Jockey Club volunteer month concludes successfully – CARE Team supports community action

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (the Club) today (31 May) marked the successful conclusion of its “May · We Care” staff volunteer initiative. Throughout the month, members of the CARE@hkjc Volunteer Team (CARE Team) took part in over 80 volunteer activities, contributing more than 4,700 service hours in support of the community. The initiative reflects the Club’s long-standing commitment to giving back to society through meaningful action, making May a month of collective impact.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (middle) and volunteers guide participating families in creating soft pastel artworks.

Comprising full-time, part-time and retired Club employees, the CARE Team organised “May · We Care” for the second consecutive year, encouraging staff participation in a wide range of volunteer activities. Club management, together with over 1,300 CARE Team members, participated in various voluntary services, supporting causes spanning sports, children and youth, animal welfare, underprivileged groups, elderly care, and environmental protection.

Club Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, Raymond Tam (back in the red shirt) joins volunteers to guide kindergarten children in transforming second-hand toys into creative toy artworks, extending the lifespan of discarded toys and encouraging sustainability.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club said, “As a Club, we are committed to creating positive impact and working for the betterment of society. Now in its second year, with more volunteers taking part, ‘May · We Care’ underscores our dedication to the community and demonstrates how deeply our people are engaged in serving it. This initiative is a powerful reflection of the genuine care of those who work at - or have retired from - the Club. Volunteering truly is the heart and soul of what we do, it connects our team directly to the community and reminds us why the Club is so special – bringing to life our ‘One Club, One Vision, One Team’ spirit.”

Club Executive Director, Membership and Customer Excellence, Terecina Kwong (2nd right), joins colleagues in baking horse-shaped cookies with persons with intellectual disabilities and people undergoing rehabilitation, promoting social inclusion.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges joined 16 volunteers in leading underprivileged families on a docent tour of Tai Kwun, introducing the 180-year history of the heritage site, the Club’s contribution to its conservation and revitalisation, as well as its ongoing funding of operations – making Tai Kwun one of Hong Kong’s most popular cultural landmarks for both locals and tourists. The volunteers also served as workshop facilitators, guiding participants through a soft pastel art session to create their own unique “Ponies on Parade” artworks.

Over 100 volunteers visit elderly residents in Tuen Mun, Tai Po and the North District, delivering nutritious food and care.

Through “May · We Care”, the CARE Team successfully recruited more than 100 new members, bringing total membership to over 2,300. The team continues to broaden its impact by integrating members’ skills into volunteer service through innovative initiatives such as the “CARE Band”, “Cantonese Opera Team”, “CARE Painters”, “Balloon Twisting Team”,  “Hair Cutting Team” and “CAREthelets”. Together, these efforts help foster a more caring and inclusive community.

Volunteers support dog adoption days across districts, including at the pet-friendly HKJC Lohas Park Off-Course Betting Branch, helping homeless dogs find new families.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (5th right back row) and volunteers lead participating families on a docent-led tour of Tai Kwun, introducing its history and heritage features.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine paid tribute on Saturday to Oleksiy Yukov, a volunteer who spent more than two decades recovering bodies of civilians and soldiers — many of them Russian — killed by war. He was 40.

An Orthodox Christian service was held at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr, in central Kyiv, where thousands of people gathered to pay their respects following his death in a landmine explosion during a recovery mission on Wednesday.

Mourners also gathered at Kyiv's main Maidan Square, many dropping to their knees as a sign of respect as his casket was brought to the site. Memorial services were also held in other cities.

Yukov founded the organization known as Platsdarm, or Bridgehead, because he believed that all the dead deserve a proper burial. He became known as a “collector of souls.”

From the war-torn Donbas region, Yukov was a martial arts instructor. He began recovering the dead as a teenager after encountering the remains of Soviet and Russian soldiers from World War II.

Platsdarm’s volunteers go into fields and forests, among ruins and across territory, where the ground is often mined.

Yukov's widow, Evhenyia Kaluhyna, promised to continue his work, sobbing as she spoke at the funeral, wearing an embroidered white dress and standing over her husband's open casket.

“The work was difficult and terrifying,” she said. “But I promise you we will continue it because the (dead) deserve it, and you deserve it for everything you did.”

Speaking to The Associated Press, Yukov's daughter Diana Kaluhyna said the “love and kindness” he showed to grieving families had moved the nation.

“What stayed with me today was the simple truth: he honored the dead and healed the living,” she said. “He offered more than hope, he restored people.”

Yukov had suffered leg injuries and lost an eye in a mine blast in 2022. Still recovering from those injuries, he returned to the front line.

In a social media post last month, Yukov described the landscape in which he worked. “Remote mines, shelling, drones — everything is against you. But you go and do everything to ensure that every soul returns home,” he said.

He also addressed those who believed Russian bodies should simply be left behind: “When they say: ‘Let them rot,’ I do not agree. This is how we fight for every soul.”

Yukov spoke of his work in religious terms, saying a body was a soul waiting to go home.

“This is action,” he wrote. “Action every day in the fields, in the forest belts, among the ruins, where your life can end at any moment.”

Associated Press writer Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

Priests preside over a farewell ceremony for Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Priests preside over a farewell ceremony for Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Fellow soldiers carry the coffin of Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, during farewell service in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Relatives mourn at the coffin of Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, during farewell service in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Priests preside over a farewell ceremony for Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)