United by the mission and strategy of YMCA Vision 2030, YMCAs worldwide make a difference every day. From equipping young people and communities with skills for employment to supporting refugees, improving physical and mental health and developing innovative ways to protect our planet, our Movement is driving change.
We highlighted eight inspiring films showcasing this work at the YMCA Accelerator Summit in Mombasa, Kenya, held 21-25 October 2024.
We’ll share these films with you over the coming weeks. Here, we feature the F2 GreenPathy Project; click here to see last week’s feature, the Olive Tree Campaign.
F2 GreenPathy Project
Pillars: Meaningful Work, Sustainable Planet
YMCAs: Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong
Project summary: YM Fleur is a social enterprise operating under the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong and funded by the Government of Hong Kong. Its F2 GreenPathy project works with the Rosewood Hong Kong Hotel. Since 2023, it has recycled over 50,000 fresh flowers into dried flower products, empowering and training disadvantaged mothers for re-employment. All profits are reinvested to support YM Fleur’s programmes to support women and their families.
Key project features: This project addresses two critical social issues: environmental protection and employment for disadvantaged women.
- Environmental sustainability: The project reduces flower waste from events by transforming it into dried flower products, promoting public awareness about waste reduction.
- Empowering women: It creates flexible job opportunities for disadvantaged women, including single mothers, and provides work experience for young women aged 18-35. Participants learn to make floral products, understand social enterprise models and find relief from stress and anxiety through floral design.
In their words: “I want my children to see that their mom is not just a full-time housewife who only knows how to cook and do laundry, but I can also have a more professional job”.