RP – Man Fut Tong Charity Drive 2011

Article by Ng Rui Lee Grace (SAS) and Koh Yan Yan, (SAS); NYAA Participants

Remember our mid-autumn festival newsletter in the September issue of OSG's newsletter? We are back again at Man Fut Tong Nursing Home! This time, with a collaboration with two other Interest Groups (Judo and Student Ambassador).

On the 10th of December 2011, game stalls were being set up by these 3 IGs to raise funds for the Nursing Home as the main event objective as well as taking on the role of elderly ambassadors; a group of participants assisting in wheeling the elderly around and being buddies for the day.

The three IGs involved were required to think of an idea for their game stalls. Each stall was given a certain budget to implement a simple and easy to setup game for participants to engage in. After several rounds of discussion, the IGs decided on their games. NYAA IG game stall was "hoop of luck", Judo IG was "Puzzle Challenge" and Student Ambassadors came out with "Coin Drop". The individual booth IC's went a step further to prepare attractive prizes for game stalls that the public can win on that day.

On the actual day, all the participants arrived at the Man Fut Tong nursing home at 7.30am to set up the game stalls, perform a manpower check and prepared to welcome the public. Republic Polytechnic hosted three stalls out of the 40 stalls at the event. The first customer to visit our stall was delighted with our set-up, games and prizes. The crowd started trickling in and reached its peak around noon where massive crowds were moving in and parents started bringing their kids around to eat, play and contributed to the fundraising efforts.

While managing the game stalls, participants were able to exercise their creativity and event management skills as well as to interact with the public. Participants received feedback from the public on what they thought of the games, how challenging, attractive and enjoyable it was for all ages. It was a fruitful experiential learning opportunity for the participants.

At the same time, the elderly ambassadors were matched to their buddies for the day and started off by chatting and sharing with the elderly. We brought them around the charity fair compound. From the walkabout session, participants got to interact with the elderly and assisted them to purchase items from the stall compound with given coupons. Some elderly even want us to be volunteers after the event!

RP student, Sheikh Mahathir received a certificate of appreciation from Ms Ellen Lee (Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC) for RP contribution to the success of fundraising and service involvement. Commenting on the success of this event, he said "Each individual contribution is important for the success of this event and made a positive impact in our society. I'm happy that not only have we done well in enhancing RP's image but more importantly, we upheld the spirit of genuine service."

Please visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/RP-NYAA/191396810915580 for more information.