On behalf of the Directors, welcome to the March issue of our Newsletter, M.E.F. With
Covid quickly becoming a distant memory, there is now greater interest from outside
organisations, Partnering Organisations, Social Workers, Volunteers, Team Leaders and
most importantly from the children who want to have more joyous parties. We are nudging
slowly towards our desired target of having on average 2 or 3 joyous parties per week.
JOYOUS PARTIES IN FEBRUARY
Because of the Chinese New Year holiday, we only had 2 joyous parties in February. The first was held at the Home Care for Girls in Tsing Yi. The Home provides loving support and a
caring environment to young ladies who may have suffered abuse at the hands of men.
Edward was the Team Leader but he handed the honour over to Party Leader Eva Lo for a
girls-only celebration. The beautiful red cake was made by our Fundraising Committee
member, Ms. Alex Garcia.
The Celebrants ranged in age from 12 to 17 years old. Eva also donated some suitable gifts,
including an expensive Enjoy purse. Tradition dictates that such a gift has good luck money
inside. Tradition is tradition! Volunteers Wei Chan and her husband Weibo also donated
gifts to the Celebrants.
We had the second joyous party the next day at the Society for Community Organization
(SoCO). Again, Edward was the Team Leader and the joyous party was led by Pei Ying (P.Y.).
Celebrating their birthdays were four girls, ages 5 to 8 years old, and 3 boys, ages 6 to 10. As the joyous party was during a special Valentines month, Mr. Jeremy Meir made a delicious cake with sweets in the shape of a heart on top. Everyone had a great time.
2 JOYOUS PARTIES CONFIRMED IN MARCH
On Saturday 4th March, we’ll hold our first celebration at the Refugee Union. The joyous
party starts at 3.00 pm for 90 minutes in their Centre in Sheung Wan. The Union has over
3,000 members, all seeking refuge in Hong Kong. Some of the families have been waiting for
nearly a decade.
The next joyous party will be on Saturday, 11th March at the Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association
of Hong Kong. The Association’s Fanling Centre is on the Ka Fuk Estate in the New
Territories. Because of its proximity to the border of mainland China, the estate has many
mainland children who struggle with living in Hong Kong. It also has heavy unemployment
and a high rate of suicide amongst children, sadly. The joyous party will start at 1.00 pm for
90 minutes. If you can help in any way, please contact us at
JOINING HANDS TO DELIVER BIRTHDAY HAPPINESS
Birthday Happiness Asia was recently approached by Ms. Reshma Gopwani. Reshma
volunteers with us but has been abroad and unable to participate lately. Reshma is one of 7
active members of the Faith Charity Foundation. Each month they reach out to different
organisations to do community work. They have over 40 ladies who they can approach for
help, and have performed community work for SoCO and the Home Care for Girls, amongst
others. They wish to team up with Birthday Happiness Asia to spread birthday cheer in May.
Faith Charity will sponsor the celebrations and Volunteers from Birthday Happiness Asia and
the Foundation can join hands to deliver birthday happiness together.
LOVE21
Last year, Love21 joined us as a new Partnering Organisation after a successful launch party
in their Centre led by Mansha. Love21 helps less fortunate children with autism and Down
syndrome.
We were scheduled to have a joyous party with Love21 on 12th February and a further two
in March. Unfortunately, there was a major fire in the Wing Hin Factory Building on 28th
January, and one of the floors where Love21 was located was badly damaged.
Because of the extensive fire damage, we’ve been forced to postpone Love21 joyous parties
for the foreseeable future. If any Volunteers or organisation can help Love21 to find
temporary accommodation, please contact Mr. Ricky Fung at ricky@love21foudation.com.
WELCOME TO OUR NEW TEAM LEADER
We’d like to introduce our newest Team Leader, Ms. Pei Ying – simply known as P.Y. She
was born in Hong Kong and studies full time at the Li Po Chun United World College of Hong
Kong. Although her family live on Hong Kong Island, P.Y. boards and studies on the campus
in Wu Kai Sha. Her father is retired and her mother teaches the harp. Welcome to the Team!
SPECIAL THANKS TO JAS
We would like to thank our Volunteer Ms. Gina Judy Barnes for introducing Birthday
Happiness Asia to Mr. Gary Ferreira at JAS. JAS has kindly donated 8 large cartons of new
toys, mainly for boys, and 8 cartons of toys for girls, including Barbie dolls. Thank you for
this generous donation that will make many less fortunate children very happy.