Though threatening to rain the night
before, the morning of 16 September was beautiful and sunny, as though mother
nature has given her blessings to reach out to the less fortunate. As the
saying goes, early bird catches the worm, the volunteers were encouraged to
arrive early for an energising breakfast before the mass briefing at 9am.
At 8.55am, the volunteers were promptly
shooed-in to LT 5A for briefing. A total of 74 volunteers comprising mostly of
MS staff, as well as 2 ex-colleagues from MS and 12 colleagues from CLS,
gathered excitedly for instructions. Director of MS, Miss Chao Yunn Chyi, gave
her appreciation speech and thanked the volunteers and donors for raising
$8297.50, before passing the microphone back to the lead organiser. The lead
organiser then explained the expenditure of the raised sum (which was converted
to staple food items and cash vouchers), the selection of the recipients (who
are on the public assistance list provided by the Southwest CDC), and the
do's-and-don'ts of the distribution procedures.
"Ready, get set, go!". With
this signal, the eager volunteers almost leapt out of their seats to gather at
the taxi-stand near admin. block for a photo-taking session. After commerating
the event with a photograph, the volunteers worked in teams to load the gift
packages into the car boots. The show of camaraderie was evident. Though
sweating, everyone had a smile on their face, demonstrating that giving beats
receiving. In no time, 20 cars set off to distribute gift packages to 161 recipients
residing in Clementi and Dover areas.
By noon, all the volunteers have
completed their tasks and returned to SP. Work&Play being the theme of the
day, the volunteers were rewarded with a BBQ-lunch-and-games session at
Moberly. The volunteers relaxed, ate, chatted, laughed and bonded. The
"food connoisseurs" exchanged food tips; the "workaholics"
took the chance to collaborate on projects; the "chefs" exchanged
fire-starting and grilling tips over the BBQ pits; while the rest exchanged
experiences from the morning's activity, or catch up on each other's personal
lives.
To break the ice further, two simple
games - Curtain game and Peanuts game - were organised in the midst of lunch.
The first game had the volunteers shouting and pointing at each other all in
good fun, causing much laughter all around. The second game paired together
volunteers who are very different from each other, hence allowing them to know
one another better. Indeed, there was plenty good food and great company!
The day's event ended by mid-afternoon,
amidst good feelings of having contributed to community, as well as friendships
established or strengthened. We shall look forward to MS Community Service
2012!
