Salvos say ‘thank you’ to Chinese business community

Bonny Wang, EW Property Group (in red) and Jenny Zhou, CEO EW Property Group (in yellow) with The Salvation Army’s Major David Collinson, Andrew Robinson, Captain Kim Haworth and Major Tara McGuigan.

By LAUREN MARTIN

About 50 people from the Chinese business community in Sydney recently attended a Red Shield Appeal thank-you event.

The breakfast was organised by The Salvation Army’s public relations and fundraising teams and was designed to update the community on the work of The Salvation Army, thank supporters and ask for continued contributions to the mission.

Strathfield MP Jason Li and former Sydney Councillor Craig Chung spoke at the event, sharing why they chose to support The Salvation Army. Craig mentioned that his father volunteered for many years at The Salvation Army’s Streetlevel Mission in inner Sydney.

One of The Salvation Army attendees, Hornsby Corps Officer Captain Sean Li, was a corps officer at Hurstville in Sydney’s south for seven years, which is the biggest Chinese community in Australia. He said during that time he developed relationships within the community.

“We want to build a healthy community together – not just to give support and receive support – but to do it together,” Sean said.

“We started to host this ‘thank you’ breakfast last year. We need to continue to build relationships with this business community and tell good stories and share testimonies.

“Over the years, they have been very supportive, and we want to let them know where the money goes and how it supports people in our communities.”

Sean said the event started a number of good conversations.