Hong Kong eyes golden opportunities for retirees

Members of Project GrandMove, a program that trains retirees to become exercise instructors for the elderly led by the University of Hong Kong, pose on March 9 after a training session. Pushing a trolley stacked with paint cans, brushes, and a new handrail, she is on her way to do volunteer repair work for elderly residents living in public housing in Hong Kong's Tsuen Wan district. A study by the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong's Department of Marketing in July, which was commissioned by the AVS, found that 8.9 percent of the city's elderly have participated in volunteer work. Melissa Kaye Pang, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Agency for Volunteer Service, attributes the city's enduring tradition of volunteerism to the joy it brings participants. Hong Kong Executive Councilor Lam Ching-choi, who also serves on the advisory panel on the silver economy, said the participation rate of Hong Kong's elderly people in volunteer work is not low when compared with other developed regions, but, it has room to grow.