Important Notice Regarding Fundraising Walkathon

Brothers and sisters may well be aware of the severe damage and impact Typhoon Mangkhut has recently brought to Hong Kong. Our fundraising walkathon originally scheduled on 1 October is also regrettably affected.

Before and after the typhoon, our Church had been keeping close contact with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) on matters in relation to safety of the walkathon route. The final reply from the Department on 19 September includes, inter alia, (1) multiple landslides has occurred along the walkathon route; (2) given the huge number of fallen trees, there is no guarantee the route would be thoroughly cleared before 1 October, the date of walkathon; (3) our Church is advised to reschedule the walkathon to another day.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has issued the following notice:

“Condition of country parks facilities after Typhoon Mangkhut
Typhoon Mangkhut has caused extensive damage to many hiking trails and recreation facilities at country parks. The Department is working in full strength to remove fallen trees and repair damaged facilities with a view to reopening these facilities for the public to enjoy as soon as possible. For the sake of safety, the public is advised to refrain from using hiking trails in country parks for the time being and not to enter areas affected by fallen trees and landslide. Country parks visitors should be vigilant of their own safety and pay attention to notices on site. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused and will further update the situation at the departmental website and our Facebook in due course.”

During the organizing stage of the walkathon (prior to the hitting of the typhoon), for the consideration of crowd control, the Church conducted various trial walks with the Usher and Security Team, including MacLehose Trail 10, path from Tai Lam Correctional Institution to So Kwun Wat, etc. It was finally concluded that none of such routes and their respective ancillary facilities (e.g. pick-up/drop-off points) could cope with a walkathon of over a thousand participants. On the other hand, the Church did apply to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) for using some promenades as an alternative. It was found that, however, chance of success is minimal unless application is made at least one year in advance. Furthermore, it is believed that other potential routes are similarly faced with high risks of trees falling currently.

Regarding the suggestion of rescheduling our walkathon by AFCD, since the only remaining public holiday between October and November is Chung Yeung Festival (17 October), which many Families of our Church have already scheduled their own gatherings and activities. Thus, rescheduling the walkathon to 17 October would cause much inconvenience to those Families.

Because of the above, the Church regrets to conclude that we have no choice but to cancel our walkathon this year. Nevertheless, we have devised the following measures to remedy the situation:

1. Splitting the walkathon into parts: We encourage our brothers and sisters to wear the “walkathon T-shirt” on the original date of walkathon, take a walk within your community for a certain duration of time, and then download the “Certificate of Completion” through Walkathon Facebook page and share to your own Facebook page. By so doing, brothers and sisters can continue to raise fund.

2. Notifying the sponsors: Brother and sisters should notify sponsors of the cancellation of the walkathon and the corresponding measures. If any sponsor wishes to withdraw the sponsorship, brothers and sisters should return the sponsored money accordingly with a thankful heart.

3. To facilitate the carrying out of Measure 2, the Church will make a video to explain the cancellation of the walkathon this year so that brothers and sisters can have a comprehensive and unambiguous way to convey the relevant messages to sponsors.

Finally, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our brothers and sisters for your faithful support. Despite the abortion of the walkathon, our “Kam Kwong Dream” will never stop!

Rev. Fun Lee
Person in Charge of the organizing committee of 2018 Kam Kwong Walkathon