December 13 2007 Crossroads

Yesterday I went on a tour of a very interesting and unusual charity here in Hong Kong. The charity is named Crossroads International. The name is very apropos, as I discovered. Crossroads was started in Hong Kong by an Australian couple around twelve years ago. It provides STUFF, not money, to charities around the world. The stuff could be anything; beds, clothing, eye glasses, desks…whatever is no longer needed in Hong Kong, but desperately needed in the poorer countries of the world.

This is the perfect charity for Hong Kong. There is definitely a lot of stuff here, and a lot of affluent people that want new stuff and don’t know what to do with their old stuff. Crossroads partners with moving and shipping companies in Hong Kong, who will arrange pickup of things that people no longer want or need, and ship things free of charge around the world.

It’s really pretty amazing how this all works. Hotels renovate and give their old beds to Crossroads. Someone in Kazakhstan, maybe, needs those beds for a hospital. A school closes in Hong Kong, and doesn’t know what to do with their old desks and chairs, but a school in Bangladesh is thrilled to receive them.

The woman that gave us the tour was very passionate about Crossroads. I actually was a little afraid to look at her too closely; I was afraid she’d make eye-contact with me and all of a sudden I would be volunteering there three times a week!

They also had a little café that sold Fair Trade coffee, and a wonderful store, that sold crafts made by the people that have been the recipients of stuff from Hong Kong. I bought several craft items to use as Christmas gifts.

It’s too bad that Crossroads is way out on the Gold Coast, an area in the far western part of the New Territories. It takes almost an hour by bus to get there, so it’s really not convenient for volunteering…

Crossroads made me think of Katrina, and how generous Texans were after that disaster. I remember the parking garage in Austin where I went to donate blankets and chairs that was so filled with items for the Katrina victims that five levels of the garage with completely full.

One of the interesting things about Crossroads is that they really don’t need monetary donations. They need donations of time, services and things. I think that’s sort of cool. It’s so easy to just write a check, and that’s usually what I do when I want to make a donation, but Crossroads doesn’t want my money…

Here’s a link to their website: http://www.crossroads.org.hk/