A senior enjoys her free lunch at Food Angel's community center in Sham Shui Po. (EDMOND TANG/CHINA DAILY)
Below poverty line
Most beneficiaries of the program are impoverished elderly, a group that is the fastest-growing in the city and has the highest poverty rate.
In 2017, the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report said the poverty rate among people age 65 and older was 44.4 percent. Of every 10 seniors in Hong Kong, nearly half live below the poverty line.
Figures from Hong Kong Population Projections show the number of people age 65 and older will grow from 1.16 million (17 percent of the population) in 2016, to 2.37 million (31 percent) in 2036.
By that time, one in three citizens in the city will be elderly.
On the day China Daily visited the program's Sham Shui Po community center, about 130 elderly people were eating their free lunches of steamed egg, fried Chinese cabbage and rice. Other seniors and some low-income young mothers pushing baby strollers arrived to collect packs of hot food.
Wong Mei-yee, a registered social worker and the center's service manager, said it has almost 400 elderly members, and about half are ages 75 to 85.
Most of them live alone in nearby public rental housing or subdivided flats. They try to survive on the old-age allowance or on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance provided by the government.
"We hope meals and other free services at the center, such as haircuts and celebrating birthdays, relieve the financial pressure and create a platform for them (seniors) to stay connected to the outside world," Wong said.
Lau Yuen, 78, walks 10 minutes from his public rental apartment to the community center each day to have two free meals.
He has severe arthritis, but is spared from walking to a nearby market, buying food and then cooking for himself.
He saves enough money from eating for free to travel to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, for specialist treatment on his legs every three months.
"It allows older people to keep smiling through their twilight years," Lau said.
The Food Angel program has drawn support from several prominent figures, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, local comedian Dayo Wong Tze-wah and singers Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Nicholas Tse Ting-fung. All have visited Food Angel or even worked as volunteers at its community center.
