As regards the proposed Rev. Bro. Paul Sun Education Foundation, how would the Foundation operate?

The Foundation is basically initiated and established by the alumni as represented in Hong Kong by the Josephian Association. The governing body is the Board of Trustees, to be made up of individuals holding office on the board of the Association or appointed by it. Among ourselves, we have many capable and well qualified Josephians. We have lawyers, accountants, doctors as well as other professionals; we also have successful businessmen and other members of society with excellent standing and reputation. We have every confidence that the Board of Trustees will be an outstanding one.

What can Josephians overseas do to help in future?

There are many things really. Since it would be more practical to have Hong Kong residents as Board members, we probably won't at this initial stage plan on appointing anyone who resides overseas. However, we would value very much the input and involvement of Josephians overseas.

Let's go over the whole philosophy behind and our current strategic thinking. Without a doubt, we all believe in the St. Joseph family spirit; we all want to see Bro. Paul Sun's lofty ideals being continued and fostered; and we all want our Alma Mater to improve and become a school of choice - once again! To achieve these goals, the alumni must become stronger. The Josephian Association must become better organized. And we must link up closely with our brothers overseas, in Toronto, Vancouver, California, and elsewhere. Only by getting stronger, can we find more resources for our very cause.

How can we better organize the Josephian Association?

First, we must hook up with more alumni. This can best be done by establishing a core group of co-ordinators, i.e. we find one or two Josephians (from each graduation year) and have each coordinator contact/organize his own classmates. We also use IT to help. For example, we are revamping our website to build a comprehensive database of all Josephians, with a search engine and other functions. Excellent progress is being made.

Meanwhile, we also hook up with the SJACS alumni bodies in Toronto and Vancouver. We establish a closer tie, link up our websites as much as possible, and we communicate, share news, and work together for the cause.

We have representation on the Management Committee of SJACS. Through this channel, we seek to add our input and foster improvements in our old school. This is being done in earnest, e.g. mentor scheme, library improvement, annual year book, new school building fund-raising, etc.

The Rev. Bro. Paul Sun Education Foundation is a means to establish a permanent vehicle for the CAUSE. A trust lives forever. As we recruit more Josephians' help, the current board may retire and hand over the good work to another generation. And so, we'll have the changing of the guards, fresh blood to carry on the task year after year, infinitum.

The leadership of the Josephian Association will also be spearheading and supporting the management of the Foundation. Since it is an officially approved tax-exempt charitable body, donors can benefit from tax deductions. Instead of a one-off effort, they can make donations regularly. Indeed, Josephians may contribute to the Fund as often as they like. It won't be just a one-time thing for the new school building; it will be a continual effort giving to the Fund named after Bro. It is a concept of continuity and succession - a virtuous cycle that goes on forever more. In future, every function, every party, no matter where, for Josephians could be an occasion for remembering Bro., our collective memory and the St. Joseph family spirit, and for raising some more funds for our CAUSE.

Our policy is: no donation is too large and no donation is too small. We will, no doubt, be going to Josephians who are financially more capable than others, but we would also like as many Josephians as possible to be involved - the grass-root level, if you like, for the very essence behind everything is our wonderful St. Joseph's family spirit. Yes, we want as many Josephians to get involved and as often as possible, whether our individual contribution is in money or time and effort, whether what we give is a large or small amount.

Andrew Li
Director, Josephian Association