Saturday, May 28, 2016

[SKM] Appreciation Dinner in Celebration of #KindnessDaySG


Kindness Day SG celebrations kicked off with the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) joining hands with several Group-Up Movements (GUMs) to carry out community activities from 1st May. This slew of activities shed light on the often-neglected and vulnerable communities in Singapore. Together with my mum, we took part in one of their activities, which is the Home Visits at Jalan Kukoh organised by The Volunteer Switchboard


The theme for this year is "Kindness, It's Up to Us", and the public is encouraged to inculcate the spirit of organic kindness in Singapore. This year, 1,000 hand-folded windmill yellow gerbera daisies were collected throughout the month to form this special artwork display to be unveiled by Minister of Culture, Community and Youth and Advisor to SKM, Ms. Grace Fu. 


The unveiling event took place just before the appreciation dinner at Berlin Bar, CHIJMES and I was glad to be there to witness it with my mum.


Together with Ms. Grace Fu to unveil the special Kindness Day SG display is Mr Koh Poh Tiong, Chairman of Singapore Kindness Movement as well as Dr William Wan, General Secretary, Singapore Kindness Movement.


Just to share, the yellow Gerbera daisies used in this installation were folded by people who have been touched by kindness and as a sign of their appreciation, dedicated the paper flowers to the volunteers. Each and every flower represent gratitude and it's simply beautiful.


Mr Koh Poh Tiong, Chairman of Singapore Kindness Movement giving the Welcome Address, giving thanks to Minister Grace Fu for gracing this event as well as those who joined this evening. He is also grateful for the evidence of kindness and graciousness around us and would like to extend his sincere gratitude to their partners organisations. Singapore Kindness Movement have also worked very closely with partners from MCCY (Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth) and MOE (Ministry of Education). Lastly he gave a sincere thanks to Team Kindness, who have worked hard behind the scene.


Dr William Wan, General Secretary, Singapore Kindness Movement giving the welcome speech. He introduced the theme for Kindness Day SG this year as well as appreciating the Ground-Up Movements, corporate partner and schools for the collaboration. 


Guest-of-Honour, Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth giving the last speech. She emphasized on why it is important to have a movement like this to remind us to make graciousness our norm and how kindness builds a caring community. She also recognized the effort of the Group-Up Movements and gives special mention to Dipa Swaminathan who started "It'sRainingRaincoats", an initiative to spread kindness to construction workers. 


A total of 9 new GUMs who have championed kindness over the past year were presented with the Kindred Spirit Circle (KSC) certificates and are inducted into the SKM's Kindred Spirit Circle, in recognition of their independent effort to spread kindness in Singapore. They are #Itsrainingraincoats, Familiar Strangers, Peter Draw, Roti for Homies, SamaSama, Sin Yong, Strangers of the Night, The M.A.D Race and U Cares.

Commencement of dinner was accompanied by special kindness performance by GUM - Syros (Sin Yong), Singing and movie impersonations by Emcee Alfred George and a short Q&A with Zhang Zhen Huan. It was super entertaining. 

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."

Sharing a quote I always believe in to end this post. However to be able to help others, we ourselves must have the ability as well. You can't pour water to others from an empty cup either, so I'm always grateful for what I have and what I can share. 


XOXO

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