A penniless man asked a small restaurateur if there were leftovers he could have. Yes, the owner said. Word spread about this generous act, and the needy began lining up for free meals. Then the local Rotary Club saw what was happening, and stepped in to make a spontaneous act of generosity into a model program of community self-help. Gillian Kew reports.
COME WITH ME, check this out. We walk past the glamorous AIRSIDE shopping centre, and then move past its less dazzling (but still snazzy) cousins, the Kai Tak Mall and the old Kai Tak Shopping Arcade.
We find ourselves in Hong Keung street in San Po Kong. It is lined with cafes, shops, and at one end of the street, a small rest area surrounded by a low wall.
These cafes cater to the many who cannot afford the pricier, glitzier places in the nearby, air-conditioned malls.
FOOD POVERTY IS A REAL ISSUE
Before the pandemic these eateries would be filled with local residents surviving on a basic income but still able to enjoy a cheap meal out. For many residents, that remains the case, but hundreds more cannot even afford to buy enough food to eat at home. For them, food poverty is a very real issue.
During the pandemic, local San Po Kong residents started showing up at the Hai Nam Chicken Tsui Po Pantry on Hong Keung street to ask if the restaurant had any left-overs to share. The owner, Cheung Shau Yung, began handing out boxes of rice and vegetables at the door.
Word soon spread that here was somewhere people could get a hot meal.
DAILY GIVEAWAYS FROM A CARING COMMUNITY
There were soon too many people coming to the door, causing a risk of blocking the pavement. So Mr. Cheung moved the operation to the end of the street, near the little rest area, and began a regular service at 4:30pm every day, including Sundays and most public holidays.
To help with funding, a donation box was placed near the restaurant door for customers to drop their spare change. Today, it is still there, and Mr Cheung continues to fund the venture out of his own pocket and with donations from friends and members of Hong Kong’s caring community.
The restaurant currently distributes around 200 boxed meals of rice and vegetables almost every day of the year, with hopeful residents lining up early, often before 4pm, whatever the weather.
Most recipients are elderly, with some taking boxes back to disabled partners or friends in subdivided units. Whilst some other food distribution programmes are quite firm about the “one box per person” rule, Mr Cheung takes a different view.
Having personally visited some of the recipients in their homes he understands that the second and sometimes third boxes are necessary for the recipients’ loved ones or friends, who for reasons of disability or ill-health, cannot collect the meals themselves. And he is happy with that. For many recipients, this is their only hot meal of the day, and most of the time it does not even contain fish or meat.
LOCAL ROTARY CLUB STEPS IN
After visiting the restaurant a few times and seeing the work being done by Mr. Cheung and his staff, Rotary Club of Homantin Hill’s Charter President Ms. Mei Ling Ng and her husband and club member, Conway Liu approached the owner.
They wanted to discuss how the club might be able to help. They agreed that it was important for these underprivileged residents struggling on the margins to not just have meals, but to also still feel valued as people.
They realized that making Hong Kong’s festival days as meaningful to them as they are to the rest of the Hong Kong community would be a way to help achieve this.
Thus came the launch of “Action Rice Box”, a program to help provide some “festival day” meals, with the inclusion of high quality protein (meat and fish), fruit, and festival-related foods (such as turnip pudding at Chinese New Year).
Rotary Club of Homantin Hill is a small club with limited resources; but happily, the project has been funded through a combination of club funds, donations by club members and the addition of a small Rotary District Grant.
On festival days, Homantin Hill Rotary club members are there to help box and distribute the food, sharing the spirit of fellowship with the local community and those who need it most. The next festival date is May 1st, Labour Day, when Tsui Po staff and club members will join together again to continue this valuable service in San Po Kong.
It’s important to share good wishes on festive days–and even better when the greetings come with a festival meal. Bon appetit – or as we say in Hong Kong, hei fai la (raise your chopsticks)!
Images above by Rotary Club of Homantin Hill, also Google Maps.