The act of voluntarism can be said to be the fruit of CCE at Lianhua. It encapsulates our school’s motto ‘Play, Passion, Purpose’, as well as our school’s mission. Despite the fact that many long running VIA projects had been shelved due to restrictions in interactions between students and external agencies, the school continued with Project Smile for most of the year, except during periods of stricter Covid guidelines. Project Smile is especially meaningful in this time of need for the nation and in spite of their busy schedules, our Core Team led their fellow pupils to pack and distribute these relief packs to needy residents in the community.

Project Smile was so successful that it inspired our then P1 student, Shakthi from Primary 1 Resilience to start a ‘Care and Share’ corner. Using $400 from her savings, Shakthi, together with her mother, Mdm Jmaleni Saravanan, bought essential items such as instant noodles, canned food, biscuits, packet drinks and cooking oil and set up a corner with the donated items at her block from June 1 to June 30 2021. Her parents and Project Smile stepped in to contribute even more items to the corner. This act of service by a young P1 student further inspired other residents in the neighbourhood to make their own contributions to the corner. Hence, the corner was kept well-stocked during the period of time.

Speaking of heroes, did you know that among our staff is a Covid-19 hero? Covid-19 arrived on our shores in 2020. One of our staff, Operations Manager Mr Alagappan helped to keep Singapore safe during the period of 22 April to 25 July 2020, by serving as an assistant dormitory task force manager. During this period, he set up facilities at Innova Junior College to house the workers. He was also involved in setting up the area for the Covid-19 swab tests to be conducted. In addition, he organised recreational activities such as games for the migrant workers and kept them engaged during difficult times. However, it wasn’t just operational duties, during this period of time, Mr Alagappan also lent a listening ear to the workers who were unable to work during that period. Mr Alagappan is a fine example of being courageous in the face of the storm!