97 organisations to hold flag days in 2004-05

Ninety-seven organisations will hold flag days to raise funds for their charitable projects on 50 Saturdays and 15 schools or public holidays during the coming financial year.

A spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said today (February 16) that applications for flag days had been increasing in recent years and the department had received 206 applications for 2004-2005.

He said that to allow more agencies to organise flag sales, the number of regional flag days had been increased to 16 in the coming financial year. They will fall on April 24, May 8, May 22, July 3, September 11, September 25, October 9, October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4, December 29 this year and January 29, February 19, March 5, March 19 next year. Three organisations will sell flags concurrently in their respective regions of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.

For enquiries, call the department''''s hotline at 2343 2255 or SWD Headquarters at 2832 4311 for enquiries.

The spokesman appealed to organisers to take precautions against any possible fraud.

Organisers should inform the Police in case of loss of property, and seek their help when fraudulent acts, such as tampering with collection bags or unauthorised selling, are found.

The flag days for 2004-2005 are as follows:

*Flag Days on School/Public Holidays
#The flag day is allocated to three organisations to conduct the sale of flags in Hong Kong Island Region, Kowloon Region and New Territories Region respectively.

End

Monday, February 16, 2004