Rising from the ashes: Hong Kong charity bounces back with support from dozens of companies, donors after fire
- Love 21 Foundation premises, which was devastated by fire in 2023, reopened its doors in mid-October with expanded capacity
- Centre empowers the neurodiverse community through free programmes and hopes to serve even more members
A Hong Kong charity dedicated to the autism and Down’s syndrome communities has bounced back bigger and stronger after a devastating fire last year, thanks to the support of 50 companies and many other donors across the city.
Love 21 Foundation, which empowers the neurodiverse community through sports, art, nutrition and mental health support programmes free of charge, reopened the doors of its home in mid-October with a significantly expanded capacity.
“It’s a truly remarkable story about how the community came together, not just from the crowdfunding that we did, but also through giving their skill sets and knowledge,” chief operating officer Carmel Armstrong said.
“I never realised how small the Hong Kong community was, and you can find your way around town, [if] you don’t know somebody, somebody else does.”
The charity’s 5,000 sq ft old centre, housed in a factory building in San Po Kong, was badly damaged by a fire that broke out in an adjacent electronics goods warehouse in late January 2023.
No one was present at the time, but staff members were in desperate need of finding a new location to get its activities started again, which Armstrong described as a “lifeline” for the more than 350 families it was serving.
