In the TV drama “Airport Security Unit”, artiste Mr Mat Yeung played a police officer named “Easy”. In real life, he is a staunch supporter of resolute law enforcement by the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). Earlier, the eatery run by him received a special order, from a woman who wished to purchase a batch of food on behalf of her elderly godmother and gift them all to anti-riot police officers who have been safeguarding Hong Kong tirelessly on the front line over the past year.

After learning from his staff of the special order, Mr Yeung contacted the woman himself. It turned out that the person with a heart of gold was a granny in her eighties, surnamed Leung. Indeed, some deceased members of Granny Leung’s family had served in the Force. In recent years, Granny Leung had been living in a nursing home. Given her support for the Force and love for TV programmes, she became a big fan of the drama “Airport Security Unit” airing a while ago, and she even mistook Mr Yeung for a genuine police officer.

In recent months, Granny Leung’s health had been going downhill and she had to receive treatment in hospital from time to time. However, she still followed the news about the Force very closely. One time, Granny Leung saw in the news on TV that some anti-riot police officers were squatting on the ground while having their meals in the streets of Mong Kok, in order to remain steadfast in their duties. The scene prompted Granny Leung to ask her goddaughter, “Why are police officers in such a plight nowadays? I want them to have some nice soup and food!”

Later on, Granny Leung authorised her goddaughter to withdraw and use her remaining life savings, totalling around HK$160,000, to support anti-riot police officers, as a token of appreciation for their hard work.

Mr Yeung revealed to OffBeat that he originally planned to visit Granny Leung as soon as he learnt about her wish. However, since the hospital was banning visits during the pandemic, the only thing he could do was making her wish come true as soon as possible. Therefore, he wasted no time in contacting the Mong Kok Police Station. At first, he prepared 500 bowls of soup. However, after knowing about that, Granny Leung said, “Soup is not filling at all! They need to have rice to gain enough energy!” That was why the orders were modified to include both soup and rice.

Station Sergeant Leung of the Police Community Relations Office of Mong Kok District said that since the outbreak of protests against the extradition law amendment bill, Mong Kok has become one of the main battlefields and the police station often received food and gifts from members of the public. However, considering the special nature of Granny Leung’s case, Station Sergeant Leung felt particularly compelled to facilitate her gesture of goodwill.

Granny Leung had been bedridden due to her deteriorating health. However, when she received the photo of Mr Yeung with police officers who were collecting their meals, she said in sheer contentment, “I can finally see smiles on the officers’ faces.” In fact, Granny Leung’s goddaughter intended to sponsor another round of meals for the officers. However, Mr Yeung was worried that it would use up Granny Leung’s life savings, therefore he advised her to do it again only later. Sadly, Granny Leung passed away shortly afterwards.

Earlier, Mr Yeung and his girlfriend Ms Lisa Ch'ng delivered bowls of hot soup and rice to the officers on standby at the Police Sports and Recreation Club, to express Granny Leung’s gratitude to the Force on her behalf once again. Mr Yeung said, “Ever since I expressed my support for HKPF, my restaurant has been vandalised and I have also lost support from some fans. However, when compared to Granny Leung who was still cheering the Force on with her last breath and supporting them with her remaining life savings, what I have done definitely pales into insignificance.”