We Connect: Calling for HKers to Support the NHS

We Connect: Calling for Hong Kongers in the UK to support the NHS

The rapidly deteriorating situation of the coronavirus in the UK is placing the NHS under tremendous stress. This includes its staff, equipment, and other resources.  The Umbrella Union has therefore launched an urgent appeal to the Hong Kong community in the UK to support the hard-working NHS staff during these challenging times ahead.

A number of British Members of Parliaments and politicians who have been following/working on Hong Kong topics, including Benedikt Rogers and Luke de Pulford are also now publicly calling for help for the NHS staff.   Baroness Northover, who has been one of the most vocal politicians speaking out for Hong Kong people, has been confirmed to have the coronavirus. In the latest, Prince Charles tested positive for the virus.  

We need the NHS to keep our community of Hong Kongers, who are fighting here in the UK for Hong Kong, in good health, in order for us to continue supporting other fellow Hong Kongers back home.  If Hong Kongers Stand With the UK now, it would make the UK Stand With Hong Kong much more likely in the months and years ahead.

In 1887, the first UK western medical college was established in Hong Kong, nurturing Dr. Sun Yat-Sen as one of its first graduates in 1892. In the subsequent years of the 20th century, the UK government in Hong Kong fostered good early health education, professional health services, and made Hong Kong one of the most advanced and well-developed healthcare and medication systems in Asia.  

This critical time right now is a golden opportunity for Hong Kongers in the UK to show our appreciation and support the NHS in return for the UK’s positive healthcare legacy in Hong Kong. In the weeks and months ahead, NHS staff will need our support more than ever, so please show your appreciation with a generous donation today, to show the full solidarity of Hong Kongers in the UK for the NHS.

Your donation, in the name of Hong Kongers in the UK, will allow us to give funds directly to the UCLH Charity and St George's Hospital Charity, for them to provide vital support to their frontline staff to tackle the coronavirus during these extraordinary times. As mentioned in the Prime Minister’s speech, “each and one of us is now obliged to join together.”

Donations from all individuals or groups are welcome and important for supporting the united efforts to defeat the disease. We as Hongkongers have been fighting for survival and you are not alone. Join us, and we shall overcome this crisis together.  Please also consider sharing this page on social media to help us raise as much as possible for the NHS. 

#HKStandswithUK

Who we are and where we are from?

We are The Umbrella Union, a group that represents HongKongers in the UK in this endeavour, Simon Cheng is organising this effort in the name of the organisation.

Our relationship or contact to the parties we are raising money/ funds for?

As residents in the UK, NHS and its staff are relevant to everyone. NHS Trusts and associations representing NHS staff members (doctors and nurses) are open to the public for donation, our organisation represents HongKongers as a group to donate in this project.

How the funds will be spent?

Except for minor administrative costs we incurred for the donation campaign, the funds will be all transferred to NHS Trusts  - UCLH Charity and St George's Hospital Charity - which is open for public donation, for areas under the most pressure in the coming weeks.

Our withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary/ies?

We will be withdrawing the funds from Simon Cheng's personal bank account, and transfer it directly to the official donation channels of both NHS trusts. We will arrange a brief ceremony to transfer the donations under the name of HongKongers to the NHS and its staff, showing our solidarity and integrity, which would promote our cause for the Hong Kong issue in the UK. We will also invite UK-based media to the ceremony. All individuals and organisations who had donated will be on our thank you list attached to the greeting card to the NHS staff.