PP Filipe Senna Fernandes (President 2007-2008, Rotary Shares)

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The most important project was to raise the funds to build the school in Guangxi. Rtn. Liz Fong introduced Mr. Chong Im (“Johnny”) to the Club as a potential project donor, and we went to Guangxi to look for sites. A total of MOP300,000 was donated by Mr. Chong at our Club’s 61st Anniversary Ball which was held on May 17, 2008 at the Macau Tower, and the rebuild plan of Hua Lai school in Du’An, in the mountainous region of Guangxi was completed in the following Rotary year.

The next important project was the “Adopt-a-School Program”. Originally a district program, this was extended to Macau on January 12, 2008 when four (4) clubs from Area 1 (Macau) signed the memorandums with their respective school partners:
– Rotary Club of Macau (with Escola São Paulo)
– Rotary Club of Macau Central (with Choi Kou School)
– Rotary Club of Taipa (with Instituto Salesiano)
– Rotary Club of Guia (with Colégio Diocesano de São José)

With the support that we received from Father Alex from St. Paul’s School, our club was the first club in Area 1 to commit to the program.

Sponsorship of students. We have sponsored 25 underprivileged students in Guangxi, China that were successfully admitted to different universities around China, but did not have the financial support to take on their studies. Our Club sponsored RMB3,000.00 for each student (Total sponsorship = RMB75,000.00). I remember being in the hotel room with loads of RMB100 bills that we brought in from Macau and had to divide all the money there, that being China.

Disaster Relief. Our Club contributed a total HK20,000.00 towards the China Snow Disaster Relief and raised MOP150,000.00 for Sichuan earthquake.

One thing in particular I remember is the Joint Area 1 and 4 Meeting (which included 12 Clubs) that I organized and our Club played host of the event which was held at the basement of the Military Club.

Regarding the Club and membership I would say business was as usual, much as now, but worth highlighting is we had about 49 members in my year, but just before we handed over the Club I had to let eight non-active members go. As far as I know, Past Presidents have not done that before. Consequently, PP Florence had a “clean” start with a total of 45 members, including 41 active members and 4 honorary members. At the time we were meeting at the Casa Real Hotel we then moved to the Regency Hotel in Taipa.

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