HONG KONG (SE): After the onset of the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, parishioners at St. Joseph’s Church, Garden Road, came together and volunteered to distribute rapid antigen test [RAT] kits and medicines to the needy or even deliver them to infected workers.
Divine Word Missionary Father Joseph Tan Leitao, the parish priest, said the materials given to the parish at the end of February were greatly appreciated. One parishioner offered 50,000 RAT kits, and Caritas Hong Kong donated approximately eleven boxes of medicines. Furthermore, 170,000 masks have been donated by benefactors since last year. Since March, over 30,000 masks and around 47,000 test kits have been given out.
“The Church can address anxieties in the pandemic to offer help so that parishioners, who are over 90 per cent migrants, can feel that the parish is not a building but a home away from home,” the parish priest said.
Father Tan recalled that he started to send phone messages at the end of February to over 10 parish communities, asking them to look around themselves to see if there were any people in need of such resources, especially infected workers who were quarantined at home.
“At that time, medicines were hard to get. The resources came just in time for the needy,” he said.
What the Church can do to address anxieties in the pandemic is to offer help so that parishioners, who are over 90 per cent migrants, can feel that the parish is not a building but a home away from home
Father Joseph Tan Leitao
Besides distributing the test kits and medicine to parishioners or their friends, the parish also sent the resources to the shelters, boarding houses, old people’s homes, and communities of Protestant churches. Arsie Barbado, the chairperson of the Filipino Catholic Group of St. Joseph’s, who distributes the aid materials, said that hundreds of parishioners of different nationalities have come to the parish to collect aid materials and, in some cases, to distribute them to their friends.
She said she was one among six people taking turns in distributing resources on Sundays at the parish as people kept coming.
She said her Sundays are busy but rewarding as she is glad to see the happy faces of those who get the much-needed items and messages of gratitude from the receivers of the resource packages.
She said she invited people from different communities to bring resources to the infected. What touched her was that all five people she asked for help immediately said yes despite the risks involved.
Elizabeth Rullon, one of the deliverers, shared that she was busy at the parish as the chairperson of the Filipino Catholic Group Music Ministry. She looked for something to do after the church was closed.
So I love to do this voluntary work, which has helped me gain valuable experiences as I reach many people. I feel so happy in serving
Elizabeth Rullon
So I love to do this voluntary work, which has helped me gain valuable experiences as I reach many people. I feel so happy in serving,” she said. She thanked her employer for understanding the need to help and allowing her to do the service when she was free, even on weekdays.
Rullon said that on the first Sunday of March, when the number of cases reached 30,000 a day, she delivered test kits and medicine to as many as nine people who were infected or had symptoms. And sometimes, she was asked to bring food to those in quarantine.
Volunteers were advised to leave the package outside the door of the infected people to avoid direct contact. However, Rullon said it was not a simple task, as clear communication was needed to help an infected person easily see the materials and at the same time avoid meeting that person face to face. As she became experienced at the task, she was more confident in delivering the resources.
She admitted that she was also afraid of getting infected, but she started her tasks with prayers and believed God protected her every time.
