Link Asset Management Limited (Link), the manager of Link Real Estate Investment Trust (Link REIT), announced today (Wednesday) that Link Together Initiatives, its flagship charity and community engagement programme, will disburse $18 million in the year 2023/2024. Through collaboration with its NGO partners and the community, the programme will focus on overall physical and mental health among the public and provide support to improve their sense of well-being.

Nicholas Allen, Chairman of Link, said, “As a stalwart of the local community, Link has developed a deep understanding of the day-to-day needs of Hong Kong’s more than seven million people. A challenging global economy this year has brought more uncertainty to our community. In particular in this ever-changing external environment, the ability to maintain one’s mental health has become more important. Over the next year, we will continue to work with our NGO partners to develop more meaningful projects through which we hope to help the public lead truly fulfilling and enriching lives, bringing happiness to themselves and communities.”

The nine projects supported by Link Together Initiatives in the year 2023/2024 are scheduled to officially kick off in October. Among these nine projects are three new projects, which will adopt “caring” as the overriding theme to help different social groups in the community live more sustainable and healthy lives. The three new projects are detailed below:

For children: Musical Box by Art Mentor Education Foundation is an innovative project that aims to teach underprivileged students English through musical theatre. By involving these students in musical performances, this project seeks to inspire their artistic skills and to help them build confidence, teamwork and creativity.

For youth: Together, we Flourish! – a community youth mental health initiative is a project by KELY Support Group that will be piloted in Wong Tai Sin District. Through a targeted social and emotional learning curriculum and peer support training, this project seeks to improve participants’ mental health and to help them build a more positive attitude towards life.

For elderly: The Art of Life Journey’ Expressive Arts Therapy Multi-Ethnics Active Ageing Community Scheme by Hong Kong Expressive Arts Therapy Service Center adopts expressive arts therapy to provide emotional support and end-of-life care to non-Chinese elderly beneficiaries and caregivers in Sham Shui Po and Yuen Long Districts. Using life and death education as a theme, the project seeks to connect non-Chinese and Chinese elderly through expressive arts. In addition, it will work with the Psychology Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong to conduct data analysis, with the goal of researching future directions of social services and promoting service development from an academic perspective.

In addition to the three new projects, Link is also deepening its collaboration with the six NGOs whose projects are continuing from 2022/2023. Having been supported by Link in its eighth year, the Food Angel - We Link We Share Programme by Bo Charity Foundation will set up revolving pop-up stores at Link’s various shopping centres to promote food waste reduction and food donation to those in needs. Entering its fifth year of collaboration with Link, Arts’ Options’ Transformational Multi Performing Arts Programme for Golden Agers will organise workshops by professionally-trained elderly drama instructors, in addition to Hong Kong’s first “Golden Age Arts Festival” in the coming year to drive the development of local senior arts.The remaining Link-supported projects include Environmental Association’s Nature LINK 2024–2025; Live The Vision – Visually Impaired Professional Life Coach Training cum School Collaboration Project by The Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired; SportsLINK Home Run Community Project by InspiringHK Sports Foundation; and Shanghai Smiles Foundation’s Vocational Education Project (Estate Management). At the same time, Link will continue to promote social mobility and self-enrichment among young people through the Link University Scholarship and other internship and community services programmes.

The Link Together Initiatives programme supports causes related to environmental sustainability, inclusion and active ageing, as well as youth empowerment. To mark its 10th anniversary, the programme is organising the Link Collab Fest to be held during September and October. The event aims to provide a collaboration platform for NGOs, social enterprises and social innovators. Using creativity to drive the development of youth empowerment projects, it hopes to bring positive changes and create value for society.

Since its 2013 launch and including the commitment for the 2023/2024 projects, the Link Together Initiatives programme has committed $140 million to support over 180 projects in total. These projects have benefited 84 NGOs and 16 million people. Meanwhile, the Link University Scholarship programme has awarded 1,600 scholarships since its establishment in 2015.

Details of the nine sponsored projects are listed in the Appendix.

Higher-resolution images can be downloaded from this link.

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About Link

Link Real Estate Investment Trust (Hong Kong stock code: 823) is the largest REIT in Asia by market capitalisation. It is managed by Link Asset Management Limited, a leading real estate investor and asset manager in the world. Since its listing in 2005 as the first REIT in Hong Kong, Link REIT has been 100% held by public and institutional investors. It is a constituent of the Hong Kong securities market benchmark Hang Seng Index, as well as a component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index, the FTSE4Good Index Series and the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index. From its home in Hong Kong, Link Asset Management Limited owns and manages a diversified portfolio including retail facilities, car parks, offices and logistics assets spanning from China’s Beijing, Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), and Yangtze River Delta centred around Shanghai, to Singapore, Australia’s Sydney and Melbourne and the UK’s London. Link Asset Management Limited seeks to extend its portfolio growth trajectory and grasp expansion opportunities in different markets in pursuit of sustainable growth.

For details, please visit https://www.linkreit.com.