The annual Heart-to-Heart Charity Walk was held in Pak Shek Kok Promenade on 25 November 2018. It has been the 19th year Children’s Heart Foundation (CHF) hosting the event. Over HK$1.65 million was raised with the support of 4000 participants, over 40 organizations and 200 volunteers.
The theme of this year Charity Walk is “Taste the Sweetness”. Healthy eating and continuous exercise are crucial for achieving a healthy heart, and doing good deeds is a source of happiness. The CHF encourages participants to turn their love into action by supporting children with congenital heart disease and paying attention to heart health, so we can “taste” the joy of the body and mind together.
CHF is honor to have the Cluster Chief Executive of Hong Kong East Cluster, Dr. Luk Che-chung and Mrs. Selina Chow, JP to lead the opening ceremony. In her speech, Mrs Chow expressed that it was her honor to be invited as the guest of honour and appreciated the dedication of CHF’s services toward the children with congenital heart disease and their families. It is also an honour to be able to invite Mr. Chan Ming-tai and Miss Ho Tze-lok to be our Star of Charity Walk. They both had represented Hong Kong to participate in the Asian Games and had had good results. During the opening ceremony, they made healthy snack with our children member and invited the guests to taste the snack. Mr. Chan and Miss Ho also called for the public awareness towards the needs of children with congenital heart disease and to encourage them to break through their limits resulted from the disease.
The Chairman Dr. Chau Kai-tung expressed gratitude towards the generous support provided by various stakeholders; he pointed out there are 6-8 out of 1000 newborn babies who are born with heart disease, in which many of them need to take different kinds of heart surgery or interventional treatment. They need support and encouragement as their paths will be very challenging. The fund raised from the Charity Walk will proceed to CHF’s diverse services, especially to those who need economical assistance to support surgery equipment.
CHF also called for the awareness of heart disease, especially the cases in which the patients look normal but the heart condition deteriorate quickly all of a sudden. Because congenital heart disease could be unexpected, common, and life-long, CHF urged the public to raise the awareness of the disease.
Dr. Chau appealed for the continuous public attention towards the children with congenital heart disease and to support them by donations to further the development.
The CHF gives special thanks to the following sponsors and supporters (listed in no particular order) -
