Voluntary Services and Charity Activities

Our colleagues are equally enthusiastic about their work and community service.  During the year under review, the DSD Volunteer Team took part in more than 39 volunteer services, clocking over 1,332 service hours in total.

 

“Fight the Virus”

To combat COVID-19, the DSD Volunteer Team swiftly gathered a group of compassionate colleagues to form an inter-departmental volunteer team with volunteers from other government departments to support anti-pandemic work. Actions included telephoning members of the public subject to home confinement at the Customs Headquarters, inspecting the quality of electronic wristbands at Hong Kong Science Park, packaging “Caring Packs” for frontline workers during the Construction Industry Council's “Fight against Novel Coronavirus” campaign, and dispatching gift packs donated by other charity groups to residents of Lamma Island.

 

“i-connect” Voluntary Programme

The DSD Volunteer Team has been hosting “i-connect” voluntary programmes since 2017. This volunteering series clinched the “Judges' Appreciation—Excellence in Construction Industry Volunteering Project” Gold Award of the Construction Industry Volunteer Award Scheme 2019 organised by the Construction Industry Council. In addition, Mr Ivan NG Tin-chi, the DSD volunteer, was recognised by the industry and crowned with the honour of “Judges' Appreciation—Excellence in Construction Industry Volunteering” Bronze Award.

 

In the year under review, the DSD Volunteer Team continued to organise a series of volunteer activities under the theme of “i-connect”. One of the highlights was “i-connect”—Dementia, in which our Volunteer Team partnered with a group of senior volunteers from other organisations to support elderly with dementia. During the programme, we arranged a seminar to deepen our volunteers' understanding of the disease. In the subsequent home visits, volunteers preliminary evaluated the health status of those elderlies through questionnaires and used the tailor-made “Brain Health Kit Set” to conduct cognitive training to delay their cognition decline.

 

Promoting Mentoring Culture—“Life Buddies” Mentoring Scheme

As in previous years, the DSD Volunteer Team continued to join the multi-sectoral mentoring scheme “Life Buddies 2019” organised by the Commission on Poverty. Taking on the roles of mentors for about 10 high school students from Lung Kong World Federation School Limited Lau Wong Fat Secondary School, the Volunteer Team organised a series of activities, including communication workshops, basic job hunting skills and career planning classes, workplace visits, etc., with the aim to give them insights into different careers and help them navigate their future career development.

 

“30 Hours Volunteer Marathon” to Celebrate 30th Anniversary of the DSD

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the DSD, the DSD Volunteer Team organised an innovative event named “30 Hours Volunteer Marathon” that ran from 1 January to 29 August 2019. During that period, colleagues' volunteering hours were recorded by division and we encouraged everyone to achieve 30 hours of voluntary services to promote the DSD's spirit of “Do it from the Heart”. With 117 colleagues and 275 person-times joining the event, rising sharply year-on-year, the result was heartening.