An Evening with Jane Goodall
How much would you be willing to spend to dine with scientist and humanitarian Jane Goodall? Scratch that. How much would you be willing to spend to dine with Jane Goodall while at the same time helping teenagers on the path for a better tomorrow? On Thursday 2, the local branch of the Jane Goodall Institute will hold its first fund-raising ball to raise money and awareness for their Roots & Shoots programme.
“The idea of the Roots & Shoots programme is to empower young people to make a difference,” says Corinne Kassay, manager of the Jane Goodall Institute (Hong Kong). “A lot of youths, especially in Hong Kong, feel like they have issues and burdens that are a lot bigger than them and there’s nothing they can really do. What we do here in Hong Kong and across the globe is try to help facilitate students in planning a project and then implementing it. They feel that it is their project and then they are empowered by what they can actually achieve.” The institute provides local students with resources and guidance to help bring their ideas into fruition as they gain self-confidence and practical skills such as project planning and writing press releases.
Staying true to Dr. Goodall’s work to help the environment, the gala dinner will be very green. The decorations will be made from recyclable or reusable materials while the menu itself will use locally sourced, organic ingredients. Along with the dinner, there will also be an auction for eco- or charity-related prizes. As Kassay puts it, “I think people will be excited to be going to an environmentally-friendly event like this and it’s not going to wreck their conscience.”
Leon Lee
The dinner will be at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on September 2. Individual unassigned seats are priced at $2,500 each, private individual tables of ten are priced at $38,000 per table. For details, visit www.janegoodall.org.hk or call 9605 5554.
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