Crossroads built on generosity of spirit (hktdc.com)


	Sally and Malcolm Begbie have devoted their lives to humanitarian aid through Hong Kong's Crossroads Foundation

It was somewhat by default that Sally Begbie, a public relations consultant, and her husband, Malcolm, a chartered accountant, set up the Crossroads Foundation in 1995.

"We never meant to start Crossroads,” says Sally. "We believed the world had enough worthy causes, and the last thing we wanted was to start another one. Rather, we wanted to support existing charities.” Today, the Hong Kong-based charity is improving lives for impoverished people around the world, providing relief, creating jobs and rebuilding communities. It has four main arms: Global Distribution for dispensing aid; Global Hand, connecting people who want to help with those who need help; Global Village, which promotes awareness through simulated experiences; and Global Handicrafts, where cottage industries can sell their wares at Fairtrade prices. Crossroads is working in 100 countries and growing every day – which seems to continually amaze the Begbies.

The Australian couple arrived in Hong Kong in 1986. The intention was that Malcolm would take advantage of the business opportunities here, while Sally followed her desire to work for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Both were keen volunteers and supported various causes by donating their respective professional expertise.

That changed in 1995, when one of the NGOs asked for help after flooding in the northern part of the Chinese mainland. "We offered the usual response: we could prepare a budget for an aid project and write a story,” Sally said. "But they asked us: ‘can you send blankets and clothes? Two million people have lost everything'.”

Help poured in

The couple started gathering items from the Hong Kong community. First, they sent off 19 boxes – and were asked for more. They collected again, and sent off 72 boxes – still, more were needed. "So, we sent 136 boxes, and then 248 boxes,” Sally says. "We could not stop this work from growing.”

Hong Kong's Social Welfare Department advised the couple to register as a charity, allowing them free use of six rooms in a disused government building. "At first, we thought we could never fill those rooms. We were wrong,” she says. Five tonnes of goods were sent out, and within three weeks, 10 tonnes of goods had come in. Within three months, the rooms were overflowing. In addition to clothing and bedding, donations of other kinds began arriving. Before long, Crossroads had departments for computers and office provisions, general furniture, educational equipment, medical provision, literature, stationery, household items, electrical appliances and more. More Hong Kong people offered their time as volunteers. And Sally and Malcolm quit their jobs to work full-time, without a paid salary, for the charity. "We grew 150,000 per cent in the first four years – it was just crazy,” says Sally.

Two factors were working in their favour, according to Sally. First, she said that Hong Kong is an efficient place to do business. Word spreads fast and ideas are implemented quickly. Then, she adds, there is a great generosity of spirit, both among the Hong Kong people as individuals and within the corporate sector. The government, too, is supportive of initiatives, including the not-for-profit ones, as championed by the Begbies. "The world has many needs, and Hong Kong has been wonderful in responding to all those needs.”

Now shipping worldwide

From the initial 19 cartons of aid sent in 1995, the foundation now has a warehouse full of goods enough to fill 150 shipping containers – with some worth at least US$120,000. Half of the aid is distributed in Hong Kong, and half is shared among 100 countries. Many of the donations are brand-new goods. Crossroads has 5,000 private donors and 1,700 corporate supporters. Among them are brands like H&M, Marks & Spencer and Tesco, which donate goods, and firms like Grant Thornton, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy, which provide professional services.

In addition to hundreds of volunteers, Crossroads now has a workforce of 80 – none of whom is paid a wage. "We do survive, but not on a salary model,” explains Sally, who lives with Malcolm at the Crossroads premises, a disused army barracks leased by the government to the foundation for a peppercorn rental. Staff members, including the Begbies, "raise support to the best of their ability,” and they find that most of life's necessities are received, including food and clothing. "We find ourselves not needing to go down the cash route,” says Sally. "Companies like the fact that, when they are giving us money, it is not going into anyone's pocket.”

The Global Village element began in 2005. Someone had an idea for a fundraiser that involved inviting a group of executives to survive a night in a slum, recreated in the Crossroads' army barracks. It was designed as a one-off to highlight how the other half lived, but the participants were so moved by the realistic setting and the simulated experiences they encountered, that the concept was retained and expanded. Now, a range of "experiences” are available, including Slum Survival, a refugee camp, a sweat shop, an AIDS community, a monsoon, and soon, a blind experience. In each, participants are thrown into a challenging situation and have to find solutions. Scores of people attend each week for the cost of an optional donation.

The point, says Sally, is to open people's eyes to global need by evoking the "three e's”: empathy, education and empowerment. A participant might feel moved to respond to a particular cause or change their corporate practices.

Bringing people together

The other elements of Crossroads are equally innovative. Global Hand is a virtual platform matching corporate and community groups wanting to partner with NGOs to provide assistance where it is most needed. This may include human resources (including those serving in medicine and education), shipping and logistics services, and the full gamut of goods. Through Global Handicrafts, people in struggling economies have a means of selling their goods at fair prices, giving them the dignity of a livelihood.

While the Begbies continue to be amazed by the broad-ranging support for Crossroads, there are things the world still needs – like domestic and commercial sewing machines, household furniture, building and gardening tools, electrical tools of all sorts, and adult-sized bicycles.

"We are trying to be the crossroads by bringing people in need together with people who can help,” says Sally. "For Malcolm and me, it blows our minds to think of the journey we've been on, and how Hong Kong has been so wonderful to us. It is a privilege for us to live and operate in Hong Kong.”