President's Social Service Awards 2006- Part 2

Hi all, finally I'm back. It's time for me to share with u guys on my recent visit to the Istana. Hey, I was really excited because it was my first trip to Istana and I didn't know that there is such an award until I was invited to attend. Oh, u must be saying I'm very suaku ( ignorance). Hmm, quite true.

Anyway,I was really surprised when I received a call from Surin, the All Saints Home's social worker, inviting me to the President’s Social Service Award. I was really surprised since I have stopped volunteering for about 2 months as I want to focus on the new job first. Thus, I enquired her why not Eric, Jiahao or Weini who have contributed so much.

In fact, I have temporarily stopped volunteering at the Home as I have just got a pretty demanding job at a new start-up. There is only my manager and I in the rather big office with 2 different fish species namely the parrot fish and guppies. (My big boss believes in Feng Shui since he is in the marine industry). I have been preparing the necessary projects works and planning policy so that the company will be in systematic order. So far I quite like the work since it exposes me to all aspects of business be it accounting, administration, management and marketing even though I occasionally complained of the heavy workload.

Like what the elderly say, you gain some and you lose some. Just have to take it all in stride.

So you see, it's not all about giving in volunteering. In fact, the elderly treat us like their grandchildren and freely dispense advice and console us when they sense something is not quite right.

Ok, back to the award presentation thing.

It was indeed an eye-opening event. The dazzling hall and the magnicent city view from the Istana. We had a great buffet dinner with fried rice, bee hoon, desserts like cheesecake, brownies and many more. Also we got to meet and learn from many volunteers from various groups.

It is at this event that I learnt that there is a clown lesson which requires about a year to complete. The happy clown will visit the sick children to make them laugh. That is a great idea! Laughter can help people to ease physical pain. When you are happy, you forget the pain momentarily. Anyway, the talk just reminds me of Carolyn. Just thinking of her make me smile. Really, her infectious laugh is really powerful. Once she laughed, I will also laugh. No idea why. And you know what, I am quite a cool and aloof person. Hey, I realised I tend to laugh more when I volunteer at All Saints' as the volunteers are mostly fun-loving, nice and funny people from all walks of life. We meet to spread laughter and joy around.

Ok, will be joining you guys soon. Meanwhile, stay tune to Michelle's reflective post and the latest event update on Volunteer Orientation Session held on 31 Aug. It is our Carolyn's maiden presentation. It was a great presentation. Esther, Michelle, Weini, Teck Ee, Meng Kwee,Meng Huat and I were there to support and recruit more volunteers. Like what Carolyn said, we are still a baby with only a year of experience. We need more volunteers to make the activities much more exciting and strong. Together, we build a stronger volunteer group for All Saints Home. Do join us for the All Saints Volunteer Orientation held on 9 of September. For more information on volunteering, please contact our Ms. Weini, aka 'Ms. Natural' . You can email her by clicking her name under the contributors. Looking forward to seeing more volunteers.
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President Social Service Awards 2006 : Photo Galore!!

Photo Sharing of the President Social Service Awards 2006...
Happy viewing... :P
Upcoming next will be Part II , SzeLi and my joint reflective writeup of the event... Stay tuned!!

Oh yah... Not forgetting to thank Weini for asking me to go on her behalf to such meaningful event, been quite an eye-opener for me!! Thank gal! Arigato :) Next yr, it shall be your chance to go liao ok..

Majestic Istana @ Night
The Event Backdrop... Szeli n I simply love the red flower design :)
The Event Hall/ dazzling Function room..
Meaningful quote by His Excellency, President S R Nathan
Volunteers Circle... fr all walks of life

ASH 1st Anniversary Gathering.... 12 Aug 06

We celebrated our first anniversary cum farewell dinner for both Eric and Jiahao with a steamboat dinner at a Chinese eatery. Eric will be away to London for job training. Jiahao and WeiZhong will be leaving for oversea exchange programme in Canada. We wish them all the best in their future endeavour. Sob, they have done so much for the home. We really appreciate all that you have done. The elderly will miss you all too.

After the heavy dinner with loads of meat, seafood and vegetables,we headed to the Esplanade to view the spectacular fireworks display. It was super crowded but we managed to catch a good view. After the display, we brought some drinks and snacks and we sat on the old Supreme Court's stairways to chat and chill out. It was indeed a memorable night.

We look forward to the return of our "heros".

Enjoy the photos we took.

Cheeky Eric in action at All Saints.

Padang at night.

Left to right: Carolyn, SzeLi, Si Hui and Michelle.

Left to right: Meng Kwee, Jiahao, Eric, Teck Ee and Edmund.