SINGAPORE - Since 2016, students from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School had read newspapers to senior citizens at the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) centre in Ang Mo Kio as part of the self-help group's News Sharing programme.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit two years ago, however, the school adapted by moving the programme online, with students from St Nicholas Girls' Library Society co-curricular activity reading to seniors via video-conferencing platform Zoom instead.
While the elderly could quickly adapt to the move, St Nicholas student Lim Jia Ying said the easing of Covid-19 restrictions has allowed for greater interaction, noting that students could play traditional games with seniors in a recent session.
"It was more interesting and fun," the 15-year-old, who is in Secondary 3, said.
For its efforts, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School was recognised at an award presentation ceremony on Saturday (July 9), CDAC's first such large-scale, in-person award-giving event in more than two years.
A total of 93 awards were given to the self-help group's partners and donors to acknowledge their contributions.
Some 240 guests attended the event at The Grassroots' Club in Ang Mo Kio. It was also attended by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who is CDAC chairman.
CDAC was able to overcome many of the challenges posed by the pandemic by working together with its partners, said Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Chee Hong Tat during his speech at the ceremony.
Another partner, Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution, reached out to even more people when its talks on traditional Chinese medicine went online as attendance was no longer restricted by the size of the venues, he said.
They were able to turn the crisis into opportunity, said Mr Chee, a member of CDAC's board of directors.
"On our part, CDAC will continue to actively pull together strategic partners with diverse ideas, expertise (and) experiences," he said.
Mr Chee noted that CDAC, which marks its 30th anniversary this year, could not have come so far without the support of its partners, volunteers and stakeholders, as well as members of the community.
He added that he hopes more individuals and organisations will come forward to contribute their time, ideas and resources to CDAC's efforts to help disadvantaged families.
