Dated June 24 2017

ST. BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

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2016 – 2017 Annual Report

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Mission Statement of

ST. BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

“Serving the Poor and Homeless in Hong Kong”

Service Objectives:

To minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

To visit and help the homeless, the poor, the sick and distressed in

Hong Kong and to give material and spiritual aid to those on the

street.

To provide for those in need of a temporary home where they can

be encouraged, nurtured and loved.

To provide the environment for growth personally and spiritually, to

establish relationships, develop responsibility, and integrate into the

community.

To engage daily in intercessory prayer.

CONTENTS

A. Chairman’s Report

B. Treasurer’s Report

C. Interim Executive Director’s Report

D. Pastoral Department’s Report

E. Communication Department’s Report

F. Kids’ Learning Club

G. Centre Statistics

H. Centre Activities Highlights

I. Staff Photo and Organization Chart

A. Chairman’s Report

ST. BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON 24th JUNE 2017

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

In our last appeal letter issued by the end of last year, we mentioned our old friend, Mr.

Chan, visiting our centre after he has not attended the centre for a long while. He visited the

centre specifically to express his gratitude to us for our help in the past. We first came to know

Mr. Chan about 3 years ago during our visit of street sleepers on a Thursday night. At that time,

Mr. Chan did not have a job and his wife had divorced him. He had no choice but sleept on

the street. That was the most difficult stage of his life. After a period of visit, on our

invitation, Mr. Chan attended our centre to receive our help and encouragement. About 18

months ago, Mr. Chan found a permanent job in cleaning and was able to rent a place of his

own and did not have to sleep out on the street. Since then, he has been busy with his work

and has not been able to attend our centre.

A lot of our friends attending our centre are at a low point of their life, just like Mr. Chan

three years ago. What our volunteers and us are doing is to offer them help, care,

encouragement and hope to enable them to survive through such low point.

Often, I feel that St. Barnabas is like a bridge offering a way for our friends to walk pass

a difficult stage of their life at their own pace, whether slowly or quickly. We always look to

identify the needs of friends and try to help. With our little assistance, we do pray that they

would be able to survive through such difficult stage and enter into a better phase of their life.

On behalf of our friends, I take this opportunity to express heartfelt gratitude to all donors,

volunteers, staff and Executive Committee members for your prayers, volunteer service and

monetary support last year to enable to St Barnabas to be a bridge over the difficult time of our

friends.

Next year is our 30th anniversary. With numerous blessings from God, we have been

providing love and care over the last 30 years. We shall have a gathering by the end of this

year to celebrate our 30th anniversary, glorify Lord and count our blessings over the years. We

shall continue to learn from the teaching of our Lord about “Good Samaritan”:

“Love Your Neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27)

Chairman

Andrew Ngo

B. Treasurer’s Report

C. Interim Executive Director’s Report

ST. BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON 24th JUNE 2017

REPORT OF INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ

Jesus." Philippians 4:19

There have been substantial staff changes during 2016/2017. However, the Lord is

the great Provider whose supply is immeasurably more than what we ask or imagine.

Our newly recruited staff members were on board at the right time and are extremely

enthusiastic in serving our friends at St. Barnabas. Thanks to the Lord for His great

provision at the right time.

Our service statistics of last year show that there was a drop in the number of

people using our lunch service and day time outreach service. After some

investigations, we are pleased to find out that the drop is because some of our friends

ceased to use our lunch service after they have found new full-time or part-time

employments; some of them have attended nearby organizations (who shared our

vision of service) where free lunch is served to the needy. Our flea removing service

is always provided during daytime as part of our daytime outreach service. After

four years of providing flea removal service in our neighborhoods, it is good to see

that our service has been effective and there is now less demand on this service.

Our discipleship and bible study service in 2016/2017 was slightly affected after

the leaving of our two ministers who were called by the Lord to other areas of mission

after many years of service at St. Barnabas. The Lord has provided another team of

ministers to continue our discipleship and bible study service.

Many of our friends are of old age (the average age of them is 78). We have

provided our services to cater for their needs in relation to their physical, mental and

social health. Many of our friends have eye or teeth problems or both, and need to fix

the problems in order to have a better quality of life. Fixing eye/teeth problems is

expensive and is beyond what our friends can afford. Our friends have been blessed

with the funding from Netherzole Funds to fix their problems. Some of our friends

are facing death as they suffer from cancer or diabetes or other terminal illness. In the

last stage of their life, our staff would keep them in good company and comfort them

to make sure that they feel secured and peaceful and know where they are going after

life on this earth – to the embrace of our heavenly Father. In case there is something

they really want to do before they pass away, for example, restoring a broken

relationship with their family. In order to fulfill their “dreams”, our staff would try to

contact their family members and explain to the members the situation and the desire

of our friends. After their death, our staff would co-ordinate their funeral matters with

churches such as Baptist Church and Good Neighbour Church. I take this opportunity

to say a big thank you to our staff and these churches who have been a true friend to

our service users with all sorts of ideas to serve our service users effectively.

Meal service is one of our major services to our friends. We need to well manage

the raw food donated by Ever Green Association, and cook food from Food Link and

Hong Kong Bank, Pre A Manger and La Rose Noire Bakery so that there would be no

wastage, and healthy and delicious dishes are prepared for our friends. I wish to give a

special thank you to our “Cooking Team” (consisting of a small group of our friends

guided and trained by a professional chef). The team has served our friends with all

their hearts, minds and strengths. A special thank should also be given to the food

donors mentioned above. Without the food donated by them, it would not have been

possible for us to provide the right meals to our friends.

Maranda Li

Interim Executive Director

Evergreen Association donated fruits and vegetables

Hong Kong Bank donated cooked food.

Foodlink donated cooked food.

C. Pastoral Department’s Report

ST. BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON 24th JUNE 2017

PASTORAL DEPARTMENT’S REPORT

The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is

this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble,

and to keep oneself untouched by the world. James 1:27 (New translated version)

The bible teaches us the meaning of reverence, and that is to take care of the needs

of the community. Our centre serves the Hong Kong people who have special needs,

the minorities who suffer in difficulties such as orphans and widows, CSSA families,

low income people and those patients who have chronic illnesses etc. Facing their

desperate needs, we follow the spirit of Jesus in loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Through the teaching of the bible, counselling, pastoral care, healthy meals, provision

of daily necessities, we try our best to help them overcome difficulties. We encourage

them to remove all the addictions and establish a healthy supporting system. We

sincerely hope that they can restore to God’s image and live a life that glories His

name.

Pastoral Care

Keep watch over the flock of God which is in your care, using your authority, not

as forced to do so, but gladly; and not for unclean profit but with a ready mind. Not as

lords over God's heritage, but making yourselves examples to the flock. (Peter 1,

5:2-3)

Following the bible’s teaching, it is God’s command that we have to take care of

the flock. We should do it willingly without feeling oppressed, or without being

motivated by the greed for money. Pastoral care can be the work of many people in

serving a lot of people, and it is a reflection of our lives. Our behavior is also a way of

showing our pastoral care.

The last sentence is the main point. Every moment in our lives is also a

testimony and the model for others. Can we have religious or life reflections through

clothings, meals, accommodations and daily behavior? Can we overcome poverty and

enter a bountiful life? What we need from God is His wisdom.

There are a lot of changes in the daily lives of people living in Western District.

The rent and the price of daily necessities rise drastically that increase the burdens of

our neighbours. A lot of them become homeless or looking for smaller rooms for

accommodations. We have to be determined to walk with them, to think what they

think and have quick response to what they quest for. This not only enhance their life

spirit, so that their hearts would not be worn out. May their spirits and hearts be

nourished even though they are facing burden, hunger and exhaustion.

Worships

There are more than 1900 men times in worship this year with a bit of rise of

1.7%. We believe that this is due to the regular visit of the worship team of Kau Yan

Church members.

We also add some elements of the church calendar that help our service users

better discover God and experience God. From these elements, they can have more

confidence in God and be more dependent on God in their life journey.

We encourage our service users to show up punctually, so as to cultivate them the

importance of being respectful to their faith.

Fellowship activities

We have different organisations participating in the fellowship activities after

worship this year. Besides Evangelical Church of All Blessings have regular

participations, there are other churches and community groups involving in the

activities. We are pleased that there were more individuals’ participations. Volunteers

tried their best to design the programmes and involve enthusiastically that make our

Friends play like kids. Unsurprisingly, there are 16,600 men times participating in the

fellowship activities this year.

Besides, we have unexpected returns too. Through fellowship activities, there are

transferred cases to churches of those who wanted to have better understandings of

faith. This is the real meaning of personal growth and mutual relationship. There were

6-8 cases this year.

Bible studies in the afternoon

This year, the main topic of bible study is Psalm. There were 2645 men times

with a slight decrease of 12.2%. This is partly because some of them found jobs and

could not join the group and partly because they went to other organisations for free

meals.

However, we can see that those who regularly participated showed deep

involvement and they have courage to respond in the bible study. This shows that

God’s truth has deeply rooted in their hearts.

Counselling and Care

We continue to co-operate with the University of Hong Kong to arrange those

interns (studying Master degree in Counselling) to offer counselling services to those

in needs. The result is satisfactory and there are improvements when compared with

last year. Different counsellors have discovered different potentials of our Friends

such as music, drawing and gardening etc.

Through the discovery of hidden potentials, they managed to develop their potentials

with suitable methods. Our Friends’ hidden emotions and burdens could be released.

They gradually changed their aimless life style and they elevated their personal inner

elements.

Outreach visits

The work of outreach visits divided into two parts: one is the visit of an

accommodation, the other is the visit on the street. We encounter many problems

when visiting both of them.

First, regarding wood partitioned rooms, our service users became homeless

when facing the drastic rise of the rent that forced them to move out. Some of them

even “disappear” without any advance notice.

Second, the backgrounds of residents are becoming more complicated. The gates

of the building are always locked and we need a long time to establish relationships

and trust. The other point is the owner of the flat does not want us to disturb the

residents so as to avoid the release of rent information. Good residents left and bad

residents came in.

Besides, the street sleepers who sleep in 24 hours fast food shop were forced to

leave because of the renovation of the shops.

We therefore have to apply new strategies to tackle the problem and that is the

limitation of the involvement of volunteering groups so that we can be more focused

on discovering new locations and be more tactful in handling the needs of the service

users. For examples, we accompanied them to see a doctor, we offered free medical

services, and we encouraged the new immigrants to integrate into Hong Kong

community.

Regarding street sleepers, we cooperate with other organisations for exchanging

information and define their scope of activities. After that, we proceed to visiting our

clients and that increase our efficiency. So far the outcome is good.

Other activities

Besides the groups and organisations mentioned above, there is the Group of

Golden Oldies from Love and Care for the Sick Foundation coming to our centre to

bring us good memories of songs.

The volunteers from Givers came irregularly to change the hair styles of our

service users. Union Church, St. Andrew’s Church and Solomon’s Porch also

participated in our outreach visits enthusiastically. They also led the Sunday dinner

programmes, especially during festivals that make our hall filled with people. We

thank them for their love.

We believe that if one is willing to give out a cup of cool water, our service users

can overcome their difficulties and take a rest. They can then renew their lives. May

God lead us to be more sensitive to their needs, and know how to support them.

Pastoral Department

Youth College held fellowship activities and games

Through studying Proverbs, service users can enhance their wisdom and spirit

We mainly developed service users’life qualities through counselling

Due to the encouragement of the counsellor, our service user who knew nothing about

music perform his first performance of playing the piano.

\

Not only did we visited streetsleepers, we also blessed those who lived in wood

partitioned rooms.

。During the flea removal programmes from June to October, we have helped more

than a hundred of families, nearly reach out for three hundred residents.

E. Communication Department’s Report

ST. BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON 24th JUNE 2017

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT’S REPORT

“Because of the crushing of the poor and the weeping of those in need, now will I

come to his help, says the Lord; I will give him the salvation which he is desiring.”

Psalm 12:5

Skyrocketing rent in exchange for a cramped and expensive living space; such

malady now prevails among the city, which ends up pushing some people in Hong

Kong to sleep in the rough streets or squeeze in a small partitioned room for survival.

Saint Barnabas’ Society and Home was blessed by God that we provide a place for

the street sleepers and the poor where they can enjoy free facilities and services.

(remark: if we say “a home for all the street sleepers”, we may give the wrong

impression that we provide accommodation) Between the year of 2016-and the first

quarter of 2017, Communication Department was very blessed that we are provided

by God in all aspects and in all projects. As a result, our Friends were nurtured

spiritually and materially.

In the aspect of sponsorship, First States Investments (Hong Kong) Limited,

Solomon’s Porch, Sedan Chair Charities Fund and Community Church continued to

sponsor Kids’ Learning Club. Our kids from low income families can attend the

English interest classes free of charge that help them enhance their confidence and

abilities. American Women Association, Shatin Alliance Church and Union Church

provided funding to cover some of the expenses of Sunday Dinner Project, thus

helping us to continue this project. Solomon’s Porch also came to serve meals every

other month.

Celebrations in the festivals such as Dragon Boat Festival celebration was

sponsored by Hope of the City. They sponsored us one bite sticky rice dumplings.

Mid-Autumn Festival celebration was sponsored by Italian Women Association. Our

Friends’ outing to Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the lunch were funded by them.

Goldman Sachs (Asia) CLC sponsored the food of Winter Solstice. Christmas

celebration was sponsored by TVB, Staff & Artistes Fund for Charities Limited. Hope

of the City sponsored Pun Choi feast during Chinese New Year. During these festivals,

the organisations even sent volunteers to host programmes for our service users,

which brought along warmth and happiness. Besides, Stelux Holdings Limited

sponsored fruits and sometimes serving meals every two months. Our Friends can

enjoy the fruits after dinner during ordinary days.

Because of CWM/Nethersole Fund kindly sponsored the project of “For your Eyes

Only”, which was divided into three parts. The first part of the project was a talk about

eye health, and an eye check-up at our centre. We invited Dr Jeremy Kwok to conduct a talk

on Nov 29 last year on November 29 2015. On Jan 10 and 24 2016, together with Dr Jason

Yam, he provided eye check-up services to 80 service users. The second part was to provide

an advanced check-up of 12 service users at an eye clinic. We are grateful that Dr Rudy Ching

supports our project very much. She provided us a discounted charity price for these advanced

check-ups. The third part was a selection of 4 service users to receive eye surgery and

after-surgery medication. Four service users were very happy after receiving cataract surgery

in April. When the doctor removed their gauze on the eye, they were very excited. They said

their eyesight was much better than in the past. They were so excited that they took a lot of

photos at the clinic.

Besides, starting in November last year, CWM/Nethersole Fund also sponsored the

project ”For your Teeth Only” This project was still in progress this year. More than

ten service users who have dental problems were benefited. They were accompanied

by our staff to go to dental clinic to do the denture, root canal therapy, dental caries

needing restoration, tooth extraction and crowning. After the healing, all of them

can eat food like normal people without pain when eating. They can now enjoy the

food during ordinary days.

“Happy Homes for the Elderly in Central and Western District” was our centre’s

project sponsored by the Central and Western District Council in 2016. The focus of

the project was flea removal in wood partitioned rooms. Originally, we set the target

of serving 200 people. However, the response was so good that we finally served

more than 300 people. Besides, we continued to set up a booth at the Central and

Western District Carnival, which was managed by our Friends We got in touch with a

lot of neighbours on that day. A lot of service users played the games and received a

lot of gifts. The highlight of the project was the invitation of Upbeat Elderly Choir.

Our Friends enjoyed the songs as well as participating in learning the singing skills.

The choir mixed with our Friends very well that night.

Moreover, we have invited Hong Kong Horticultural Therapy Association to

send interns to our centre to hold horticultural therapy classes. Our Friends can

improve spiritual and physical health during the classes. They held eight therapeutic

sessions for two groups of service users respectively. With a total of 16 attendants

from parenting groups and elderly groups, the classes helped our Friends receive

physical and mental healing, thus enabling them to live a positive life.

Other health-related activities include the invitation of doctors and nurses of the

Caring Angels project organized by The Salvation Army to our centre for body

check-up and the health consultation. Besides, organised by the Chinese International

School (CIS), the free clinic service was provided on the November 12 2016 and February 18

2017. Those Friends who have health problem were accompanied by our staff to Dr Lauren

Bramley and Partners clinic. Each consultation lasted about twenty minutes. As required, the

doctors gave medicine or ointment, or referral letters so the service users could go to hospital

for advanced check-ups. Among the service users, two cases required urgent admission to

hospital.

Regarding volunteering, Macquarie Groups held their Community Day and

Corporate Event Day at our centre. They cleaned our centre, cut fruits for our Friends

and do gardening at our backyard. Last year, we were invited by South Island School,

West Island School, Renaissance College and Discovery College to attend their school

fairs for recruiting volunteers and promoting the services of our centre. Community

Church also invited us to introduce our services too. Afterwards, a lot of student

volunteers and adult volunteers helped out our children and elderly programmes.

International Christian School helped cleaning our centre. Besides, St. John’s

Cathedral invited us to their bazaar, in which we set up a game booth to raise fund for

charity. After the event, they kindly donated some of their incomes to us, too.

As the bible says, our Lord is “God who gives us in full measure all things for

our use” (1 Timothy 6:17). May we ask our Lord to continue to protect us in the

provision of sponsorship and volunteers without any insufficiency in the coming

years.

Communication Department

Commonwealth Bank of Australia served meals regularly

Flea removal team

Horticultural therapy class

Macquarie’s Corporate event day

F. Kids’ Learning Club

ST BARNABAS’ SOCIETY AND HOME

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON 24th JUNE 2017

KIDS’ LEARNING CLUB’S REPORT

“All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your

children.” Isaiah 54:13

Hong Kong is a free enterprise capital society and our resources are very

unequally distributed. the gap between the rich and the poor is great. The Kids

Learning Club is serving the underprivileged families who are under high pressure

from the huge cost of living in Hong Kong. The parents hope that their children could

lift out of poverty, and education is seen as the best way to achieve this goal. The

children are stressed out by the huge expectation from their parents. We would like to

create a “study-and-play balance” for the children so that they can have a better

childhood. We also support the parents so that they can create a better nurturing

environment for their children.

Sunday Programme and Dinner

There was an increase in the number of parents and children visiting our centre on

Sundays. A total number of 904 children attended the Sunday programme in the year,

which had created a 24% growth comparing to the fiscal year 2015/2016. We served

dinner every Sunday after the programme. With 46 dinners each night served

throughout the year, we had a total attendance of 1880 which indicates a 30% increase.

We were happy with the growth in man-time and this means that the families were

satisfied with our services, since most of our new comers knew our service by word of

mouth.

The Weekdays Programme

With the help of the Chinese International School, the West Island School and

some volunteers from the University of Hong Kong, we held our weekdays

programme i.e. the drama club and the English exchange programme for children

from the San Wui Commercial Society School and the St Matthew’s Primary School

successfully. The teachers from both primary schools had positive feedbacks on the

programmes and they agreed that the programmes could increase students’ exposure

to English. The kids had gained greater confidence in English conversations after the

programmes.

Festival Day Camps

We have three festival day camps which held in different school holidays; they are

the Easter day camp, the summer day camp and the New Year day camp. The

attendance for the day camps had increased significantly comparing to the fiscal year

2015/2016. In the Easter day camp, we had a total attendance of 100 children for 3

days of programmes, there was an average of 33 kids coming each day. Comparing

the average of 19 kids per day in fiscal year 2015/2016, we had a 74% rise in number

of kids per day.

The attendances for the summer day camp and New Year day camp were also

expanded. The total number of attendance for the summer day camp was 403 in the

year, comparing to the total attendance of 199 in fiscal year 2015/2016, there was a

raise of 204 attendances which is an average of 17 students more on each day. In the

New Year day camp, we had an average of 28 children attended per day in fiscal year

2016/2017. In fiscal year 2015/2016, the average was 24 children per day; we had 4

children increase per day.

The day camps were great time for the children to relax and have fun during their

holidays. We had different themes in each day camps such as firefighters, robot

making etc. The children can learn out of schools and books through our day camps.

Outreach visits

Our outreach programme had just started from October and we had already visited

17 families in total. We would like to visit each family twice a year. By visiting the

families, we would be able to understand their background and also we could talk

more deeply about their worries and difficulties since we had limited time to talk to

each parent on Sundays.

Throughout the year, we had received many supports from different organization,

including physically and financially. Thank God for letting those angels come and

serve with us, and hope that the Kids Learning Club will always be guided by His

loving hands and serve in His path.

Kids’ Learning Club

Sunday Kids’ Programme with volunteers from the Union Church

Watching Christmas Drama at Community Church and having lunch together

The Drama Club

The English Exchange Programme

G. Centre Statistics

H. Centre Activities Highlights

April 2016 La Salle College students hosted Saturday Fellowship and served dinner at Centre.

May 2016 Nethersole Charity Foundation sponsored eye check-up and surgeries.

June 2016 Macquarie Group Community Day at Centre

August 2016 Volunteers from Evangelical Church of All Blessings hosted Fellowship and served dinner at Centre.

July 2016 Hong Kong Association of Therapeutic Horticulture intern hosted program at Centre.

September 2016 Centre outing to Hong Kong Heritage Museum at Shatin

November 2016 Commonwealth Bank of Australia volunteers served dinner at Centre.

October 2016 Fund raising fair at St. John’s Cathedral.

December 2016 Goldman Sachs sponsored Chinese Winter Solstice Festival dinner at Centre.

January 2017 Kau Yan School students hosted programs at Centre.

February 2017 Hope of the City sponsored Poon Choi feast for Chinese New Year and hosted programs.

March 2017 Givers volunteers hosted hair cutting program at Centre.

I Staff Photo and Organization Chart