Join the Street Party at Adelaide Chinatown! Tong De Association of SA along with CFS Foundation and Royal Life Saving SA, Extend Congratulations on the Chinese Lunar New Year

Farewell to the Year of the Rabbit and welcome the Year of the Dragon. During the festive season of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Tong De Association celebrated the festival with the Country Fire Service Foundation (CFS Foundation) and Royal Life Saving SA (RLS) at Adelaide Chinatown.

The Tong De Association sponsored booths at the Chinatown Street Party for the CFS Foundation and RLS, with the aim of helping the two organisations have the opportunity to promote more practical information to the Chinese community so that more and more Chinese people will understand the knowledge and importance of mountain fire rescue, and be aware of the safety precautions of water activities, to protect themselves and their families, as well as to help the community in need of help.

（Left: Ms. Gloria Berni,the current CEO of CFS Foundation）
The CFS Foundation has specially designed dragon water bottles, colourful windmill toys and koala plush toys dressed in CFS firefighter uniforms for the fun-filled festival. Meanwhile, RLS prepared multi-coloured ducky toys for children and comic books about water rescue knowledge for parents to read as companion stories. Every visitor to the booth received a free copy of these specially designed comic books.

（CFS Foundation specially designed Dragon water bottles for celebrating Chinese New Year）

   （In appreciation of Tong De Association’s strong support, the CFS Foundation will offer preferential prices to Tong De Association members. All proceeds will be donated to firefighters and their families in need. You can directly contact Gloria at [email protected].）

             （koala plush toys dressed in CFS firefighter uniform）

                     （Coloured ducky toy designed from Royal Life Saving）

In fact, this event is not the first time that the Tong De Association has partnered with these two non-profit organisations. On Christmas Eve 2022, the Tong De Association was invited by CFS to visit the SA Regional Fire Defense Service Headquarters. And every year since its inception, the Tong De Association has done its best to raise money for the CFS Foundation. At the 2022 Christmas Party, Tong De Association donated all the self-financed funds to the CFS Foundation. Members of the Tong De Association not only actively support the donation, but also help CFS Foundation to expand its publicity and raise donations from the community. In the new year, Tong De Association will continue to spare no effort to help CFS Foundation and will cooperate with CFS Foundation to organise various kinds of promotional activities in the coming months.

                                                                                                    （from CFS Foundation’s Facebook page）

(Tong De Association donated all the self-financed funds to the CFS Foundation at 2022 Christmas Party）

Ms. Gloria Berni, the CEO of CFS Foundation, was very happy to participate in the Chinatown Street Party, wishing the Tong De Association a Happy Chinese New Year and congratulating the Chinese community for a better and better new year. Ms. Berni expressed her hope that more volunteers from the Chinese community would participate in the event in the future. Gloria Berni, who has visited China many times and loves Chinese culture, believes that the Chinese community is a very important part of Australia’s multiculturalism and that as the Chinese community continues to grow, its contribution to South Australia and Australia as a whole will be more and more important, and looks forward to working with the Chinese community in more ways in the future.

Australia, due to its natural geographical environment, has a wide variety of water sports. However, these activities also result in casualties and deaths every year. The Royal Life Saving organisation emerged to promote the concept of water safety rescue. With a history of 115 years, this non-profit organisation has made outstanding contributions in water rescue, education, safety awareness training, water environment crisis management, and health promotion. Its volunteers come from various professions who are professionally trained and ready to respond effectively.

                           （from Royal Life Saving webpage）

As the Chinese community is expanding, promoting water safety within it becomes crucial. Tong De Association supports RLS by setting up booths at the street party and planning safety seminars in September. Their goal is to help more Chinese families and individuals.

Although the lively Chinese Lunar New Year has passed, Tong De Association remains committed to serving the community. Tong De Association wishes all Chinese friends a happy New Year and pledges to continue bringing support and care in the new year.