Jeff Rotmeyer, whose organisations offer support to those in Hong Kong who live with homelessness, autism, Down syndrome or other struggles, says that working with vulnerable communities can be profoundly life-changing
Jeff Rotmeyer appears in a lot of photos wearing a shirt that says “Kindness Matters”, a mantra that has become familiar to many Hongkongers thanks to his work. Rotmeyer has founded two organisations that work with Hong Kong’s vulnerable populations: ImpactHK, which offers services to people experiencing homelessness; and Love 21 Foundation, which supports the Down syndrome and autism communities.
ImpactHK has grown to become one of Hong Kong’s highest-profile charitable organisations, with more than 30,000 people volunteering over the years. And now, despite a rough start to the year, Love 21 has hit its stride. After a fire razed its original headquarters in February, the group is set to open a bigger centre in San Po Kong this month, which will allow Love 21 to support even more families—almost 100 of whom are on the group’s long waiting list.
Don't miss: Jeff Rotmeyer's full profile on Asia's Most Influential
Both ImpactHK and Love 21 were officially founded in 2017, almost 12 years after the Canadian-born Rotmeyer arrived in Hong Kong as an English teacher. Having been a football player and coach, Rotmeyer started as a volunteer himself soon after settling in his new home, organising weekly games for asylum seekers and refugees. One day, after giving a talk about the importance of sport in building trust with individuals, Rotmeyer was approached by a doctor from the Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association to see if he would consider starting a similar programme for its community. “I was a little less than 30 years old at that time and I’d never met a single person with Down syndrome in my life, so it was just totally new,” he says. He quickly found the new experience to be extremely rewarding, calling their Saturday games “just a really big life-changing experience for me”.
But after one of Rotmeyer’s friends—a teammate who had also served as his assistant coach—passed away before the age of 40, Rotmeyer realised that he had a lot to learn about the situation facing the community. “I started asking questions about life expectancy for the Down syndrome community in Hong Kong. And sadly, there’s just no data, but it became quite evident that community does have a very low life expectancy in Hong Kong.”
Don't miss: How Jeff Rotmeyer is creating positive change with his charities Impact HK and Love 21
