The amount collected in less than three months since the fundraiser was launched appears to be a record, as the highest collection to date was set in 2011, the year the campaign was launched, with about $50,000 being raised.
Donations cans were distributed last June 4, and collected during Bethune House’s 31st anniversary celebration on Sept. 17 at Chater Road.
Edwina Antonio, executive director of Bethune House, thanked supporters of “Coins for Bethune” for their generosity and continued patronage of the two shelters operated by the NGO Mission for Migrant Workers.
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| Participants in the fund-raising drive turn over their cans of coins to Bethune House. |
In a speech at the shelter’s anniversary cocktails and fundraising event at KUC Space in Jordan on Sept 30, she said Bethune House “has tirelessly pursued creative ways to secure funding for its many initiatives,” foremost of which is providing shelter to distressed migrant women workers.
She said Bethune House’s shelters had been fully occupied these past few weeks as the number of domestic workers pursuing labor and other cases after being terminated had risen.
“Shelter is still a primary need because of the continuous increase in the number of terminations and contract violations as well as violence against domestic workers,” Antonio said.
“Increasing the capacity of the shelter to attend to needs contribute to the empowerment of the residents as well as in strengthening their capacity to cope with their cases and issues that affect their situations in Hong Kong,” she added. – Vir B. Lumicao
