Students from Nanyang Polytechnic's (NYP's) award-winning Chinese orchestra and choir have put together NYP Cares, a CD of Christmas songs like Frosty The Snowman and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, to raise funds for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

Needy students on the fund's list receive pocket money each month to cover transport, food and other necessities. Primary school pupils each receive $45 a month, while secondary students receive $80.

The Nanyang Polytechnic Students' Union and the Community Services Club hit upon the idea of producing a Christmas CD while organising a fund-raiser for Myanmar's cyclone victims in May.

In September, they roped in the choir and Chinese orchestra to record the six-song CD, and have been selling it for $10 since early last month.

The students hope to raise at least $20,000 for the fund. They have sold about 400 CDs so far at booths on the school campus.

Recording the CD was a novel experience for the 34 Chinese orchestra members and 35 choir members who took part, as neither group has made an album before.

'We weren't performing for an audience. We were doing it for hope, which is more meaningful,' said Gerald Chua, 18, a tenor and soloist in the choir.

The Chinese orchestra, which won a gold medal in last year's Australian International Music Festival, is known for experimenting with Western music and pop-music arrangements like Disney themes and songs by The Beatles.

Neither ensemble is a stranger to community service - the choir has performed with prison inmates as part of the Yellow Ribbon Project, while the Chinese orchestra has performed for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation, among others.

Anyone who wishes to purchase the Christmas CD can e-mail nyp.csc@gmail.com

GRACE CHUA