Thank you for donating generously for disaster relief. In our profound concern for the situation, the Federation continues to contribute and always values your partnership. We have sent an experienced social worker to join the Expert Team set up by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau which is assessing needs and demands for social work services in Sichuan. The team visited Minyang, an area with heavy casualties and widespread destruction. It reported to the Bureau with recommendations to mobilize social workers, counsellors and volunteers from the Mainland and Hong Kong who can give professional counselling and psychological support to survivors and then help with community work to rebuild the support networks in the temporary resettlement areas. During this time of real and psychological aftershocks we must look to the future and plan for the needy.

Father's Day Charity Sale of Famous Amos cookies
Make Sunday 3 June really special for the fathers in your life. The cookies are so delicious. Sale ends on 15 June. Don't miss it. Order fast while stocks last. Visit http://www.u21.hk/u21_2006/ flagday08/ charity_sale.html to find out details. Proceeds will be contributed to Flag Day donations for extra tutoring and sports training for kids from low-income families. Call Ada, 3755 7102, for more info.

LEAD with Digit@logue at the Hong Kong Museum of Art
Two series of LEAD Robotic Education Workshops are being held in the play space of the Digit@logue exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art from May till July. Saturday morning sessions, 11.30am-1pm, are for teens aged 16+. Families with children aged 4-15 are welcome on Saturdays 2pm-3.30pm and 4.15pm-5.45pm and on Sundays 2.30pm-4pm. Workshops will be themed to match the Beijing Olympics or will be about artistic self-expression and intelligent robot devices for the home or the summer holidays. For more details contact Joanna at LEAD Centre, tel 3106 0600. For reservations visit www.lead.org.hk or http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/ M
useum/Arts/english/activities/eactivities_20080401_1.html

Peak Tramways Co Ltd celebrates 120th anniversary and hosts My First Peak View. This campaign is a series of events with HKFYG from May to December 2008, beginning on 31 May. Over 120 underprivileged family members from Kwai Fong Youth SPOT and Federation kindergartens will be taken to the Peak Tram courtesy of Kwoon Chung Bus Holdings Ltd and have free tram rides, a free lunch at Burger King and free visits to Madame Tussauds. Contact Bonnie, tel 3755 7101 for details.

2099 Cyber City, the LEAD Creativity Showcase, is hosted by MegaBox Development Co Ltd from 7-8 June. Hung Hom, Ping Shek, Wang Tau Hom and Farm Road Youth SPOTs will showcase robotics projects while LEAD holds DIY workshops for families. Contact Joanna at LEAD Centre, tel 3106 0600 for more details or visit www.lead.org.hk


Youth Career Expo - Summer Jobs
56 employers including Swire Resources Ltd, HAECO, PCCW Ltd and Bossini Enterprises Ltd supported the Youth Career Expo on 15 May at Stars Atrium in Plaza Hollywood. HKSAR Exco member, The Hon Mr Cheng Yiu Tong, SBS, JP, was kind enough to be Guest of Honour. Click here for a full list of partner employers to whom we owe our thanks. 5,200 young people came, making 15,400 applications for 4,000 job vacancies and the helpline 3170 6171, Summer Job Helping Zone was launched. Call this number from Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm or leave messages at http://yen.hkfyg.org.hk/helpingzone.


Hong Kong Police mentors and funding from the Hongkong Bank Foundation are making an outreach programme to young offenders possible in Kwai Tsing district. HKFYG's Youth Support Scheme is running the project, called A Brand New Day, every Saturday from May till August. It takes the teenage boys for fitness and adventure training, teaching them about sport and self-discipline. The relationships built up between the boys and the volunteer police mentors involve trust and respect, meaning they are less likely to re-offend. Contact Winky, 2396 4711, for more information.


Hong Kong International Art Fair staff gave a guided tour of the exhibition of contemporary Hong Kong art to a group of Federation secondary students at the HK Convention & Exhibition Centre on 17 May. Contact Ada, tel 3755 7102 for more information or visit http://www.hongkongartfair.com/home/index.php

Three Chinese students are at this week's G8 meeting of environmental ministers in Kobe, Japan. They are from Hong Kong, Beijing and Chengdu and, in the aftermath of the disaster in Sichuan the focus will be on climate change, biodiversity and the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Survey results released last month* reveal that Hong Kong teens care less about their environment than older people with fewer than half of 6,000 15-19 year olds saying they were worried about it. Nevertheless, as entrants in this year's HKFYG Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition show, some of our students really do care. Over 20 of the teams chose environmental issues for their entries in this year's competition. One team investigated low-power air-conditioning, another devised a lighting user-pays system, a third looked at cost effective desalination.

Another ongoing HKFYG partnership, the Cathay Pacific International Wilderness Experience, has also inspired youngsters to think about conservation. The participants go on a sponsored eco-tour, learn about their natural surroundings and how best to protect them:

We should teach children the truth ...how every inch of land is precious and filled with life … the future lies in the hands of youth.     Josephine Liang

They write about the environmental issues that concern them, pollution, its causes and effects:

Who are the main culprits …ever increasing vehicles, skyscrapers limiting air circulation, pollutants from the Zhu Jiang Delta? They all contribute but do you think we are not all responsible too ...?         Winnie Wong

Examples of environment-friendly solutions will be found at HKFYG schools where reusable food containers instead of polystyrene at the Lee Shau Kee primary school and prepared meals on re-usable trays from the HKFYG Lee Shau Kee College tuck-shop.

Everybody can make a personal effort to acquire the right habits for environmental protection. The Federation is determined to encourage those efforts at the earliest possible age.

*Synovate survey reported in South China Morning Post 9 April 2008
**survey by Greeners Action quoting Environmental Protection Department figures reported in the South China Morning Post 28 April 2008