Free meals and soccer tickets for needy Hongkongers
Government to team up with restaurants body in campaign to help city's poorest
Free soccer tickets and meals will be offered to needy youngsters and elderly people in a new government campaign to help struggling Hongkongers.
Lam, who chairs the poverty commission, was speaking on RTHK's .
Lawmaker Frederick Fung Kin-kee, a member of the commission, said thousands of tickets to see soccer matches over the Lunar New Year holiday would be offered to youngsters from low-income families.
Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said some restaurants would team up with social enterprises to provide dim sum for elderly people in February. "We are not [just] doing this to help the poor; this is [also] an opportunity for the catering sector to be more aware about social issues," Wong said.
Asked if the campaign would give officials a much-needed popularity boost, Wong said: "We haven't thought about this … we just wanted to create a [more caring] social environment."
A government source said the campaign would be spearheaded by the commission's task force on societal engagement, headed by Dr David Wong Yau-kar.
"It was designed for the government, the business sector and the public to work together … there will be different themes and activities," the source added.
It was understood that the campaign would cost about HK$5 million, with HK$3 million coming from the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the rest from the government.
