Where: 1 Sheung Kok Street, Tai Wo Hau, Tsuen Wan What: Established in 1960, the group provides a wide variety of social services to children and youths as well as the elderly, the disabled, and other disadvantaged people. How: Call 2420 1073 or visit www.amss.org.hk for more information. The charity needs volunteers for their services and to help with fund-raising activities such as flag selling. It also encourages volunteers to propose innovative and fun ways to serve the community. Volunteer: Fred Lui Hoi-leong, 20, is a social work student at Polytechnic University. He has been a volunteer for Asbury Methodist Social Service (AMSS) for about four years. 'My friends and I set up a volunteer group at AMSS. We started off by doing some basic social services, such as visiting elderly people or organising activities for teenagers. We later developed our own programmes and are helping to train new volunteers. About four years ago, I took part in a programme involving autistic children. The programme lasted for about four weeks and towards the end of it, we showed the children how to serve a group of elderly people. The children danced and performed a drama for the elderly people, and they all seemed very happy. After the programme ended, I decided that I wanted to be a social worker. Before I took part in volunteer services, I thought that helping people was a simple issue: if people are poor, just give them some money. But now I realise that self-help is an important element of social services. The most important thing is to tackle the root of people's problems, rather than just lending them a hand when they need help. When you do volunteer work, you can learn a lot within a short time. When you help people, they are also teaching you many things. The reward you gain is at least 10 times the effort you put in. Before I started doing volunteer work, I was a bit introverted and didn't know how to communicate with people. I was so shy that I would turn away when people, especially girls, said 'hello' to me. But I can now approach people with confidence. It is important not to do volunteer work out of self-interest. People can always sense if your actions are not genuine. I truly enjoy the process of helping people.'
