The 46th Hong Ning Annual Spring Day Festival that took place on 5th September at Emperors palace was a great success! A word of thanks to all involved in the event!
Firstly a special mention must go to our very generous sponsors for without them the Home would not exist. Currently the Home is running at an average of R100 000 deficits every month. The Spring Day Festival is our main fundraiser where donors from Overseas Chinese and Local Chinese Organizations, Corporates and High Net Worth individuals come to show support to us financially and to enjoy the day.
For the past two years an organization formed by ex South African Chinese who have emigrated to Sydney, have donated material sums of money to Hong Ning. Over our past financial year they have donated R620 000 to the Home. This is the Friends of Hong Ning (FOHN) of which Theresa Leong is the current chairperson.They went through some very stringent regulatory requirements by the Australian Authorities in order to form a legalized Non – Profit Organization to donate funds abroad to Hong Ning.
We also wish to acknowledge Mr Ernie Lai King, executive chairman of Northbound Processing who has donated R350 000 last year and this year to our Golf day. We are extremely grateful for his magnanimous support for the elderly at Hong Ning. Without these extremely generous donations, Hong Ning would have found themselves in a very challenging financial condition. Rising costs, minimum wage regulations and the upkeep of a building that is more than 60 years old are the major cost factors.
These two large donations occur during the year as opposed to on Spring Day Festival but deserve special mention because of the their size.
Because of security concerns we have been requested not to list our perennial donors as we have done in the past, but every donation is receipted and Letters of Acknowledgement together with photos of a large cheque being handed over to Hong Ning (where available), are sent to each individual donor.
The logistical and other arrangements of such a huge event require a special group of dedicated people to coordinate and put together.
A special vote of thanks must go to Shirleen Man, Paulette Fokming (nee Leong) and Sulveigh Ford for co coordinating the programme for the days activities. The TCA Women’s Fed and the Hong Ning Working Committee who are always in attendance at each function; volunteers who helped with the cooking under Winkin Leong, our joint chairman, viz. Yvonne Fokming, Denise Leong, Steven Tong, Sharon Tong, Queenie Toy, Mike Pon and Florence Lai; Shirlene Fung for all her running around, ordering and collating of items required; Jason Fung for arranging the cold drinks, Darryl Fokming and his team for braaing Hong Ning’s much loved whole chickens; Steven & Jeanine Leong for assisting with the taking of orders; Pauline Low Yuen and Elaine Leong and their crew for assisting with the VIP’s party and food; Erin Lai Thom for arranging helpers for day from the TCA Youth and also assisting in the handing out of the much needed cheques from our donors, Michelle Check for assisting with the cake and tea stall for the elderly residents and King Pon for arranging his private vehicle to transport the food from Ming Woo in Malagum, all deserve a special mention. Behind the scenes Elaine Ho, our Secretary General, as always, ensures that all the admin and other logistics such as the printing of name tags for the VVIP’s are done.
A special mention must go to Steven Tong our Treasuer. Since he has come on board the financial side of Hong Ning is sound and compliant to all aspects of regulatory reporting. It’s a great pleasure working with Steven and knowing that every cent of all donations received is accurately recorded.
To our MC’s, Kevin Cui and Lanlan Cen who once again did a fantastic job.
To the Dragon Dancers from Chung Wah who perform at our function every year, Aiden & Bridgette and their troupe, the Lion dancers from the Kai Shing Martial Arts Association and Kuo Ting Shaolin Kung Fu School, your efforts are very much appreciated. They all do their performances free of charge to Hong Ning!
To Alan Yeung, Deanne Burger, Anna Chen, Ivan Jardine, Mervyn Low and all the other singers and performers who grace our stage every year, and Phillip Pretorious and Billy Bunn from previous years, a big thank you for your wonderful contributions.
We are also grateful for other members of Hong Ning and the external communities for their much needed assistance at this event.
King Pon, our Director of Procurement of Funding, instrumental in drumming up support for donations and Louise Pon also assisted in the writing up of the cheques received by donors on the day. King also paid for the donating copies of Melanie Yap and Diane Man’s book Colour, Confusion and Concessions to the main table VIP’s and the printing of the large donors cheques …we used up the surplus stocks from the previous year. We would also like to thank Du Mann Ying for her tremendous assistance writing up the large cheques and correcting of the text for the Chinese invitations and Letters of Acknowledgement. Uncle Walter Pon assisted with the sending out of invitations and the checking of Letters of Acknowledgement for Chinese correctness.
To all the stallholders who came to support us, the cold weather and the fact that the Springboks were playing an important deciding match at FNB stadium meant that despite an incredible venue, our numbers were reduced slightly from previous years. Next year we may return to Rivonia Central where attendance was always good
To Mervyn Low and his technical team of Danny Wong and Ken Ho who literally keep the lights on for Hong Ning and see to other vital technical issues such as the inverter, generator and air conditioning and geysers we truly value and appreciate your efforts.
Thanks also to Amir for stepping in to assist with photos for the event as our usual photographers Calvin Way and Justin Lee were tied up with other engagements. Thanks for your dedicated service in previous years Calvin and Justin. Amir spent the day taking lots of photos, free of charge to Hong Ning. Once again, much appreciated.
Finally, last but not least, a thank you to all who came out to support our function. In particular, the Embassy and Consul General’s Office of the Peoples Republic of China and also the many Overseas Chinese Associations, who always grace our event with their esteemed presence.
Whilst we value the monetary donations we would also like to thank all those who donate non- monetary items of goods and services. Timmy Sam (ex Chairman of Hong Ning) arranges Bingo Days for the elderly residents every Wednesday. We get occasional visits by the Tzu Chi Foundation and also deliveries of vegetables on a regular basis from certain generous vendors.
