Dear Fellow Lasallians,
Thank you for all your blessings and support.
It has been a year of fulfillment, gratification and fun and I love every moment of being able to serve the Association as a committee member in 2003-2004.
The rescheduled AGM 2004 on Friday August 23, 2004 went on smoothly despite the sudden visit of Tropical Cyclone a week earlier. I am honored to be your new President and be able to serve the old boys community with the help of a highly motivated committee.
I have to say that being the President of LSCOBA is an honorable and awesome task.
I am slightly relieved when I read about a story in Ronald Reagan’s nomination speech in 1986. He learned about some new duties of a president from the first-graders of Corpus Christi School in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Little Leah Kline was asked by her teacher to describe the duties as a president. She said: “The President goes to meetings. He helps the animals. The President gets frustrated. He talks to other Presidents.”
I believe that one the most important part of my job is to unite all members under the vision of St John Baptist de Lasalle and to safe guard our heritage founded by our pioneers and the Christian Brothers through the years.
Personally, the pinnacle of my own achievement has to be the gift of life. Two and a half years ago, God had answered my prayers with a set of twins. However, they arrived 4 months earlier than expected and with God’s grace, I am able to keep one of them.
Looking back those tough moments, facing challenges is a blessing in disguise and I learned that life should never be taken for granted.
Our committee wasted no time and we had our first formal meeting immediately after the AGM dinner. We have decided to work along four major domains:
- Alumni Development
- Communication
- Financial Health
- Support the Alma Mater
This year, each committee member apart from the office bearers will be assigned to a major task and be accountable.
Subcommittees:-
- Alumni Subcommittee — Louis Law (convener)
- Communication Subcommittee — Paul Wong (convener)
- Heritage Subcommittee — Peter Kam (convener)
- Sports Subcommittee — Herman Bo (convener)
- Recreation and Welfare Subcommittee — Willie Wong (convener)
- Finance Subcommittee — Henry Chan (convener)
- Student Affairs Subcommittee — KF Chan (convener)
Special Task Group:-
- School liaison and advice — Peter Chiu
- Credit Card — Roger Lee
- Membership Database — Stephen Cheung
- Newsletter — Clement Chan
- Souvenirs and welfare — Henry Nip
- Young member section — Derek Lin
Each one will submit a working plan and budget within a month and we shall communicate all these to our members in due course. The office bearers will give their full support to all the committee members.
You may have known by now that Bro. Thomas being the last principal brother of LSC and I had attended the very first President Summit in Toronto and visited various chapters in North America. I shall report my visit shortly and I would like to thank New York, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver for their kindness and friendship during the past two weeks.
The year 2004 marks the 65th anniversary of LSCOBA. Many may believe that all difficulties have been resolved and that all horizons have been explored. I have to tell you that we are going to face a lot of challenges ahead and that not all battles have been won.
Do I have the time to manage all that? Are we up to the task? Are we equal to the challenge?
I do not know. What I am sure is that this sail is not going to be smooth and easy. I can only follow my own heart and leave the rest to God.
Let the Spirit of La Salle reign.
Let us build a stronger fraternity and march forward with our united strength.
Let us build a global alliance to face all challenges with faith and zeal.
In your hands, loyal members of the Association, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our quest.
Indivisa Manent
“Let us all be united”
Dr. Bernard Kong ’76
President, LSCOBA 2004/05