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Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited

Towngas is a socially responsible company that actively participates in a number of community incentives. We reach out through social investment programmes, strategic sponsorships, as well as various “sharing and caring” activities.

 
No business would be successful if it is not closely allied to the community that it serves.
 
Every year, we organise the “Rice Dumplings for the Community” programme in tandem with the Dragon Boat Festival. It is our single largest community event, bringing district and legislative councillors, schools and community organisations together, to make thousands of rice dumplings for distribution to the needy in Hong Kong. When launched in 2000, the programme set a record in the Guinness Book of Records with a “Giant Rice Dumpling” consisting of 10,000 normal-sized dumplings. In 2007, we established a new Guinness record by making the largest ever collection of rice dumplings, 34,056 in total, on a single occasion. The event also raised over HK$840,000 in funds for the premier Hong Kong charity, the Community Chest. In view of the tremendous publicity received, we hope that this territory-wide exercise will encourage others to extend their own helping hands to those in need.

In response to the government’s call to support local social enterprises, we offered our help and support to a number of enterprises. Our first initiative was to work with the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals’ catering service to produce “COOK EASY” food packs, the first food pack delivery service in Hong Kong providing fresh and nutritious pre-prepared ingredients, so that meals can be readily cooked in minutes. The cleaning, preparation and assembly of these food packs provide employment opportunities for the mentally-handicapped and other disadvantaged individuals.

A second social enterprise initiative was to sponsor and support fund raising lunches for the Hong Chi Association. Under this initiative, we sponsored the ingredients for the Association’s “Love and Shine Charitable Lunches” held at the Hong Chi Garden View Lounge, while also sharing our cooking skills and knowledge of running a restaurant at the events. The lunches provide an excellent opportunity for the Association’s disabled trainees to sharpen their catering management skills and enhance their job competitiveness in the market.

Caring for the community, we are also involved in a number of long-standing charitable programmes. Our volunteer team, consisting of our employees, their families as well as customers, provides a range of services for the needy and underprivileged within the community. The team participated in 117 volunteer activities, with 6,829 volunteers contributing a total of 38,935 service hours, benefiting 33,660 people, in 2007.

Our Community Service Achievements in 2007 
 
Corporate support through active participation, donation or in-kind sponsorship (Number of programmes)22
Number of employees participating in the Company´s voluntary services953
Number of Towngas Customer Volunteer Team members100
Number of voluntary service hours (including employees and customers)38,935
Number of rice dumplings made120,000
Number of mooncakes made100,000
Number of soup servings distributed26,490
Number of turnip cakes made3,500
 
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Snapshot of Our Long-standing Community Services for Senior Citizens

  • Rice Dumplings for the Community charity programme, organised annually since 2000
  • Safety rails installation programme, in operation since 2001
  • Mooncakes for Mid-Autumn, initiative first introduced in 2001
  • Donation and installation of free Towngas appliances since 2001
  • Hot Soup Delivery programme, available since 2002
  • Free Hair Cut service, introduced in 2001
  • Distribution of Turnip Cakes initiative, introduced in 2003
 
COOK EASY – Our social mission
In response to the government’s call to support social enterprises in Hong Kong, we collaborated with the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGH) to launch “COOK EASY”, Hong Kong’s first food pack delivery service, in December 2007. This, our first social enterprise initiative, seeks to help less competitive workers in Hong Kong earn their living and sharpen their skills.

Building on our cookery knowledge as well as our business experience, we provide a product that both considers the nutritional value of food as well as fulfils a market need. Specialists from our Towngas Cooking Centre design special recipes providing nutritious and easy-to-cook meals. TWGH’s catering services then prepare the ingredients which form the “COOK EASY” food packs. This initiative offers job opportunities for the disabled and other disadvantaged individuals, who are employed in the cleaning, preparation and assembly of the food packs.

In addition to its social mission, “COOK EASY” provides fresh, pre-prepared and ready-to-cook ingredients at a reasonable price, allowing meals to be ready in a very short time. The initiative also allows busy Hong Kong people to enjoy healthy home-cooked meals with minimum effort.

This ethical initiative is being widely supported by the public. Henderson Land Development Company Limited for example, is actively promoting “COOK EASY” to residents in their housing developments throughout Hong Kong. During the pilot period, running from August to December in 2007, we produced 2,148 food packs and provided 1,662 man-hours of job for disadvantaged workers under the scheme.

What is a Social Enterprise?

A social enterprise is a business whose ultimate mission is to achieve a social objective. Revenues generated from the business are used to support the enterprise’s operations and social mission without the need to depend on subsidies or donations.

Objectives can include:
  • Filling a social need and existing service gaps.
  • Creating job opportunities for less competitive candidates.
  • Empowering participants to support collective effort and worker involvement.
  • Building social capital.
  • Advancing sustainable development by raising eco-awareness, advocate ethical practices, etc.
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