Cover David Begbie, co-founder of Crossroads Foundation (Photo: Alex Maeland, Styling: Christie Simpson, Grooming: Gloomy Kwok, Irene Lee at Makeupbees, Styling Assistant: Angela Leung)

As the co-founder of Crossroads Foundation, David Begbie has been providing vulnerable people with the resources they need—earning him a spot on The Impact List 2020

What can you do to help? That’s the question David Begbie wants everyone to ask themselves, as his own family did in 1995 when they set up the Crossroads Foundation, which connects vulnerable people with the resources they need.

See also: Introducing Asia's Most Influential: The Impact List 2020

Begbie was just a teenager when his father, Malcolm, an accountant, and mother, Sally, who worked in public relations, began turning their skills to helping others, starting with sending clothes to victims of flooding in China.

From those initial donations bloomed an organisation that now redistributes items to people in need in Hong Kong and the wider world—from airline blankets to shoes to furniture to computers. The charity inhabits a former Gurkha army base outside Tuen Mun, where 45 volunteers work fulltime alongside thousands more temporary volunteers.

Begbie and his team are now turning their headquarters into a destination for Hong Kong families that will include a playground made from artefacts from conflict and a “trail of need”, which will give visitors insights into issues worldwide.

“The yearning is there but people feel too small. So perhaps the question is not ‘Do you feel big enough to make a difference?’ Perhaps it’s, ‘Who are you? What skills do you have? There is something that each of us can do to make a difference,” says Begbie. “And the collaborative effect of what these small efforts can do? None of us can imagine.”

See also: 5 Ways To Give Back In Hong Kong


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