As the founder and CEO of two charities, ImpactHK and Love21 Foundation, Jeff Rotmeyer has a lot of love to give. He tells us about his start in charity work and his hopes for the future, both business-wise and personally.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
I’m originally from Vancouver, Canada, but have lived in Hong Kong for the past 16 years. I’m the founder and CEO of ImpactHK, a charity transforming the lives of those experiencing homelessness in Hong Kong. ImpactHK started with just a few individuals aiming to show kindness to those in need, and has now grown into a humanitarian movement involving over ten thousand volunteers that has helped over 400 individuals off of the streets.
At the same time, I’m also the founder and CEO of Love 21 Foundation, a charity supporting the down syndrome and autistic community with sports and nutrition programmes. We support over 260 families, hoping to give them the very best opportunities to reach their full potential.
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Can you tell us a bit about ImpactHK?
At ImpactHK, we believe everyone should have a safe place to call home. We work with people experiencing homelessness to help them settle in a safe home, restore their mental and physical wellbeing, build their self-esteem and discover their purpose. To do this we provide direct holistic support to people experiencing homelessness and empower them to transform their lives. At the same time, we build community connections to increase collective understanding of homelessness and empathy towards the people who experience it.
How has ImpactHK grown so far and where do you see it heading in the future?
Last month, we just celebrated our fifth birthday, so we’ve clearly grown quite quickly as an organisation and community. We’d like to continue attacking progress as we still have a long way to go.
Homelessness in Hong Kong is a huge and complex problem, to say the least. Our goal is to end homelessness here while also educating society about the importance of caring for individuals in need versus unfairly judging them. The care and support from thousands of individuals have driven ImpactHK to where we are today.
Tell us about a memorable moment while running ImpactHK?
There have been so many memorable moments and new ones daily! One that jumps to mind is of a nice lady who I previously met while she was sleeping outside a few years ago. Her life was a painful one but she somehow overcame that struggle, trusted us and excelled in our programmes and with our community. She now works for us full time in our kitchen and is an absolute star. Just this morning, I watched her working there and taking so much pride in her work. Every time I see her now, she always says the same thing to me, “I’m so happy!” I think this repeated sentence is partially due to her limited English but also because she genuinely loves her new life. I’m just so proud of her and I think she’s also proud of herself. And she should be!
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How do you make yourself happy and ritzy in life?
It has been a really tough time with Covid, all the rules and ever-changing regulations, so I have taken it a bit easy on myself during this period. Forgiving myself for not working like a madman was a tough but much-needed step. I find my greatest happiness playing beach tennis or frisbee with my daughter, laughing with the Love 21 community or having a beer at the dai pai dong with friends.
