Ride for Rainbows 2022 and 30th Anniversary Birthday Bash

Club Rainbow (Singapore)’s biggest event of the year, Ride for Rainbows 2022 and the 30th Anniversary Birthday Bash have successfully concluded on 27 November 2022.

The physical Ride for Rainbows is back after being virtual for 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic!

In conjunction with Club Rainbow (Singapore)’s 30th Anniversary, this year's edition for Ride for Rainbows is met with a hybrid format, giving our riders the flexibility to participate in a physical or virtual ride. We also had a birthday bash carnival with a tons of carnival games and rides at the end of the physical ride to celebrate this very special day and spend a fun filled day with our beneficiaries and their families!

On that day, there were over 600 participants and volunteers who turned up at Marina Barrage. This includes 78 families, close to 200 riders and over 100 staff and volunteers.

With that, we would like to take this opportunity to express our utmost gratitude to all our supporting parties, including our beneficiaries and their families, sponsors, riders, donors, staff and volunteers! This event would not be possible without everyone’s help and support. 

We hope to see you all again for Ride for Rainbows next year!

Please email rfr@clubrainbow.org to be a part of Ride for Rainbows next year!

Club Rainbow : Excellence and Tertiary Awards 2022

Education is one of the core pillars of support at Club Rainbow (Singapore) and we believe that it is the foundation and stepping stone in developing the potential of our beneficiaries. The Excellence & Tertiary awards are an opportunity to recognize our beneficiaries’ efforts and celebrate their successes. These awards are for those who completed their major national examinations like PSLE or N levels last year and for those in tertiary institutions.

This year, we presented 3 categories of awards - Excellence, Progress and Outstanding Character. 

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Our Excellence Award winners have performed exceptionally in their major national examinations and in their tertiary institutions.

Excellence Awards recipients:

• Aiden Chan Yen Peng

• Ng Gin Hon Royce

• Eswaran S/O Raja 

Our Progress Awards winners have displayed perseverance in their academics and have overcome challenges to make significant improvements.

 Progress Awards recipients:

• Victoria Tan Hui En

• Vasanthii D/O Raja

Our Outstanding Character Awards winners have participated actively in school and the community, displayed exemplary conduct and leadership qualities, and above all, inspired others by being role models.

Outstanding Character Awards recipients:

• Aniq Irfan Bin Norhisham

• Siti Nur Alawiyah Binti Kamsani

Celebrating Heroes 2022 : Beautiful Inside & Out

365 days, 7 families, 5 commendable siblings, 4 selfless caregivers and 3 outstanding siblings with one common motivation – a loved one.

Celebrating Heroes, an original event by Club Rainbow (Singapore) has been honouring countless caregivers and siblings over the decade. Taking a hiatus from 2021, we continue to recognise these heroes walking in our midst.

Starting as Caregivers Appreciation Day, the event evolved to Celebrating Heroes (CH) in 2015, where the first Exemplary Caregiver Award was presented. Whilst the common saying goes ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ but the most important support comes together as a family unit. Siblings are often forgettable when immediate priorities surround children with chronic illnesses. Acknowledging these young ones as part of the core support system of the family, we appreciate outstanding siblings too who share the daily responsibilities of caring for their brother or sister together with their parents.

This year, we received numerous nominations for many caregivers and siblings from all walks of life and even ages. After many tear-jerking encounters from the interviews with nominated caregivers and siblings, we are proud to share this year’s Celebrating Heroes 2022: Beautiful Inside & Out awardees – 5 commendable siblings, 4 selfless caregivers and 3 outstanding siblings! These awardees are true representatives of the many caregivers and siblings of Club Rainbow who give selflessly of their time to their loved ones.

Exemplary Caregiver Awardee, Mr Gan Keng Aik together with Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Speaker of Parliament Singapore (left) and Dr Sashikumar Ganapathy, President of Club Rainbow (Singapore).

Mr Gan, father of Aloysius and one of the Exemplary Caregiver awardees shared, ‘every parent must dare to dream that their kids can have a dream!’ Mr Gan supports his son’s passion for Boccia as a coach and athlete competition partner. Aloysius has been representing Singapore in the Asian Youth Para Games (AYPG) for Boccia and brought pride to Singaporeans with his first gold medal from the Bahrain 2021 AYPG. Sharing similar sentiments, Karen who is a teacher, a mother of 2 children and a caregiver 24/7 for her son, Mikkel, strongly believes that no child is the same as another. Putting a lot of effort into learning special education techniques and therapy exercises, she hopes that Mikkel would be as independent as he can. Through Karen’s perseverance and guidance, Mikkel has achieved many goals and skills, which were far from an imagined possibility at the point of his diagnosis.

Sharing the same room since the birth of his little brother Yao An in 2008, Yao Kang has been a key part of his brother’s life even before the diagnosis of Yao An’s rare disorder in 2013. He was an elder brother to whom Yao An looks up and bonded very closely. With his brother’s condition degenerating over time from verbal to non-verbal, Yao Kang has never given up on communicating with this little brother and spends his daily life playing music with Yao An to encourage sensory stimulation. A Year 3 student at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine now, though with a demanding academic schedule, Yao Kang still makes time for Yao An. An avid supporter of siblings with special needs, Yao Kang recognises the important role of siblings in a family unit. He is the co-founder of SibsUnite, a volunteer-run organisation.

Like Yao Kang, Auni, an Exemplary Sibling awardee of 2022, takes care of her little brother, Royyan while her mother is at work since the passing of their father. The 11-year-old has stepped up to support her mother in caring for Royyan by encouraging him on every single step of his daily essentials, guiding him on how to get home, helping him with personal care, and supporting Royyan with his academics. 

To hear more of our awardees, watch the Celebrating Heroes 2022 videos here:
Exemplary Caregiver Award 2022
Exemplary Sibling Award 2022

“It’s not what you look at matters, it’s what you see.”

From Family to Society

Hean Lee is a distributor and wholesaler of handy electronic and electrical household products ranging from power adapters, portable fans, rice cookers, and many more. Its products, marketed under the Soundteoh Electronic brand, can be found on the shelves of major electronic retailers, including Giant Supermarkets, Best Denki, and Courts. The company has a sweeping presence in several Southeast Asian countries.

We recently had the opportunity to speak to Hean Lee's Director, Mr. Kelvin Lee, to find out more about the company's perspectives on corporate social responsibility following its first charity collaboration with Club Rainbow in conjunction with SG Cares Giving Week.  

“Everyone to think positively and cherish every day. We should always look forward to tomorrow as miracles could happen.”

— Mr Kelvin Lee, Director of Hean Lee

Founded in 1957 by old Mr. Lee Hian Cheong, Hean Lee is now managed by the third generation of the Lee family. Philanthropy has always been part of the family culture as old Mr Lee donated money to build schools, shelters, and roads in Xiamen, his hometown that he left at a young age to escape from the widespread poverty and famine in China. Mr Kelvin Lee and his brother wanted to continue the family legacy of giving back to society after they started helming Hean Lee. They did so mainly by creating and supplying products that they felt were in line with the latest technology to add convenience to users and by partnering with local businesses and communities to help build brand awareness.

Some of Hean Lee's corporate social responsibility efforts included cross-promotions with local businesses and the sponsorship of home-grown football team Geylang International FC. While Hean Lee used to focus mainly on supporting local brands, they made a slight pivot to focus more on people following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hean Lee donated valuable items such as face shields and portable fans to improve the working conditions of healthcare frontline workers who had to work in sweltering temporary medical setups.

In November 2021, Hean Lee partnered with Club Rainbow on a budding artist program as part of the SG Cares Giving Week. As a result, the artwork of an 11-year-old Club Rainbow beneficiary was chosen as the packaging design of Hean Lee's wireless AC-operated doorbell. Mr. Kelvin Lee found it an intriguing process as a business rarely collaborated with a charitable organisation on its product packaging. With the success of the first collaboration, Hean Lee was considering extending or launching similar partnerships with Club Rainbow in the future.  

Hean Lee sincerely hoped the collaboration could help create more awareness and support for Club Rainbow. Their efforts in corporate social responsibility also led to Soundteoh Electronic being awarded the Singapore Prestige Brand Award 2020/2021 Established Brand Award. When asked for words of encouragement for the young beneficiaries of Club Rainbow, Mr. Kelvin Lee encouraged everyone to think positively and cherish every day. We should always look forward to tomorrow as miracles could happen.

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Should your company or organisation wish to support our children and their families, please email us for a discussion: contact@clubrainbow.org

Education Awards Presentation Ceremony 2022

Last Saturday, we had our first in-person event, Education Awards Presentation Ceremony 2022, after more than 2 years of hiatus. The award recognises the efforts and achievements of the children and motivates them in their academic learning and character building, despite their challenges. Close to 200 attendees including the Guest-Of-Honour, Speaker of Parliament and Patron of Club Rainbow, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, our children and their families, Council members, corporate and individual supporters, staff and volunteers attended the ceremony at our new centre, Sandbox.

During the ceremony, Club Rainbow’s mascot, Ray, made its first appearance. At the same time, we witnessed the soft launch of Sandbox – a purpose-built space where children and caregivers can attend programmes and services in a safe environment.

Located within Sandbox are also a digital lab, a visual arts studio and a performing arts studio. With these new facilities, Club Rainbow is set to expand and deepen our engagement with the children and families, through Arts and Vocational Development, two of our core pillars.

Looking ahead, Education will continue to be the cornerstone of our immediate and future plans. We will be having new initiatives to address the diverse needs of the children at different stages of their journey with Club Rainbow, from early childhood to youth, with the clear goal to empower them towards being independent, active contributors in society.

New initiatives launched early this year:

LEAP – Early Intervention catering to the younger children

LEAP – Primary and Secondary for the older children with an aim to maximize their learning developments.

The upcoming initiative, LINK, aims to equip our youths in essential soft skills such as social communications and financial management. These skills will be useful for our youths in their tertiary education journey or when they start working.

In the pipeline is an exciting programme – LAUNCH, to provide opportunities to our youths and caregivers through the development of vocational skills based on individual’s unique abilities, strengths and interests, and eventually, micro-enterprises that aim to provide families with a supplementary source of income.

This year is our 30th Anniversary – a new milestone and exciting chapter for us. We wish to thank everyone for journeying with us. With your unwavering support and contributions, we look forward to continue supporting more children and their families, for many more 30 years to come.

Visit our social media, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to learn more about our work and 30th Anniversary celebration.

 Together, we can Dream the Future!

#celebrate30withCRS #clubrainbowsg #dreamthefuture2022 #DTF2022