Project CARE 2013 by Hong Wen School
On 3 October 2013, Hong Wen School celebrated Children’s Day with a very meaningful programme at Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH) – Project CARE “Children Actively Relating with the Elderly”.
Accompanied by 111 staff and 50 parent volunteers of the school, a total of 1338 pupils carried goodie bags walked from the school, about 500 metres away, to KWSH. Upon arrival, each student dropped his goodie bag into the collection trolley and then proceeded to paste a lovely message card onto the display panel, which soon became filled with numerous heart-shaped cards with heartening messages handwritten by the students.
The pupils and staff of the school had donated necessities for the goodie bags. Some pupil representatives handed the goodie bags to the elderly residents, some of whom responded with grateful smiles. Besides watching a performance by the school’s Chinese Orchestra, the residents also enjoyed breakfast in the garden with the pupils, teachers and volunteer parents.
Ms Sim Ann, Minister of State for Communications and Information, and for Education, was the Guest-of-Honour for the event. The presence of Ms Sim not only added encouragement to the commendable effort of the pupils but also brought comfort to many elderly residents.
“Through such a community programme, the pupils would be able to learn the values of love and compassion; and channel their compassion to action on caring for society. The programme allows the pupils to learn to be appreciative in life and also to demonstrate their appreciation to the elderly for their past contribution to our nation.” said Mr John Lim, Vice Principal of Hong Wen School.
Chen Xuan Qi, a Primary 6 pupil, reiterated that the programme adds value to the pupils’ learning journey, “It is very meaningful to participate in such activity. As I have very little opportunity to meet with the elderly, I could get to interact with some elderly folks and learn to understand their thoughts through such an activity.”
We applaud Hong Wen School for organising this programme in conjunction with their Children’s Day celebration.
KWSH is not only the oldest charitable hospital in Singapore offering quality healthcare services for the sick and needy, but also has a long standing tradition of inspiring Singaporeans towards social responsibility and community service. As a role model of the community in advocating good social values in many generations, the hospital has been partnering schools to organise projects that can impact the community as well as learning for students.
