“I believe life is full of possibilities!”:
Connie works from bank to food bank
We will be interviewing Feeding Hong Kong colleagues from different departments to share their working experiences. Connie Shuen , our Charities Director shares her life story and how she works with charities.
Connie is the Charities Director of Feeding Hong Kong.
Connie grew up in a traditional family. Her parents expected her to find a professional job and have a stable life in the future. She followed her parent’s suggestions.
“I haven’t thought about my future work,” Connie admitted. She studied accounting at university and worked in the related field after graduation.
Hong Kong has a fast-paced life and high work pressure. After a few years of working in bank and accounting, Connie would like a break out from the routine and was eager to get out of the comfort zone. What is the path of Connie becoming the Charities Director of Feeding Hong Kong today?
“I hope to pursue a meaningful job and live a fulfilling life,” Connie said. Despite having a stable life, Connie was not satisfied and wanted something different in her life.
This is the reason why she started a journey in India with just a backpack and even without telling her parents. This journey completely changed her beliefs and values.
On the road, Connie realized that life in the city was too comfortable and she was blind to the problem of povert in the society. . She recalled seeing a street sleeper in India who shared his remaining food with a stray dog very cheerfully. This scene motivated her to rethink about how she can serve the society and help those in need, “I know it’s time to change!” Connie said.
Connie then read a book called “Food Waste”, written by independent journalist Leila Chan, revealing the issues of food waste in Hong Kong. She joined Feeding Hong Kong with a mission to bridge the gap between poverty and food waste.
Feeding Hong Kong is a charity for charities. Our work is to deal with food that is about to expire, overproduced, or seasonal products. We source, collect, and store surplus food from companies and redistribute it to local charities.
Being the Charities Director, Connie deals with more than 150 of our charity partners everyday. She said food banks have to redistribute food to local charities with high efficiency and ensure food safety at the same time. For example, fresh vegetables and fruits are usually in high demand among grass-roots families, but they have to be collected and shared as soon as possible because they are very perishable food.
Connie (left) and Justin (right) are both from the Charities Team. They were working on a donation.
Having worked at Feeding Hong Kong for seven years, Connie has handled many food donations, and she described everyday work as a battle. Whether it is dozens of pallets of food, or perishable vegetables and fruits , we need to redistribute them to local charities quickly and effectively.
“I’m glad that I have a good team working together to reduce food waste,” Connie said, “If you find something meaningful, seize the day and act now!”
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