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.

Our 1st Year Anniversary - Recap kia kia outing

hello volunteers...
Have you ever wonder how our All Saints volunteer group was formed last year?

Let's recap the Voyage-kia kia outing project on 30th July 2005! When our dear Eric, Jiahao, Weini, Sze Li, Tien Chee, Sharon, Esther and many others become 1st time volunteers...

The introduction to elderly sector volunteering and welcome briefing at All Saints Chapel.

Wheelchair training and practice session, remembered huh??

The TP students with Uncle Koh...

From Chinatown to UOB Plaza podium, coz some water from the sky on that day.

And our dear old folks enjoying the good dinner!

So what is next? This is only the beginning, let's continue to bring joy and care to the beneficiaries, also glad to know so many friends. Loving you all, kind souls...

Stay tune to our Volunteer 1st anniversary BBQ gathering.

Volunteering at All Saints Home - Tampines

Mass Games at A.S.H

SO WASSUP TODAE????Wow...it's really a "tough" day for all our volunteers today..LOLZ.. Today was the first time we tried out the BALL GAMES etc and everyone ah really sweat+perspire+pant+smell?(hee) like mad!! hee..however, cfm plus chop..EVERYONE DID ENJOY THOSE "TIRING" GAMES..haha... Today, alot of us came down for volunteering..there are teck ee lah, meng hwee lah, eric lah, me(weini), carolyn(akaweini's sister--->dunno?they say de..), kee teck, michelle, edmund, weizhong(jiahao's+weini's fren) and zhengsheng(aka alan who is jiahao's fren as well... haha), sharon and...did i miss out any one??hmm...dun tink so..lolz..10 pple leh..that's a lot as compared to previous saturday..cool eh? hope that we can maintain these number every sat..actually the purposes of having these games are meant to help to improve the old folks' hands and brain coordinations and as well as to avoid occurances of parkinson's and alzehmier's(did i spell wrongly) diseases...in addition, the game somehow also help the old folks to build a better realtionship with one another...cool eh?den we will see alot of good frens among the old folks..haha.. lolz..so now u guys noe why i said that it's tiring?? coz we played for an hour non-stop!!! haha..picking up fallen cans and restacked them back again for more "bowling", picking up sand bags from the box and redistributed them to the old folks for more "basketball scoring", passing and throwing balls to old folks and joining them in the mini-floorball..HITO NON STOP FOR AN HOUR~~~that's why we SWEAT+PANT+PESPIRE+SMELL.. but den u noe wad?? WE'VE FOUND THEM VERY EFFECTIVE!!! and THEREFORE for the coming month, we have decided to carry out another mass games for the old folks!!! YEAH~~so maybe teck ee and the rest go train their stamina...lolz..kidding la.. and hopefully ar..that day we will have COUNTLESS NUMBER OF PPLE(haha) coming down to join us for these "tough" cum fun games...hee

STILL>>>>THERE'S OUR WEEKLY SONG-SINGING SESSION with all our "players"(old folks and volunteers) at the CANTEEN... we made all the old folks formed a big circle with volunteers standing inside and we sang for almost an hour with a little help from the karaoke system(for the Ai Pian Jia Eh Eia song only lor...haha). Quite happening sia~~ and after that we helped to push them back to their respective wards before their dinner was ready..

ARE WE ENOUGH???? NO~~~~NO~~coz we visited some of the wards for a short song-singing session..haha..if not ar....e old folks upstairs complain leh..coz we have neglected them ma...muz be fair..lolz..and we gotta bear in mind that no matter wad we muz still carry out befriending everyweek..juz to find out how's the old folks are doing and if they are fine and u noe stuff like tt..lolz..(muz not get naggy..haha)

ARE WE DONE???? YES~~~ LIBRARY DISCUSSION...commented on the mass games and tink of ways to improve them lor...lolz..den HOME SWEET HOMW LOR...

Anyway, sze li...we noe that u are really busy wif ya work..but it's okay..dun worry..ya spirit is with us...WE CAN SENSE YOUR PRESENCE...eeewwww..lolz..kidding la..seriously if u need help from us..can email us..we are there to help!! WE are at YOUR service!!! COZ REMEMBER?? s'pore needa improve their customer service!!!! HAHAHHAHA..okok..anyway..heard from michelle about the cards stuff..maybe u email us the details lor..
Jiahao..do take care ar..auntie pui ling WARNS you to take good care of yourself andd your body!!! HEALTH IS VERY IMPORTANT...rem? she always remind us these..

OKAY!! cya guys nxt week!! have a great weekend!!!

Sign off>>>>> WEINI