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Cindy Sui

Sakshi Vasudev used to be a “very shy B or C student” before she joined Kids4Kids, the Hong Kong charity that she said changed her life and gave her what the city’s education system could not.
Now 23, Vasudev said she found encouragement, mentoring and support at Kids4Kids when the local education system focused on rote learning and academically gifted children.
“It’s very much about remembering and copying that into your examination. There’s no creativity … With Kids4Kids, we’re giving you the opportunity that you wouldn’t normally get in school, now go wild with it. What are the ideas that you can come up with?” Vasudev said.
Kids4Kids also gave her HK$5,000 (US$643) in seed money to launch BamPads, a company that makes reusable sanitary towels.

“Opportunities like Kids4Kids in Hong Kong are really impactful,” said Vasudev, who now works as a tax accountant at a multinational company.
The charity will soon be able to help many more students like Vasudev under a three-year project funded by the annual fundraising drive Operation Santa Claus (OSC).
It’s one of 11 local charities awarded funding by OSC this year. The funding will enable more than 2,640 teenagers a year to participate in Kids4Kids’ programmes, designed to inspire creativity, develop character and motivate youths to make a positive impact in the world.
At the heart of Kids4Kids is the belief that regardless of socioeconomic background, young people can create positive change if equipped with the right skills.
“We can always find ways and opportunities for them to give back to society,” Matt Coulson, the charity’s executive director, said.
The project, called Kids4Kids Youth Impact Journey, is aimed at helping secondary school students aged 12 to 18 from low-resourced backgrounds, including ethnic minorities, become better at problem-solving, more resilient at handling adversities and capable of making a change to improve their community.

Through workshops at schools, adult mentoring and youngsters volunteering to help others, Kids4Kids hopes to shape their positive identity and social and emotional development.
For instance, one programme helps them discover their own “powers” and identify their strengths, such as storytelling and dancing, to empower them to teach younger children and less advantaged peers.
The charity was founded in 2008 by Michele Lai, an entrepreneur who wanted to help provide children from less advantaged backgrounds with the opportunity to be successful.
Coulson said: “We have children who are academically failing who are absolute geniuses [in terms of] some of the ideas and some of the businesses they can launch.”
The project, funded by Morgan Stanley, will also work with students with developmental and social issues who need extra support, including those who do not fit into the traditional learning style.
A special focus will be on helping young people develop entrepreneurial skills and encouraging them to create social enterprise projects based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
At the OSC annual Youth Summit, youngsters can pitch their ideas and if their projects are selected, they will get thousands of dollars in seed money.
OSC will also fund those awards.
Over the years, Kids4Kids has helped more than 35,000 primary and secondary school students and involved over 30,000 volunteers, including some alumni.

Its youths’ greater academic achievements show the success of its programmes. College admissions are increasing, including at top universities, and more young people are finding jobs or starting entrepreneurship, according to Coulson.
Assessments showed they had increased problem-solving skills and resilience, he said.
Another success story is Anushka Purohit, an alumni in her 20s, who founded Breer, a beer made using unwanted bread from bakeries.
As for Vasudev, she has been giving back to her community.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, she donated BamPads to women in need, including domestic workers, refugees and asylum seekers. She also teaches budding entrepreneurs how to start their business from scratch.
“My life would’ve been very different without Kids4Kids,” she said. “It made me into who I am today.”
OSC is an annual fundraising initiative held by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK since 1988. Since then, it has raised HK$383 million to support the Hong Kong community through 353 charitable projects.
For more information on this year’s beneficiaries, please click here.


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Kids4Kids executive director Matt Coulson (left) and Sakshi Vasudev, an alumni and founder of BamPads. Photo: Cindy Sui

The Kids4Kids team believes that every young person can make a positive impact in their community if they are equipped with the right skills. Photo: Cindy Sui

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A student pitches her project to peers and judges. Photo: Kids4Kids

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Parks and Trails CEO Agnes Cheng (left) and Kwong Sum-yin, the charity’s head of partnerships and communications. Photo: Cindy Sui

News

Hong Kong

Kids4Kids equips young people, regardless of their socioeconomic background, with the right skills to create positive change


Kids4Kids equips young people, regardless of their socioeconomic background, with the right skills to create positive change.


Operation Santa Claus