Sun Hung Kai Properties : SHKP Reading Club celebrates 5th anniversary with community-wide reading initiatives

Celebrating its 5th anniversary this coming December, the SHKP Reading Club under Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) will launch the Happy Reading Give Me FIVE celebration campaign to make reading fun and enjoyable for all, especially youngsters. In collaboration with six partners, the Campaign will present a series of five reading initiatives to mark the anniversary, including a reading-themed afternoon tea, overseas travel sponsorship, community exploration, video-sharing and inter-generational reading fun, from May onwards.

Today, SHKP Executive Director Allen Fung kicked off the Campaign with representatives of the partners: sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck Vice Chairman Josephine Lam; The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong Executive Chef Peter Find; GLO Travel co-founders and Directors Jamie Cheung and Rubio Chan; Walk In Hong Kong co-founder and CEO Paul Chan; The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups M21 Director James Mok; and Hans Andersen Club Executive Director May Wong.

Over 200,000 people enjoyed Happy Reading

SHKP has been promoting reading and holistic development for more than a decade. To this end, the Group set up the SHKP Reading Club in late 2013 to integrate their reading initiatives in the community, particularly for the benefit of primary and secondary school students, disadvantaged children and families. To date, over 200,000 people across the city have directly taken part in the Club's activities.

SHKP's Allen Fung said, 'SHKP believes that reading contributes enormously to personal growth as well as the development of society. That's exactly why we continually invest our resources and efforts to promote reading as a habit in Hong Kong. In addition, special elements such as sports, charity and creative writing were added to relevant events and community projects to make reading more lively and interesting, hoping to inspire more people to discover the joys of reading.'

Coupling charity with reading

Reading Tea Time, the first celebratory treat of the Happy Reading Give Me FIVE series, will be co-presented by the Club, sky100 and Café 100 by The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong during May and June. Participants can enjoy reading with a specially-designed afternoon tea set designed by a five-star hotel chef and take in stunning harbour views across Hong Kong. A portion of the proceeds will be turned into reading resources for disadvantaged children in foster care. Customers can also encourage and offer their best wishes to the beneficiaries through personal notes on a themed postcard, which comes with the tea set. The postcards will be collected and delivered to the foster children along with books and items donated by the Club. Reading in Short Film and Inter-generational Reading Fun also offer charitable goodwill through reading. The former is a social media campaign calling for videos shot on mobile phone to be uploaded and shared on a social media platform. The 'shares' will turn into 'sponsorships' for children and teens to join creative reading activities. The latter comprises story-telling sessions with primary students, recruiting volunteers as the story-tellers who will also visit homes for the elderly, bridging the generations with happy reading moments.

Reading Stories from Afar and Reading Hong Kong Stories both encourage people to explore more possibilities reading can provide. Plan a trip with a creative reading-related itinerary and submit the travel proposal to the Club. Shortlisted participants will get the chance to win a sponsorship to make the trip a reality.

Additionally, five artists of different ages and styles have been invited to create a 'happy reading' illustration to mark the SHKP Reading Club reaching its fifth anniversary milestone. These include primary school fourth-grade art prodigy - Lau You-gi, Champion of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs' 2017 Peace and Cooperation School Award and current DSE student Winkie Wong, renowned comic artist Chao Yat, gifted painter with a severe hearing impairment Eugene Sung, and a young writer from the 4th Young Writers' Debut Competition and author of picture book Cicada - Kori Song.

Visit the Club's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/shkpreadingclub) and website (www.shkpreadingclub.com) for more details about the Happy Reading Give Me FIVE celebration campaign.

About the SHKP Reading Club

SHKP believes in 'Building Homes with Heart' while promoting reading and holistic development. The Group established the SHKP Reading Club in 2013 to help consolidate its reading-related initiatives such as seminars with leading speakers and guided cultural tours in order to inspire more people to enjoy reading and make it a habit. Those interested in becoming a member are welcome to register at: www.shkpreadingclub.com.