We encourage our colleagues to be perseverance, serving our special needs children and their parents with “passionate care” and “wholehearted sincerity” on a daily basis, and to apply our professional knowledge and experience to guide our children one by one to break through their obstacle, letting them to start happily with a new potential!

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Benji’s Centre. This is not only a milestone for the Centre, but also embraces the Centre’s 20 years of dedication in providing loving care and innovative services at different levels to the needy children. It is also of significant input to the speech therapy services in Hong Kong society.

20 years ago, speech therapy was not popular in Hong Kong and one had to wait 2-3 years before receiving government services. The establishment of Benji’s Centre is good news for a group of underprivileged parents. They only have to wait for 3 – 6 months and can bring their children to the Centre for “one-on-one” professional speech therapy training without paying any fee. In the first five years of the Centre, the waiting list for students was always between 380 and 400. In view of that, we opened the Shatin branch centre in 2012, and the number of service places increased to 450. As of the end of 2024, a total of close to 4,500 children had received services from the Centre.

We would like to thank the SAR Government and various other sectors for their continued support, which has made the Centre’s work possible and with exceptional achievements, especially to the Community Chest, many corporates and donors who have provided funding and sponsorship over the years. We would also like to thank our enthusiastic and responsible colleagues, as well as several corporate and individual volunteer teams. Your selfless contributions in the past have made Hong Kong a better place, full of loving care.

Today, the Centre has developed into a professional speech therapy institution rooted in Hong Kong with comprehensive services. Looking back over the past 20 years, the Centre has made great efforts to enhance the professionalism of its services, innovate, develop and expand its service areas and improve the quality of its services.

In 2012, in addition to continuing to provide “one-to-one” professional speech therapy and social work support to parents, we also set up free psychiatrist services and clinical psychologist on-site counseling services to provide comprehensive support to parents in need.

In May 2014, we established the Benji’s Choir. The choir was taught with singing techniques and music theory by a professional music teacher and conductor. Speech therapists also taught the children the correct pronunciation of the lyrics in class. Through singing, children can practice their voice and language, and at the same time learn social skills and strengthen their communication abilities. After the choir was established, the average length of time for students to acquire the age appropriate speech ability was significantly reduced from 20 months to 14 months. The choir has given dozens of public performance opportunities, each of which has been well received. The children’s successful experience in performing on stage has made them more confident and interested in music. We have witnessed the potential of numerous children in music being discovered. There are over 100 children in the choir now.

Over the years, the Centre has been recognized and affirmed by all sectors of society and has achieved remarkable results, also with gratifying encouragement in return. For example, in 2012, we were accepted as a member organization of the Community Chest and received regular donations every year to support the Centre’s operation expenses. From 2014 to 2016, the Centre had successfully applied for a 50% matching grant from the Social Welfare Department’s “Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged”, enabling the Centre to serve 460 and 450 children in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 respectively. During this period, the Centre was approved by the Social Welfare Department’s “Community Care Fund” and later the “Student Subsidy Scheme TSP” to become a partner organization, and allocated funds to the Centre each year for the “Purchase Scheme”.

In 2017, the Centre found that many children receiving services also had dyslexia, which affected their learning progress, so we added a free “one-on-one” service five days a week for students in need. After receiving the service, the children’s academic performance improved dramatically, and many of them even ranked first in the class.

In September 2020, the Centre set up a 20-person football team “Benji’s Soccer Team”, so that children can learn to play football, release energy, and learn discipline and team spirit in the outdoors environment. We sincerely thank the Rotary Club of Admiralty for fully sponsoring the allowances of several coaches, field rental, jerseys, shoes and other necessary supplies.

In addition, in order to help children whose academic progress has been affected by the epidemic, we have added weekend “one-on-one” tutoring classes starting from 2021. The brothers and sisters of students who have already entered university served as teachers, providing long-term tutoring for 30 students. The results have gradually been seen in the past 2 years. Many students have been admitted to Band 1 secondary schools and have even won the school or Hong Kong “Leap Progress” award. We are very grateful to The HK & Macau Taiwanese Charity Fund Ltd. for awarding us the “Compassion Award” in 2021, allowing us to use the full prize money to support a number of services, such as the aforementioned tutorial classes that can last for several years.

Looking to the future, it has been 27 years since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland. During this great historical stage, although Hong Kong’s economy has been declining in the past 2 years, both the Center and the service families have to face many challenges. However, we are confident when we face all the difficulties and challenges with a positive and optimistic attitude, together we shall overcome it all ! Benji’s Children’s Centre will uphold its philosophy and mission, and every colleague will continue to perform their duties faithfully and diligently, to assist every child who comes to the Centre to break through their barriers with sincerity and love, and to support the parents with kindness, empathy and respect to build a caring and inclusive family.

Finally, on behalf of our EXCO members, Advisors and all our children and parents, we would like to express our wholehearted appreciation and gratitude to all the donors, Corporates , friends and volunteers, for your unfailing support in the past.

May all glory and praise be given to our Heavenly Father! May we wish you all good health! Have a happy life !!

Sincerely,

Viola & Raymond Wong