Storytelling that Gives Hope – #FindingFamily
On Father’s Day 2020, right after we closed our Urgent Appeal, we launched #FindingFamily. This multi-year storytelling project tells the personal stories of some of those who have been impacted by the work of Mother’s Choice over 30+ years. The goal of #FindingFamily is to (re)define + broaden the meaning of FAMILY in our city. There are so many special members of the Mother’s Choice “family” that we want to celebrate – our clients, volunteers, donors, and staff. Their stories give hope and inspire our community to know that everyone can make a difference and we all have a role to play in building strong families. We want to thank you for making these stories possible and invite you to tag and share with your family and friends! Visit Facebook #findingfamily
Foster Families Needed
Every day in Hong Kong, there are hundreds of children who don’t have a safe or loving place to stay because their parents are not able to care for them. Foster Care is one way to provide family-based residential care to these vulnerable children so that they can continue to enjoy family life while they wait to re-unite with their birth families, join an adoptive family, or live independently. The problem is that there are not nearly enough families willing to welcome a foster child into their home.
In response to this urgent need, this summer our volunteer Marketing Communications Committee convened a strategic offsite to leverage their collective marketing strengths and expertise to find a solution. The result was a Facebook recruitment campaign which used “real” people who stepped up as foster families at Mother’s Choice. Since the campaign launched, we have seen more families join our Zoom information sessions and sign up to become foster parents than ever before! We are so grateful to our volunteer Marketing Communications Committee and the foster families who were willing to share their stories. We still need many more families, so if you are interested please join our next information session (in Chinese only). Attend an Info Session.
The Next Generation Steps Up
Despite the many challenges we faced with COVID this summer, we had an amazing cohort of young student volunteers at Mother’s Choice. From our two new virtual summer programs – the Craft Maker’s Club and the Creative Design Student Council – to the students who helped on key research projects and across different departments, we’ve never had more student volunteers in our history. The energy, enthusiasm and passion that these young people had to making a difference in our community was infectious and made us more hopeful for future generations!
We are also thrilled that the Youth Leadership Council (YLC), is off to a great start despite schools starting online this academic year. The YLC launched in 2015 and is a youth centered advisory group designed to provide leadership development for student members as well as facilitate teamwork, build youth confidence and strengthen student skills with problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. This year, we welcomed three new schools bringing our total school involvement up to 9! If you know of a young person who wants to be involved, please tell them to email mcvolunteers@motherschoice.org.
Mark Your Diary – Flag Day
Volunteers needed for our Flag Day on January 23, 2021. Stay tuned for details in the next newsletter.