Page 17 - Sphere No.28 (Mar 2011)

15
Sphere
School principal Leung
Kee-cheong believes
Love Ideas, Love HK
draws attention to
lesser known causes.
Carmen Chan, whose project will aid stray
dogs and cats in Yuen Long, brought along
some of her four-legged friends.
Identifying this need, school principal
Leung Kee-cheong came up with an idea to
supply and recycle uniforms to students in
the school. In the past older students leaving
the school have sometimes donated their uni-
forms to the younger kids. But now, with the
help of the money donated by the LKSF the
school can buy enough uniforms for all.
Under the programme, students still have
to pay for the uniforms but only approximately
HKD20 for each set, a fraction of the real
cost. This money is then refunded when they
return the uniform at year-end. Asked why
the uniforms couldn’t now simply be given
to the students for free, Mr Leung explained
that if there is a nominal fee, the parents still
qualify for the school uniform subsidy from
the social welfare.
Mr Leung believes strongly in
sharing and in promoting real
community spirit. That is why
he was particularly taken
with the Love Ideas, Love
HK programme. “In short,”
he said, “I love it!
“The programme pro-
motes creativity and draws
attention to lesser known
causes. It encourages
ordinary people to take
part – either by submitting
ideas or by voting.” He also
feels that it is an impor-
tant lesson in how mega corporations can give
something back to society and he hopes others
will follow suit.
Carmen Chan’s Love Ideas, Love HK project
is certainly practical. She aims to alleviate Yuen
Long’s stray dogs and cats problem by round-
ing up the animals and having them neutered.
Previously, she has been doing this with a group
called Happy Animals, but their efforts have
always been restricted by lack of funds. “It costs
HKD1,000 to neuter a dog and sometimes sev-
eral thousand to treat them.”
She applied for the grant not only to raise
money for the vets’ bills but also to raise aware-
ness about the neuter and return programme so
that hopefully the government will adopt such
a programme as its official solution to the prob-
lem of stray animals in Hong Kong.
At the moment, the
policy is to round up
stray animals and de-
stroy them. “In 2009,
13,000 dogs were
put to death by the
government,” said Ms
Chan. “We are proposing
a more humane treatment of these strays.”
She sees the Love Ideas, Love HK programme
as a great opportunity and is thrilled that it has
inspired so many people into taking action to
help others. As for next round. . . “I have tons of
ideas!” she smiled.
One of the more unusual ideas submitted
to last year’s programme came from the Hong
Kong Youth Employment Network (HKYEN)
which proposed a scheme, called Working
Reality, to help students about to leave school to
prepare for the workplace. It’s a simple idea, but
voters liked it because it’s an area that few people
actually think about.
Wong Man-shun of HKYEN explained
how the idea was developed. “We realised that
students nowadays don’t learn about work eth-
ics, work environment and dynamics. Through
this programme students will set up their own
‘companies’ and learn about human resources
management, sales, marketing, promotions and
actually get to practise them.”
HKYEN aims to begin the workshops, target-
ing Form 5 students, in March this year in 20
schools, enabling about 4,000 students to take
part. “We want to inspire them to think about
their career development,” said Mr Wong.
He thinks the beauty of this idea is that it
is ongoing, students can run with it and really
get to know how the workplace works. He feels
that Love Ideas, Love HK is a similar “ongoing”
project, which is why it inspired him in the first
place. “It is not only very creative and innova-
tive, but also very transparent,” he said. “I love
the way you can see how new ideas will now
develop from other ideas already submitted.
People are looking at this first programme and
already thinking ahead to how they can take the
ideas further forward next time. It has created a
totally original way for corporations, individuals
and social organisations to work together.”
The emphasis is certainly on originality for
Making Their Dreams Come True, an idea