Instead of entering the corporate world, Myron has chosen to work for people in poverty.

We first met Myron in 2014 when he came to work with us, as an intern in our Incoming Department: a task, he says, that helped prepare him for his current role.

Myron went on to work with FOOD-CO: a service which sees Hong Kong’s excess food and other commodities reach people in need.

Myron at his current job with St James Settlement FOOD-CO

 

FOOD-CO says that Hong Kong sees 3,600 tonnes of food wasted every day. In his job, Myron helps get excess food to organisations who give it to the elderly, children at risk, people with disabilities and others in financial need.

We in Crossroads also regularly use FOOD-CO’s services as we accept goods to help feed people in need and support our own volunteers, a serious cost saver! We are cheering Myron on in his life choice! (see main image below of Myron with other interns at Crossroads in 2014)

From July 2017 to June 2018, we welcomed 99 student interns, each on his or her own life path. It is our privilege to be a part of their story as they seek to make choices that can impact a world in need. 

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

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Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

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Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

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Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

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We love to care for people in need within Hong Kong. Our buildings are not young, though, and, much as we want our clients to feel a sense of dignity, when visiting here, our aged bricks and mortar don’t always convey that message. Our former distribution centre for Hong Kong people was proving too ancient and, as well, too small, for this busy part of our work. So, this year, we took the plunge on a major project to renovate an old, but larger, space specifically for our Hong Kong clients. It took months of work, but, in Spring 2018, our new location was ready.

We drew on the beauty of local art for its decoration. We created a space where local clients can more freely browse a selection of goods. We made a large padded play area for their young children. We built changing rooms where all could try on clothes. We installed stylish, matching shelving we were donated for display of goods on offer. Our hope is that this feels like a visit to a pleasant shop, with just one difference: clients don’t need to pay any money!


WHO DO WE HELP IN HONG KONG?

We supply goods to:

  • individuals and families recommended by the Social Welfare Department.
  • Individuals recommended to us by Hong Kong NGOs.
  • other charities which may use them for their own operations or distribute to their beneficiaries.

WHEN ARE WE OPEN?

10.30-5.30 each working day. We ask our clients to make a booking in advance, though.


WHAT KINDS OF NEED DO WE HELP IN HONG KONG?

Adoption services, AIDS support, animal welfare, asylum seeker/refugee programmes, care of prisoners and ex-prisoners, community/cultural groups, community centres, community development programmes, computer training centres, drug rehabilitation services, educational institutions, elderly care, English training centres, environmental care, fair trade initiatives, family services, halfway houses, leadership training programmes, medical clinics & hospitals, microbusiness initiatives, orphanages, rehabilitation and therapy centres, rehabilitation services following abuse, service organisations, shelters for the vulnerable and people at risk, sports programmes for the disadvantaged, suicide prevention services, support for domestic workers, support for new arrivals, support for sufferers of autism, epilepsy, physical handicaps, etc, support for the disabled, support for women, typhoon recovery, vocational training programmes and youth services.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

People make an appointment through a Social Welfare branch or through a registered NGO. Through them, the client indicates what he/she needs and we see how much of their list we can meet from our donated stock.

 

We love to help any and all we can.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

History says that the most recent war in DR Congo ended in 2003, but those on the ground live with a different reality, especially the ones in the nation’s East. Here, there are still pockets of brutal violence, where families are fleeing their homes at a moment’s notice, loved ones are slaughtered and rape is wielded as a weapon of war.

Pendeze, a young Congolese woman, lives in one of these communities. She can speak to the ongoing conflict from bitter, firsthand experience. When she was a teenager, Pendeze and her family were forced from their home during an attack. They tried to hide in the bush, but soldiers found the family and killed Pendeze’s mother and father in front of her. It left a deep, open scar on Pendeze’s young heart and she longed for revenge. She joined a rebel group and fought as a soldier while still in her teens, until finally, she had the opportunity to return home.  As with so many child soldiers, though, she found ‘home’ no longer existed. The warm faces of family and the close community she had known had been destroyed. She had to rebuild life from scratch. In this, she was helped by one of our partners, on the ground.

Despite the odds, this group has developed several strategic arms of support. They have created a refuge which our shipment helped furnish. In this haven, people can meet, finding healing after their years, even decades of trauma, including the sexual abuse which so typically marks these conflicts.

Our shipment also helped equip a medical centre. Hospital beds we sent are being used for new mothers and are, they told us, “so beautiful that the health centre manager felt obliged to repaint the room to fit with the beds”! Even the provision of something as simple as refrigeration played a role.  Prior to this, it was hard for them to get blood for transfusions, but “with a fridge, the blood is now made available and the community so much helped”. That refrigeration also permits then to store medicine which needs temperature control.

Tools in the shipment created jobs for 50 youth, now able to find work as painters.  In a war zone, a reliable job, even a basic one, helps anchor lives.

Books in our shipment filled the community’s first library since the start of the most recent conflict.

Finally, fabric and sewing machines from Crossroads have helped train people in valuable tailoring skills. Pendeze, the young woman whose life was devastated by her suffering, is herself one of the tailoring school’s success stories. She now runs her own business, and owns two sewing machines. She’s a walking example of hope, and how a shattered life can be healed and begin again.

Our partners are seeing many, many more follow in her footsteps, following the arrival of our shipment. They estimate that the goods we were privileged to send have impacted more than 4,000 people directly, and more than 10,000 indirectly.

 

Feedback Story

Read how this shipment impacted the people in Iraq:

READ THE STORY

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

Reaching out to Vulnerable Children and Orphans

An NGO in Tanzania is responding to the problems caused by poverty on the Kigoma region of Tanzania. The staff paint a picture of families who are unable to keep their heads above water:

“Some families do not have the minimum means to fulfil their basic needs like food, shelter, health care to children, education support…”

Tanzania_S3203_1

 

Life is particularly difficult in the Congolese refugee camp and surrounding area. The project is passionate about not just practical help – they currently distribute food to 180 vulnerable children – but also the promotion of gender equality, a reduction in family conflict and in the marginalization of poor young people.

 

They have asked for goods to help them maintain and increase their programmes, and to help with future plans for a school for refugee children and an orphanage.

Potential impact:

  • Computers for 10 classrooms
  • 500 children and women receiving clothing, shoes and toys

Shipment includes:

  • Computers for school and vocational training
  • Furniture for office and schools
  • Clothing and household goods for refugees and local communities
  • Sports equipment and toys

Tanzania_S3203_4 Seraphine (left) was an orphan but she has had great support from her foster mother (right) and from the project. After training they now run a tailoring workshop. This shipment will include equipment for use in the vocational training programmes for young people.

Tanzania_S3203_3It is hard to imagine fleeing war and terror in DR Congo, then facing fear and destitution when you are across the border. Once in Tanzania, refugees face life in a camp, with all the challenges that entails. Finding enough to eat is hard enough, and education can seem like a distant dream. This photo shows a young girl who arrived as a frightened unaccompanied refugee child and who lives in the Nyarugusu Congolese Refugees camp. The project has helped give her hope, providing her with basic necessities, and the chance to pursue her schooling. Nowadays, after classes, she sells fish at the local market.

The Crossroads shipment will include clothing for vulnerable children like this young refugee, and equipment for the local schools serving her community. Sports equipment and toys will bring some joy into their lives too!

 

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Donate to a shipment like this one.

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Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Tanzania Snapshot

Capital: Dodoma

Largest City: Dar es Salaam

Population: 47.4 million. About half of the population is under 18.

Population below international poverty line of US$1.25 per day: 68%

There are 1.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS, with 1.2 million children orphaned due to AIDS out of a total of 3.1 million orphans.
21% of children are involved in child labour.

Tanzania_S3203_5

Chi Man is a man of few words, but is rarely without a smile. The 29-year-old was born with an intellectual disability into a family of 5 brothers and sisters, all similarly disabled.

“If people with intellectual disabilities can’t work,” says his supervisor, “they simply live at home on their welfare allowance. Giving them a job helps them integrate into society.”

Since 2011, Crossroads has employed Chi Man and two others as our on-site cleaning team. We found Chi Man through a creative Hong Kong social enterprise that trains and finds jobs for intellectually disabled adults. It is a privilege to have him: his cheerful presence is a delight to all he meets and greets on the job.
In Hong Kong, social enterprise is increasingly seeing small businesses developed that are employing people who might not, otherwise, easily find work. Crossroads is committed to being part of this movement. Social enterprise is one of the tenets of our ethos.  As, Jacqueline Novorogratz, CEO of Acumen, puts it, aptly:

“It’s about all of us, and the kind of world that we, together, want to live in and share.”

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

“Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a time.” (J Adler)

While stunningly beautiful, Mt Blanc, Western Europe’s highest mountain, can be mercilessly tough, even for experienced climbers.

We were in awe, therefore, when we heard that Nicolas Cohen Addad, a Barclays Capital executive, was planning to climb it in support of Crossroads.

At 4810 metres, Mt Blanc defeats many climbers. Some call it, in fact, one of the deadliest peaks in the world.

As if that were not challenge enough, moreover, Nicolas chose the more difficult of the climbing options, starting at Aiguille du Midi then descending/ascending a series of peaks before reaching Mt Blanc itself.

We have now received details of his climb. They, quite frankly, leave us breathless. The photograph shows the series of ascents and descents needed to scale the various lesser peaks to the summit itself.
7am:    
Descended from Aiguille du Midi (3870m) to Col du    Midi (3542m). Rather like climbing points in a royal crown, he mastered a series of descents and ascents, steadily tracing the ridge to the summit
8am:
Up to Epaule du Tacul (4100m)
Down to Col Maudit (4035m)
Up to Breche Maudit (4400m)
Down to Col de la Brenva (4309m)
Up to Mur de la Cote (4640m)
1pm:   
On to Mont Blanc. (4807m)
5pm:  
Back to Aiguille du Midi

In that unforgettable day, he had spent 10 hours at an average altitude of 4175m, ascended a cumulative 2000m of positive climb, dealt with 50km/h winds and battled freezing conditions. The water in the hose of his camel bag had frozen.

Did he find it tough? Nicolas, whose Barclays colleagues had ‘sponsored’ his climb to raise funds for Crossroads, wrote: “Thinking of all the nice and generous people supporting this adventure was a key element to the success, especially when ascending the last 500m”. It didn’t, he added, “need much to get emotional at the top!”

Apparently, too, he’d like to try it again. “I only have one thing in mind now… to get back up there with my beloved wife Susan.”

His massive climb leaves us overwhelmed. During this period of economic challenge, many traditional sources of funding have dried up. So we are grateful, beyond words, for his originality in championing our cause in this extraordinary way and generating greatly needed funds.

Nicolas, we salute you!

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

What we do and where we do it

Crossroads – The story

We never meant to start Crossroads. We believed that the world had enough worthy causes. The last thing we wanted to do was start another one. Instead, we decided to help those already in existence. So how DID Crossroads start? We still stand in amazement that it happened at all and continue to wonder why Crossroads continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Here’s the story.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

The Guinness Book of Records has accepted an application from a Hong Kong university student, Lorencio Mateo, who visited 801 7-Eleven stores, in 60 days, for Crossroads.

Lorencio battled all forms of public transportation for his marathon and tracked it on a self-made website, http://www.lorencio.us/, featuring photos of himself at each 7-Eleven.

Friends supported his adventure, reading his entries and viewing his photos along the way.  His original plan was to donate HK$10 for every 7-Eleven he visited. As word spread, though, others gave financially as well, bringing the sum to $8,000.

The 7-Eleven retail chain recognised his efforts with a donated Octopus card bearing the 7-Eleven logo.

Crossroads stands in awe at Lorencio’s extraordinary commitment and stunning originality.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

What was wrong with this Christmas card?  The man in red was clearly not at the North Pole: he was in the sunny tropics. He was clearly not, either, borne by a set of reindeer; he was precariously perched on an animal he had named Rudolf the Red Nosed Water Buffalo.

Gavin Philippines

One look at the children’s faces, though, showed that none of that seemed to matter! They were alight with wonder that special gifts were coming to them: they had been remembered and loved in a way they had not experienced before.

“It all began when I saw my wife shopping in Hong Kong,” says Gavin Coates, Hong Kong’s renowned artist and landscape architect. “What is all that stuff for?” I asked, as she emerged with large numbers of small gifts. I was less than excited at the prospect of lugging these all the way to the Philippines. “They’re for the children,” she beamed, adding a confident, “You’ll see!”

A  few weeks later, Gavin says, he did indeed see the joy she had been anticipating. The two had returned to Gloria’s home village in the Philippines, and offered the children a Christmas party, complete with Gavin dressed as Santa Claus on a water buffalo! Amid the high-pitched excited tones of the children’s voices, one man turned to him with a serious expression to speak, as Gavin put it, ‘with great heart’.

“You don’t know what you’ve done,” he said. “You’ve given something to the kids that they have never seen before.”

He was right. After that first party, with 50 kids, Gavin and Gloria were asked to hold more. Each year, the size of the parties multiplied and the enthusiasm of the village grew with them.

In time, this compassionate couple began asking what more they could contribute to the lives of the village children. As they spoke with the local people, they received one consistent answer: education. For many children, the cost of school was simply beyond the family’s reach. Without it, though, they were destined for a life in the fields, battling the poverty which beset their fathers and grandfathers before them. “The only way out, long term, is education,” Gavin and Gloria were told. They began raising funds to put some of these little ones in school. Donors responded generously and the project grew as they supplied fees, uniforms, books and travel allowances: everything needed to ensure the children could attend. All funds were passed on directly to the schools themselves to maximise accountability.

Today, the Balanghari Educational Institute, as they came to call their project, sees scores of children schooled at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Crossroads has given supplies from its warehouse to support the work of the Balanghari Educational Institute and is now formally partnering with the project. If you would like to sponsor a child’s school needs, through the BEI, you can click here to do so. Please be careful to write Balanghari Educational Institute in the online form. Or, if you would prefer to write a cheque, please send it to Crossroads Foundation, 2 Castle Peak Road, Tuen Mun, HKSAR and please indicate, on the back of the cheque, that it is for the Balanghari Educational Institute so we can be sure it reaches them safely.

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Philippines Snapshot

Population: 98,39 million
Capital: Manila

Population living below international poverty line of US$1.25 per day: 26.5%

Government statistics indicate that 1.57% of people in the Philippines are living with a disability. 97% of people living with disabilities are not being reached by the public school system.A51

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...