29 January 2009
Teresa Teng’s First Theme Café in Hong Kong Creates Work Opportunities for People with Psychiatric Disability
Teresa New Life Coffee Shop, the first theme café in memory of Ms. Teresa Teng, operated by New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (New Life), was officially declared open today (January 29). The opening ceremony was officiated by Mr. Paul Tang, JP, Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare with guest Mr. Teng Chang-fu, Managing Director of Teresa Teng Foundation and representatives from New Life including Mr. Ho Sai Chu, President, Prof. Fanny Cheung, Chairman and Ms. Deborah Wan, Chief Executive Officer.
“This coffee shop is our newest social enterprise, signifying a tripartite partnership with the business and public sector to provide job opportunities for people with psychiatric disability.” Ms. Deborah Wan said. “Not only providing a meeting place for Teresa’s fans to reminisce about her, the coffee shop promotes her public spirit to the general public. The opening was also a tribute to the 56th anniversary of her birth.”
Teresa New Life Coffee Shop is sponsored by Teresa Teng Foundation with a matching grant from “Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged: of the Social Welfare Department. The Shop is expected to employ 4 – 6 people with psychiatric disability and provide 30 – 40 training placements every year.
With the nostalgic theme of the healthy diva Ms. Teresa Teng, all products of the coffee shop are of healthy recipes of premium quality. Among them, organic soy products were the favourite of Teresa and were produced by the licensed workshop of New Life. The coffee shop also features coffee from Gukeng which is the hometown of Teresa as well as the hometown of Taiwan premium coffee. 2 styles of Heartwarming Stamps in memory of Teresa are launched at HK$100 per pack to celebrate the shop opening.
The coffee shop is decorated with Teresa’s photos and echoed with her melodious songs. Some of her personal items and collection are placed on exhibition in the coffee shop to let people know more about her. Highlight exhibits now are some of the awards she received in her singing career. Unique souvenirs in commemorative of Teresa, with some of them made by people with psychiatric disability, are also available.
Teresa New Life Coffee Shop is located at No. 35, East Tsim Sha Tsui Station, MTR East Rail Line (Salisbury Road), which is adjacent to New Life Healthy Living Specialty Shop, another social enterprise selling healthy and organic products operated by New Life.
Special thanks to Celestial Movie Channel Limited for the production of TV promo and offering free airtime at their Celestial Classic Movies Channel; The Madame Tussauds Hong Kong for offering discounted admission rate for the coffee shop’s customers; Teresa’s loyal fan Mr. Chan Kwong San for providing albums for the production of displayed photos and donation of a classic album with timer to the coffee shop.
New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association is a non-profit making welfare organization established in 1965 aiming at providing comprehensive community rehabilitation services to facilitate self-reliance and social integration of people with psychiatric disability. The Association operates 29 service units serving more than 6,000 service users every day, catering their residential, vocational and social needs. Starting from 1994, the Association has been playing a pioneer role in developing diversified social enterprises to provide work and training opportunities for people with psychiatric disability. Up till now, 20 social enterprises have been developed including vegetable stall, fruit stall, convenience stores, restaurants, light refreshment kiosk, healthy living specialty / organic shops, souvenir shop, eco-tourism, cleansing service, property management service and coffee shop.
Teresa Teng Foundation was established for Miss Teresa Teng to organize activities for the reminiscence of her charisma and devotion to her singing career. Committed to succeed the will of this public-spirited superstar, the Foundation decided to establish a partnership relationship with New Life since early 2006. In commemoration of Teresa Teng’s 53rd birthday, a tribute event was held on 21 January 2006 at Lantau Link View Point, which marked the beginning of the partnership relationship between Teresa Teng Foundation and New Life. It was a pleasant surprise for many of the participants on the announcement of the set up of an exclusive Teresa’s souvenir counter at New Life @ Lantau Link, the souvenir shop located at Lantau Link View Point operated by New Life. The objective of Teresa New Life Coffee Shop is to create job opportunities for people with psychiatric disability, whilst demonstrating their ability and promoting social integration as an ultimate goal.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Ms. Loretta Poon, Corporate Affairs Manager, or
Mr. Keith Lau, Corporate Affairs Executive Officer
New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
Tel: (852) 2332 4343 Fax: (852) 2770 9345
Email：loretta@nlpra.org.hk or keithlau@nlpra.org.hk
Web site：http://www.nlpra.org.hk
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