Events

07 MAR 2021

Year 2021 is a remarkable year for CASS, a social and welfare services provider committed and dedicated to serve the multicultural community, as it reaches the milestone of 40^th Anniversary.

To mark the auspicious occasion, CASS held a Celebration Ceremony at the Canterbury League Club on 7 March 2021.  The event was well attended by many Members of Parliament and Councillors of a number of local governments in Sydney. There were also guests from the community services sector, government officials, businesses, project partners, community leaders, volunteers and the media.

The Guest of Honour was the Premier of NSW who was represented by Hon Scott Farlow MLC. Other main guests included Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs who was represented by Dr Fiona Martin MP, Clr Khal Asfour, Mayor of the City of Canterbury Bankstown, Ms Jodi McKay MP, Leader of the Opposition in NSW, and Hon Jason Clare MP, representative of Hon Tony Burke MP, Ms Wendy Lindsay MP, representing the Hon Dr Geoff Lee MP, Ms Sophie Cotsis MP, Mr Jihad Dib MP, Mr Chris Minns MP, Hon Philip Ruddock, Mayor of Hornsby Shire Council and many other councillors.

Members of the Board of Directors of the parent entity of CASS present at the event, apart from the Chairperson, Dr Bo Zhou, included Mr Henry Pan OAM, Dr Leng Tan, Mr Anthony Pang, Mr Sean Zhang, Prof Stephen Li, Mr Colin Chen, Mr Tao Bai, Mr Dong Li, Mrs Teresa Chu, Ms Winnie Fung, Dr Bei Lu and Ms Tica Lee.

The ceremony was kick-started by the festive Lions Eye Dotting Ceremony and Lion Dance. A short video depicting the work of CASS was then shown.

In his welcome speech, CASS Chairperson Dr Bo Zhou shared several milestones achieved by CASS over the past decade, including the building of a Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) in Campsie from scratch, providing quality services to 63 seniors; the number of clients using CASS Home Ageing Services increasing from about 110 in 2011 to over 1,300 today; the number of participants using its disability services soaring from 10 only in 2011 to over 200 with various NDIS programmes presently, etc. Over 3,500 families of multicultural backgrounds, including Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Chinese, etc. access the comprehensive range of services or activities weekly provided by CASS currently in aged care, disability care, child care, settlement and health services, vocation and training services, community language classes and many more. CASS is now a truly multicultural services provider, achieving one of the goals set in 2011.

Dr Zhou also thanked the CASS volunteers who have contributed selflessly and tirelessly towards the growth and accomplishment of CASS over the last forty years.  He particularly wanted to express his deepest gratitude to Mr Henry Pan OAM, the founding chairperson and currently serving as the Honorary Executive Director, as the shining example of selfless volunteerism.  Henry’s dedication, enthusiasm and contributions have undoubtedly made the outstanding achievements and success of CASS possible. Dr Zhou said, “People say it is easy to do one good deed, but it is difficult to do good deeds all the time.  Henry is just such a person who has been doing good deeds all the time over the last forty years for CASS.”

Looking into the future, Dr Zhou said with determination, “CASS is committed to build more RACFs for the elders; provide more facilities for people with disability; offer more services and support to the multicultural communities.  Most importantly, we continue to focus on our core commitments and founding principles, providing quality services to the community to meet the emerging demands.”

In his speech, Clr Khal Asfour, Mayor of the City of Canterbury Bankstown said “ Canterbury Bankstown is a multicultural community, the services provided by CASS not only benefit those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds but also serve as a role model for the wider community”

The representative of Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Dr Fiona Martin MP, said “Australia has been focusing on multiculturalism, encouraging new migrants to integrate into the wider Australian Society. For the past four decades, CASS has been serving the Multicultural community and providing settlement services to numerous newly arrived migrants, benefiting those in need.”

Hon Scott Farlow MLC, representing the Premier of NSW, praised CASS for its 40 years of excellent services to the community and congratulated CASS on achieving such a great milestone. He said, “NSW is a culturally diverse state, the contributions of CASS in serving the multicultural communities have positively impacted the development of NSW as a whole.”

In her speech, Ms Jodi McKay MP, Leader of the Opposition in NSW, commended CASS for its provision of community services and its outstanding achievements over the years, and expressed her wish for CASS to continue serving more people in the community. She also brought with her a very special and meaningful gift to congratulate CASS, a record of the motion she moved and passed in the NSW Parliament, to acknowledge and recognize the determination, dedication and tremendous contributions CASS made in the previous 40 years.

The Hon Jason Clare MP, Federal Member for Blaxland, complimented CASS for its 40 years of excellent services for the community and the remarkable contributions to the Australian society.  CASS is playing a significant role model in the multicultural community.

The achievements and success of CASS cannot be accomplished without the support of dedicated people, 15 of those longstanding and outstanding committed persons were presented with the CASS Service Awards in the ceremony.

A launching ceremony of CASS 40^th Anniversary Souvenir Book e-version was also held. The book highlighted the significant milestones achieved by CASS and outlined the major events and challenges experienced by CASS over the past decades.

In between speeches and some items of the proceedings, there were musical performances of several CASS Seniors Activity Groups.   Then all those sponsors of the 40^th Anniversary Celebration, were each presented with an Appreciation Plaque, to thank them for the support,  including the Platinum Sponsor – Capstone Realty Pty Ltd; Gold Sponsor – Total Construction & Westpac; Silver Sponsors – Active Mobility Systems, Darling Square Community Bank, Hakka, Little Whales Wellbeing Centre, Navitas English, as well as the supporting bronze sponsors.

The highlight of the celebration ceremony was the cake cutting ceremony with everyone singing “Happy Birthday to CASS” together.

Mr. Antony Pang, Deputy Chairperson / Secretary of CASS gave the Vote of Thanks on behalf of CASS to express the wholehearted thanks to the support and participation.  All the guests and the host enjoyed the ceremony amidst the exchange of compliments!