A new semester, a new beginning and another kick-off ceremony for a voluntary service project - the City-Youth Empowerment Project. That is right! We are back in action. The City-Youth Empowerment Project held its first memorable and informative event at Lecture Theatre 401 on 15 September 2010. Not only did we have the largest turn out of potential volunteers on this special night but we also had some inspiring words from Dr Elaine Au, the Project Convenor, and Dr Cheung Chor-yung, the Dean of Students. They shared the importance of team work and our roles as students in the community.

Dr Cheung's speech captured the vital essence of volunteerism by highlighting the Project “as a flagship volunteer programme with over 9000 hours of volunteer work”. He also emphasised the spirit of volunteerism and the beneficial experience that both the volunteers and the people they help acquire after each service; “What attracts me most in volunteerism is the human spirit behind voluntary work. We give a helping hand voluntarily to the most needy, irrespective of who they are or where they come from, simply because we regard every one of them as an equal human individual, and want to help them to preserve their human dignity, for we have equal respect for all.”

Sharing experiences also came from our peers. Deborah from mainland China gave an enthusiastic replay of her experiences of tutoring young children whilst the audience was shown a video log of sweet memories put together from past City-Youth volunteer services.

However, the most important question that most of you are probably wondering is, “What are the services for this semester?” This semester we are looking towards exciting new services, such as tutoring services for children from low income groups, those with physical disabilities and special needs, Mentoring Schemes with South Asian Youth and a special session event of the “Cultural Exchange Workshop”. Furthermore, there is also an abundant choice of one-stop services, such as the “Adventure-based Counseling Camp” and “Adventure Ship” that challenge both mentors’ and mentees’ physical and mental strengths.

The City-Youth Empowerment Project is the platform where regardless of your student status, local, non-local, international, mainland or exchange, we are all united under a single goal: to make the community we live in a better place for someone else and ourselves. So don't hesitate! Take advantage of this incredible opportunity to be a mentor AND learn from an experience! Get in touch with the Project Officer, Nicola Yau Toi Yung, or browse http://www.cityu.edu.hk/youeprj/info.htm for more information. As for those of you who have already registered, do not forget we have three training sessions approaching within October 2010. See you there!