Chariman's Report (For Year Ended 2007)

This year, our charity continued to seriously focus on patients and concentrated on how best to help them. As a result, our expenditure on patients increased by 70% (not including funds donated towards medical research).? By so doing, we not only helped to meet our patients’ needs directly but, importantly, we also fostered valuable friendships and relationships with them.

Personally, I try to make it a point to know nearly all of them by their names and endeavour to understand their complicated family situations so that when a problem arises, I know the extent of need and hopefully, our response can be more spontaneous. As our charity is small, we have the luxury of being able to do this. I welcome our Executive Committee members to do the same and you will realize that your contributions to the charity in so many ways, are extremely meaningful and valuable.

In the last quarter of the year, we focused our attention on 2 major developments. One is that we knew that our office landlord who had given us years’ of favourable rental had sold the entire building and we would need to find new office premises. The other is that our workload is increasing and we had to find extra manpower. With respect to latter, our charity decided to design a programme where we can harness the talents of our young adult patients who are cognitively normal and conversant with computer skills but who are rendered too disabled and fragile for our commercial arena. However, with some innovation, we can provide them with employment opportunities. We continued to research into the issues and with the enthusiasm of the relevant patients, we decided to launch Home Office-Central Office (HOCO) programme in 2008. HOCO programme will equip participating patients with a small home office each to accord them the liberty of working for us from their respective homes. I am sure, with your support and patients’ hardwork, HOCO will be very successful and mutually beneficial.

Finally, also special Thanks to our donors, notably, Matilda Sedan Chair Foundation and Sir Robert Ho Tung Foundation for always finding our projects worthy of donations. Also to Mr. Albert Young, our auditors, who staged a wonderful photo exhibition and raised a handsome amount. Our nation-wide charity sales are also going from strength to strength because of the dedication of our vast number of volunteers and schools. This event not only raised funds but also raised public awareness of SMA, one of the key objectives of our modest charity.

With much of the planning done this year, I look forward to 2008 and to my next report.

Mei Ling Fok
Chairman
2006-2007