Since 2020, the North District Integrated Youth Service Centre of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service – Hong Kong (“ELCSS-HK”) has reached many vulnerable families in remote villages through pandemic support services in North District.  The team found the physical and mental health of both children and parents severely impacted by poor living conditions, financial pressure, and frequent relocation.  Many children suffered from frequent illnesses and unbalanced diets, while families rarely had the opportunity to go on outings or participate in social activities, which could hinder the children’s development as well as family relationships in the long term.

The team organized monthly neighborhood gatherings to regularly meet with these families, arranging services such as free-of-charge Traditional Chinese Medicine consultations and eye tests for children.  This gradually increased health awareness and established a community focal point.  To further address the holistic health needs of grassroots families, the team explored expanding primary healthcare and developmental family services.

With the support of ZeShan Foundation, ELCSS-HK launched the North District Community Hub.  The project, which runs from March 2025 to February 2027, aims to improve the physical and mental health of grassroots children, adolescents, and their families in North District, enabling lives to connect and joy to be shared.

Previously, the Centre’s sub-base at Choi Yuk House of Choi Yuen Estate in Sheung Shui only opened for specific activities.  The team has now put the space to better use during previous idle hours, creating a community hub by rearranging existing facilities and adding furniture.  Its opening hours are tailored to the needs of parents and youth, providing an extended living space for families in inadequate housing. In their free time, families gather to share homemade soup, while children do homework or relax on bean bags playing video games after school, evidently feeling very at home.

The North District Community Hub is underpinned by the belief that health should not be constrained by one’s environment or financial means, and that everyone should have the capacity and resources to take charge of their own health.  The project adopts a community-based medical-social collaboration model, using social prescribing and health management as interventions to uncover and connect local assets and resources. The team arranged health screenings in partnership with the Jockey Club Healthy Community Hub Empowerment Scheme for residents with inadequate housing, which was under the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care.  The results revealed the prevalence of picky eating among children; that over 60% of parents showed at least one early symptom of the Three Highs (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol); and that around one-fifth of families reported emotional distress affecting both parents and children, with some parents requiring regular visits to public hospitals. Those families identified as having health risks received case follow-ups and introductions to suitable resources.

Health is enhanced bit by bit in daily life. To create a healthy community, the team has designed four types of non-medical social prescriptions with local characteristics – food, exercises, nature, and arts – which are matched with families’ health needs.

In terms of food prescriptions, the team and CUHK co-organized mindful eating groups for caregivers as well as guided tours of wet markets and dawn markets.  Registered dietitians shared how to use fresh, affordable local ingredients and explored recipes to create healthy dishes that children enjoy.  A participant shared that her child disliked fish, but she developed the idea of mixing canned sardines, seaweed, and sweetcorn to create sardine rice balls, which became very popular.  This process strengthened parent-child relationships while addressing the problem of picky eating.

As for nature prescriptions to heal body and mind, given North District’s proximity to the countryside, the project partnered with the food and agriculture education team Sow & Grow to organize a food and agriculture group.  Families had the chance to experience first-hand the “farm-to-table” process, from clearing and nourishing the fields to selecting seeds, planting, and harvesting.  Many children were thrilled to see for the first time vegetables they themselves had grown, and tried making homemade roselle jam. Their interest in vegetables, and the physical work brought parents and children closer to each other and to the land.

The opening ceremony of the North District Community Hub was held on 24 October 2025.  It was officiated by Mr Chris Sun, JP,   Secretary for Labour and Welfare; Ms Irene So, Executive Director of ZeShan Foundation; and Mr Kwok Kang-ming, Chairman of the Executive Committee of ELCSS-HK.  The guests together transplanted wampee saplings nurtured by the community, symbolizing how the efforts to nourish grassroots families’ wellbeing has firmly taken root in North District.

The project goes beyond service provision, also emphasizing empowerment and encouraging self-help and mutual help among families, so as to improve the quality of life and strengthen social capital.  The project will launch Community Connector trainings, so that beneficiary families and health-conscious residents can receive professional training to bring health further into the community.

North District Community Hub Team
The Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service – Hong Kong