: We welcome our youngest volunteer to date: 5-year-old Nicholas, who visited an elderly home in Kowloon with his mum Germaine, after helping to pack bread buns and croissants into individual packages. Act of giving and showing care starts young! We are so encouraged
24th September 2011: We welcome a new hotel bread donor – Novotel Hotel Nathan Road Kowloon
14th September 2011: Do you know that the amount of food thrown away from banquets in Hong Kong has risen by 300% in the past decade? Rice discarded at landfills last year alone was enough to feed half a million people
13th September 2011: According to a survey by environmental protection group Green Power, over two million mooncakes are discarded every year in Hong Kong, enough to cover 25 basketball courts
11th September 2011: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! We are immensely grateful to the generosity of Kee Wah Bakery for donating 25,000 pieces of mooncakes which we distribute to over 200 elderly homes and homeless shelters
18th August 2011: According to a study by Oxfam, one in six poor families in Hong Kong are frequently hungry and their lives are made even bleaker by rising food prices. Many of the children said they only had dinner once every 3 nights. “We did not expect such a situation would emerge in Hong Kong”, said Oxfam at the shocking findings. The households in the state of “low food security” spent at least 40% of their income on food (compared with 20% for average households). 81% of poor families ate leftover or past-its-use expired food.
12th August 2011: Today we are excited at the collaboration with Bank Julius Baer Hong Kong that has initiated to its staff a ”Bring a loaf of breads to work today” to give to the needy and neglected. The staff responded with compassionate hearts and donated 300 packs of breads to Sham Shui Po area where we distributed to two locations: an Association for the homeless and cages homes, and an elderly home with two locations (100 frail elderly living in its Home in Sham Shui Po and 200 elderly in Kwai Chung, New Territories)
9th August 2011: Here are findings based on recent survey by the Hong Kong Research Association on children from families on welfare or subsidies: 12% simply want a birthday cake but parents could not afford; 60% has never been to The Peak; 63% could not afford special foods during festivities such as Mid Autumn’s mooncakes; 34% need a computer; 55% hope to visit the HK Space Museum one day
8th August 2011: Crowded cage homes made Sham Shui Po district with the highest tuberculosis rate in Hong Kong. Average summer temperature inside the cramped compartments could reach 41 degrees celsius, 10 degrees more than outdoors. Dwellers use wet towels to cover their heads and sleep on dirty floors – SCMP 8 Aug 2011
2nd August 2011: South China Morning Post reports that sales of fish and poultry fell for a third consecutive month in June (15.2% in volume) as local consumers cut down on food and basic items due to rising inflation. However mainland tourists continued to splurge on luxury items such as electronics, jewelleries and expensive handbags (up 28.8% year-on-year in value in June). This imported spending power is driving up Hong Kong rents to one of the world’s highest. The HK Retail Management Association expressed concern at this growing spending gap and that they have “never seen a trend like this in the past decade”.
26th July 2011: visits to homeless shelters left us with good impression. Many are well run by charitable organizations such as Street Sleepers’ Shelter Society, Christian Concern for Homeless Association and Salvation Army. The facilities are typically opened only after 6pm for sleepover and residents must vacate by 9am the following morning for sanitation and cleaning. The bunker beds are clean and airy; however there may not be adequate beds available for the homeless population as cost of living rises
12th July 2011: giving breads are important to nourish our bodies but we believe spiritual well-being are perhaps even more pertinent. Apart from the encouraging notes we print on each pack of breads, we like to engage in games and activities with the elderly such as drawings, story telling, excursions etc. Some of the larger elderly homes have simple exercise equipments to work on finger and arm muscles
1st June 2011: to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival (Tuen Ng Festival), we are giving out rice dumplings in addition to our distribution of breads, thanks to generous individual donors!
21st April 2011: Holy Week – Special bread distribution together with story telling at elderly home about the meaning of Good Friday and Easter Sunday
19th April 2011: We are grateful to Kee Wah Bakery being our latest bread donor! Founded in 1938, Kee Wah Bakery has grown from a small grocery shop to thousands of shops in Hong Kong, China, North America, Japan etc. Kee Wah’s commitment to Giving Bread extends not only DAILY donation of breads and pastries, but also offering free delivery of their goodies to our volunteer’s collection point! We are overwhelmed!
12th April 2011: A very big THANK YOU to our generous donor Allan Cheung who donated 60,000 specially printed plastic bags which are used for packaging the breads (the scripture words are now directly printed on the plastic)
7th April 2011: we are grateful to a new bread donor: Novotel Century Hotel, which also wrote about their charitable acts for Giving Bread in WOM
1st April 2011: Giving Bread mentioned in Opinion Column “Do We Care for the Less Fortunate?” in Baccarat magazine April 2011
20th March 2011: Giving Bread featured in Cuisine & Wine Asia Volume 13 Issue 11
18th March 2011: Praise the Lord for a miraculous harvest! In one week, we usher in several new donors: 5 hotels, 2 restaurants and 1 bakery!
Hotels: Harbour Grand Kowloon in Hunghom; Regal Kowloon Hotel in TST East; Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel in TST East, ; Harbour Plaza in Quarry Bay and Harbour Grand HK in North Point.
Restaurants: FINDS, the only Nordic restaurant in Pearl Delta River area; and Sevva, a classy restaurant in Central with 360 degree view of HK skyline.
Bakery: La Rose Noire extended one more store (in addition to the Landmark’s ThreeSixty store) for our collection: Marketplace by Jason in the new iSquare mall in TST Kowloon
10th March 2011: Giving Bread featured in Hong Kong Chef Newsletter Issue 103 Feb/March 2011
8th March 2011: We welcome 4 new bread donors: the pristine Peninsula Hotel; a boutique hotel Lanson Place, a neighbourhood local bakery Four Season Dessert & Bread Shop in Sheung Wan and 208 Duecento Otto, an Italian restaurant
15th Feb 2011: Hong Kong’s 2010 GDP per capita is US$ 45,000, ahead of Switzerland, Germany and Japan. Its gap between rich and poor is the HIGHEST in the world, according to United Nations Development Program
MILESTONES
Feb 2011:
During major festivities like Chinese New Year, neglected and lonely people especially the elderly are particularly vulnerable to depression and suicides. Overwhelmed with compassion, Giving Bread distributed breads, Nian Gao and lai see packs almost everyday for two weeks during Chinese New Year holiday period. Visited cage homes, elderly homes, elderly housing estates, homeless shelters and nursery centers. Also gave bread and laisee packs to elderly sitting in the cold in the public parks and outdoor areas.
Jan 2011:
Giving Bread featured in WOM Guide.
Jan 2011:
Received the largest donation from a single donor: >3,000 croissants from FB Solutions, thanks to the boss Etienne Gad! They were given to elderly homes in Shatin, Yuen Long, Sham Shui Po and various elderly nursery care centers in New Territories.
Jan 2011:
Several new bread donors came on board including several major restaurant groups. Praise the Lord!
Jan 2011:
Giving Bread invited to a radio show with renowned pastry Chef and author Gregoire Michaud to talk about how to reduce food wastage in Hong Kong and help feed the needy. Chef Gregoire gave Giving Bread her first professional bread cutting knife! Thank you!
Dec 2010:
Special Christmas message and packaging for Christmas goodies for the elderly. Breads and cookies. Out of town friends on holidays here volunteered in distribution.
Dec 2010:
Visited cage home. Witnessed first-hand how humans live in conditions much worse than domestic dogs, and yet the rents are the highest per square foot in Hong Kong, possibly even the world! Heart broken and grieved at the plight of these poor neglected elderly.
Nov 2010:
Discussion with Four Seasons Hotel for its donation of breads and pastries to Giving Bread! Credit goes to Pastry Chef Gregoire Michaud for believing in it and pushing all the red tapes to make it happened!
Sep 2010:
Founder of Giving Bread went on solo distributions of breads to housing estates and public parks in Shau Kei Wan. Apprehensive in the beginning, but very humbled and emotional after the distribution. To receive is humility.
