Hong Kong: This week’s UBS Hong Kong Open Charity Cup will raise a minimum of HK$2.3 million [about US$300,000] for the three local groups chosen as beneficiaries by title sponsor UBS and the tournament’s Official Charity, Friends of Asia Hong Kong.
Wednesday’s gathering will be the UBS Hong Kong Open’s inaugural fund-raising event, which is now sold out and will see 200 people taking part in a golf day at the Hong Kong Golf Club, a Golf Facility Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.
The money raised from entry fees for the UBS Hong Kong Open Charity Cup is more than HK$1 million, which Friends of Asia Hong Kong will match, bringing the early totals of funds raised to a minimum of HK$2.3 million which will be shared equally by the three charities.
Playright Hospital Play Services provides treatment, support and comfort through play to ill children in local hospitals. The funds raised will go towards the continuing provision of Playright Hospital Play services at five of Hong Kong’s 13 public hospitals with pediatric wards.
InspiringHK Sports Foundation helps improve the social mobility of disadvantaged youth through the medium of sport and with funds raised here will start a GolfInspires programme for youth in Fanling.
The Autism Partnership Foundation will use the funding to create several much-needed programmes to help support children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families including creating a Parent’s training programme to assist parents with ASD children and launching a vital new free intensive one-month Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) Therapy Treatment Programme for low-income families in Hong Kong.
This free service offers over 60 hours of direct intervention and will include parent education to help parents know how they can continue to teach their children when the month has ended.
The programme is a first of its kind in Hong Kong. Currently ABA therapy is only provided by private practices and is very expensive. With the support of the UBS Hong Kong Open Charity Cup, APF will be able to increase the access to these services for low income families when their children most need them.
Caleb Chan, Founder of Friends of Asia HK, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce that we will raise a minimum of HK$2.3 million for our beneficiaries this year. The Playright Hospital Play Services, InspiringHK Sports Foundation and the Autism Partnership Foundation are three organisations which do amazing work to better the lives of Hong Kong’s youth. To be able to help them with this vital funding is a real honour for us.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in making the UBS Hong Kong Open Charity Cup such a success. There are so many people who have volunteered their time and services for free in order to help us reach our fund-raising goals for these charities. We thank everyone at UBS, the Hong Kong Golf Club, the European Tour and most importantly, the Hong Kong golfing community for their donations and participation in the inaugural Charity Cup.”
Kenneth Lam, Captain of the Hong Kong Golf Club, said: “It is a great pleasure for us to be able to offer our facilities to host the UBS Hong Kong Open Charity Cup. As soon as we were approached to stage the competition, we wanted to be involved in helping these three wonderful organisations. We hope that everyone who plays at Fanling on Wednesday will have an unforgettable experience and that together we can raise as much money as possible for these great causes.”