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Students (from left) Chin Zi Rou, Tan Xiu Lin, Fatimah Nazeeha and Lim Xiao Xuan from Canossaville Children & Community Services (Canossaville) Student Care programme, were disappointed to learn that some of their friends would not be able to join in a planned visit to an old folks’ home as it could not accommodate too large a group. This was especially so for one of the young ladies who had just lost her grandfather.
Undeterred, these resourceful young ladies aged 10 to 11 years, set about planning their own visit. Calling upon their experience from previous visits to nursing homes, they created a visit plan and set their sights on St Theresa’s Home.
With guidance and encouragement from their teacher, they prepared a detailed proposal which was then presented to Canossaville’s management. Next, the young ladies had to identify and sell their project to a sponsor. Their plan found traction with Vistra Singapore, who came on board as a corporate sponsor.
Ms Valentina Chemodanova, Relationship Manager (Corporate & Private Clients) of Vistra Singapore said, “We were extremely impressed with the girls’ enthusiasm and how well organised they were from the presentation of the project, preparation of the materials for the event, and the visit to St Theresa’s Home itself. It was a great pleasure to support the kids in this project and we look forward to sharing many more activities with them.”
With logistics and budget in place, they started their preparations. The young ladies organised 40 students into small groups and ensured that all were familiar about their roles to make the visit to St Teresa’s Home a success.
Not surprisingly, everything ran smoothly on the day of the visit. The students mingled and chatted with the elderly, and helped them design and construct paper lanterns for the upcoming mid-autumn festival. They also joined the residents for refreshments.
Ms Amy Yuen, Communications Manager from Canossaville shared, “You could see they have put themselves in the shoes of the elderly whom they were visiting. I am happy that the girls have in them, the values shared with them through our Formation of the Heart programme.”
Canossaville offers preschool and student care centre that caters to mainstream, and children with mild to moderate special needs.
This article is extracted from our Caritas Singapore Annual Report 2017.
Canossaville Children and Community Services is a member organisation of Caritas Singapore.