Last night saw the highest amount donated in the history of the Community Chest Charity TV Show - a whopping $9.6 million - for worthy causes.
The charity television programme was first telecast in 1985. The previous show, which was held in 2014, raised $6 million.
The show opened with a combined choir of students from Community Chest-supported special education schools and mainstream institutes of higher learning, accompanied by local singer Kelvin Tan Wei Lian. They sang two songs - the Mandarin song Invisible Wings and the English number Footprints In The Sand.
The lead singer of the choir, 17-year-old Adelyn Koh, was born with a rare eye disease, which involves clouding of the cornea, causing blurred vision.
The first-year Institute of Technical Education student previously studied at Lighthouse School, a special education school supported by the Community Chest.
The Singaporean, who can see only shadows, colours and lights around her, enjoys singing and composing music. Speaking to The Straits Times before the show, she said: "Through my performance, I hope to encourage others who are going through hardship not to give up. The world is beautiful, and nothing is impossible."
Other stars who performed included Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, Taiwan-based singer Wakin Chau and Taiwanese music producer and singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee. They sang numbers such as You Make Me Happy And Sad, Let It Go, Song Of Ordinary People and Infatuation.
Lee said during the show: "Being good to others is being good to yourself. Come on, donate."
The night's entertainment also included a performance by cast members from the Cirque du Soleil show Toruk - The First Flight, as well as performances by getai stars Hao Hao, Liu Ling Ling and duo Bao Bei Jie Mei. There was also an electric guitar performance by 81-year-old Mary Ho, popularly known as Grandma Mary.
The show was held at the MES Theatre at Mediacorp, and broadcast live on Channel 8. The guest of honour was President Halimah Yacob.
Last night's show was the first charity TV show in Singapore to leverage digital technology to raise funds, with members of the public being able to make donations via the DBS PayLah, DBS or POSB digibank or DBS iWealth mobile apps, in addition to tele-poll donations.
The Community Chest supports about 80 social service organisations to meet under-served, critical social needs. It celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.
