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Jeff Rotmeyer loves his value driven work. He started two charities at the same time. People called him crazy.
We call him brave.
Together with an army of dedicated volunteers, he shows love to the forgotten communities of Hong Kong. ImpactHK supports the homeless and emphasises job creation. Love 21 Foundation works with the down syndrome and autistic community focusing on sports programmes and healthy nutrition.
Jeff looks like a regular guy next door, humble, friendly with very kind eyes.
He is a teacher, husband and father, originally from Canada. When he moved to Hong Kong and had a bit of a mid life crisis, the superhero inside emerged and Jeff jumped into charity work and community building.
We met just ahead of one of his “kindness walks” where his ImpactHK community shows love to homeless communities in Hong Kong, reaching out with supplies and conversation. That evening, we visited one camp with a group of five elderly people still trying to make some kind of living when, by Western standards, they should be retired by now.
Jeff talked us through the early days of his two charities. He didn’t intend to have two at first but once his eyes were open, he saw ways he could help.
Jeff liked the simplicity of helping people in need.
“Everybody needs a bit of kindness,” Jeff says.
Through a regular blog, he reached out to readers and started to organise one walk each month, visiting a homeless community. Soon it became more popular and more and more people joined. So they added another walk.
Today they are doing 20 kindness walks each month and they are serving in different communities all over Hong Kong.
In this episode, you hear why it is only now kicking off for real. He lets you in on his secret how to build an engaged community, including an early lesson from his Mom.
“If we are not gonna do it who is gonna do it?” Jeff asks.
There is another thing that makes Jeff so special. He goes where other charities won’t go. He supports communities in Hong Kong that have very limited – if any – chance to be reintegrated into society. With ImpactHK he creates job opportunities for the homeless and wants others to learn from people that share how they overcame their struggles on the street.
Love 21 Foundation is thriving just as much. Their sports programme for kids with down syndrome and autism started out with football at first, but today his community can choose Yoga, Hiking, Dance, Fitness, Tennis and Surfing classes.
“We can do anything. The sky is the limit.” Jeff shares.
Did we mention that Jeff runs both of these amazing charities on top of his full-time teaching job? What we love most about Jeff is his optimism, and with the challenges that he faces on the streets, he needs to be. As hard as Jeff is working, there are setbacks when Jeff feels like he let people down. People that he could not help in time.
How do you keep going? I asked Jeff.
“I guess I can give myself a bit credit in taking that step. Stepping up and doing something like this was a bit ballsy.” Jeff says. We’d say very ballsy.
