Innovative Event Management That Gives Back

As part of the vocational development programme, Club Rainbow organised a bake sale earlier this year, in which our beneficiaries and caregivers participated to gain new skills and earn supplementary income.

Dream Station, a local events management and production company, contributed to the sale of baked goods by purchasing items from our beneficiaries. When asked why they chose to support us, they explained that their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) arm has the vision to collaborate with charitable organisations like Club Rainbow and to promote sustainability in their events. At the time, their client's CSR programme mandated that the items in their event's goodie bags have a CSR angle, and since it was around Chinese New Year, Dream Station had the idea of sourcing edible goodies to fit the theme. In addition, they also supported two other non-profit organisations (NPOs) besides Club Rainbow.

Dream Station initiated its CSR programme in 2020 and has been actively helping the community. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they provided hygiene packs containing masks and hand sanitisers to foreign workers living in dormitories and donated excess mask stocks to other non-profit organisations. They focus on in-kind contributions and efforts to give back to the community. Dream Station suggests that clients use services offered by charitable organisations and does not charge mark-ups or surcharges if clients decide to engage them. For example, from packing goodie bags to delivering them, it is passed on a cost-to-cost basis, which is atypical of events management companies that usually charge mark-ups for such services. Dream Station offers such angles to all their clients, especially MNCs with their own CSR arms, and the uptake by their clients depends on the business angle. However, Dream Station tries to push for the engagement of charitable organisations.

After emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, Dream Station plans to restart its CSR efforts, focusing on giving back to society by providing services to help and encourage giving back to the community. If they have excess logistics or stocks after organising events, they give them back to society for better utilisation.

Moving forward, one of the pillars of Dream Station's CSR efforts is sustainability, which aims to reduce the wastage of consumables by encouraging clients to use sustainable supplies. They also want to empower underprivileged employees by hiring freelance staff from lower-income families who have teenage kids or mature workers looking for part-time jobs, providing them with another source of income.

Dream Station will continue fundraising campaigns on the giving.sg platform and will be directly involved physically in fundraising events, such as sourcing in-kind sponsorships for events management to run carnivals. They will also focus on empowering the community, which aligns with what Club Rainbow is trying to achieve through the rollout of vocational programs that support caregivers and beneficiaries, providing them with supplementary income while reaffirming that their journey is not just to take care of people with special needs, but also to show that people with special needs can contribute to the community.

Into the fourth iteration of the programme, one of the CRS participants could work in a baking establishment based on their experience and certification gained from the programme. Club Rainbow is grateful to Dream Station for their support towards the Vocational Programme.

Celebrating International Nurses Day

By Tang Su Yen, Content Contributor

International Nurses Day is celebrated on 12 May. This is also the birth date of the founder of modern nursing – Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale overcame societal norms to professionalise nursing for women in the Victorian era and spurred the revolution of hospital hygiene practices following her experience caring for soldiers during the Crimean War in 1853. Her practice of making rounds to tend to wounded soldiers with a lamp in hand gave her the moniker ‘The Lady with the Lamp’. By implementing concepts that are still being used by nurses till this day, such as infection control, therapeutic communication, public health advocacy, etc., the death rates at hospitals were greatly reduced due to her efforts.

In modern times, nursing has become a much-respected profession within the healthcare sector. It is defined as the care of individuals, families and communities so they may attain, maintain or recover optimal health and quality of life. In reality though, nurses face many challenges in their work. It is a physically and emotionally demanding job, not to mention the stress of having to be exposed to illnesses and chemicals as part of their work. While they are required to be patient, compassionate, strong and efficient while doing their job, nurses are only human and they deserve our respect and care too.

For International Nurses Day this year, we spoke to several beneficiaries of Club Rainbow to collect some heart-warming stories of their experiences with healthcare professionals and gave them a chance to show some love to the nurses and healthcare professionals who cared for them during their time in hospital.

10-year-old Nur Fitri Soleha and Daddy -

“Soleha was born with Thalassemia Major (Alpha) which causes extreme anemia. She had to go for monthly blood transfusions at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) since she was diagnosed at 3 months old until she turned 7. We are extremely grateful to the medical practitioners and nurses at KKH, including Sister Nurse Chewing, Sister Anh, Sister Wai Wai, Sister Nurse Munirah, to name a few, that have taken care of Soleha throughout her journey. May Allah bless you all and repay your good deeds for caring for my family.”

Lotus Flower by 14-year-old Elijah Sim

14-year-old Elijah Sim and Mummy -

“A special shout-out to Nurse Fang at KKH’s Child Development Unit who has constantly been warm, gentle patient with Elijah during his visits, always going the extra mile to render assistance. We have been touched by her kindness and would like to take this opportunity to thank Nurse Fang for her hard work.”

Message from Mdm Wang, Mother of Elijah Sim
The roots of the lotus are in the dirtiest water however they still managed to produce the most beautiful flowers. The nurse just like the lotus flower with their inner strength and determination are able to come out of any difficulties. Thank you nurses for all the selfless  contribution during this pandemic, keep on frighting. We will stand with you.

Thank You by 7-year-old Chevelle Tan

7-year-old Chevelle Tan and Mummy -

“Thank you to all nurses, especially Chiu Ying and Danlin who took care of Chevelle when she was at KKH Children’s Day Therapy Unit. They were caring and gentle while handling Chevelle’s special needs and behaviour issues during her treatment. Thank you for your professional advice and care especially during instances when Mummy felt lost and panicked. We are also deeply grateful and would like to show our appreciation to the nurses in KKH oncology ward 76 who helped and supported us from March 2018 to December 2019. We really appreciate all that you have done for us”

Note: In this article, we have also featured artwork from Club Rainbow’s beneficiaries in appreciation of the healthcare workers who have taken care of them in commemoration of International Nurses Day.

Welcoming our new Council Members...

This year, our management council bids adieu to some members, thanking them for their contribution. At the same time, they extend their welcome to a couple of new members coming on board who also share the same values as Club Rainbow. We are happy to speak with some of the new members and get to know them better.

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Miss Wong Qin Lei joins the Management Council of Club Rainbow (Singapore) for a term of one year as the Programmes Director. Before coming on board, Qin Lei found herself drawn to humbly giving back to the community through the form of supporting the elderly group by helping to create awareness on elderly living in solitude to all walks of life. Over ten years of devoting her time, she experienced personal nourishment in the process of developing empathy and patience for this group of pioneer generation who contributed to the building of our nation.

Loving her profession in the industry of early education by day and giving hours of volunteering when she can, one may say that community work is in her blood… We catch up with Qin Lei recently for a chat and uncover her secret of what keeps her driven in community work.

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Q: What about CRS mission and work motivates you?

QL: Working with children of varying needs, I believe that children shape our future to the type of society we would see moving forward. The key highlight of CRS’s work that impresses me lies in its holistic ecological approach in offering services to the children and their families across the spectrum with the aim of uplifting the quality of life for both the children and their families. This, in turn, translates to child-centric solutions that would bring greater and more significant impact on the beneficiary and the family.

Q: What do you reckon the difference would be compared to your previous experience with charity?

QL: Go along with me on this one; imagine the philosophical view of the Circle of Life.

The elderly and the child stages are the closest to one another. They are at the phases of a typical lifecycle where they are at the most vulnerable.

A child potentially has to learn how to fend for him or herself, acquire certain life skills and also how to navigate when they eventually become a contributor to our society in their own ways. I think it’s the same thing for the elderly where after going through the whole journey of life, and they are at the stage of life where they have become frail and the same thing being vulnerable. They are at the mercy of their body, people around them, caregivers, etc. I think at the end of the day, these two groups of people need care and attention.

In my opinion, I don’t see much difference, except for the difference in the types of care and attention required between the two groups.

Q: Juggling between work and volunteerism, what challenges did you face, and how did you manage it?

QL: In the pursuit of a career path in my early years, both satisfaction and purpose were not achieved easily at work. Through committing time to community work over the weekends is when I feel recharged with a sense of purposefulness and joy. Among the ups and downs that I faced during this period, the thing that challenges me most was the lack of understanding from my family on my decision to dedicate time to volunteerism.

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“Through committing time to community work

over the weekends

is when I feel recharged

with a sense of purposefulness and joy.”

- Qin Lei -

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Due to the difference in views of community giving, Qin Lei shared that she does face occasional disagreements with her family. Setbacks such as children not turning up for the arranged tuition sessions certainly did not help to make situations any better. Still, she held on to her resolute belief of ‘a simple act of giving brings joy’ which kept her connected to social service regardless of being surrounded by negativity. 

QL: So some of these things do happen at the same time. I guess that there are just little things that may occur throughout, and in life, whenever you run a project, there could be a setback. You’ve got to ask yourself then why do we want to do this? Why do I want to do it? So let’s say today my outreach failed and I can’t help this person but can I help the second person? Can I try again for the second person at all? This persistent prompting is what kept me going towards community giving, bringing me happiness, and that is important to me — my way of self-care.

Q: What advice do you have for fellow professionals in considering volunteerism?

QL: I like to share that regardless of whichever juncture of life you are at and if you have a moment with yourself, to take a step back and reflect on what you have done and achieve in the past years. Asking yourself, would you count it as a blessing? Feeling blessed, would you be able to give some and if yes, then how would you like to give and what would you like to give? So I guess it’s not an advice, it’s more of a question that you could ask yourself. It is not easy for people to tell themselves ‘I am blessed’. I don’t have a perfect life and not a religious person, but I dare to say that I feel that ‘the guy up there’ has been rather kind to me in general. The key thing here is not ‘I need to give’ but ‘I want to give’. When you want to give, you will give wholeheartedly — the intent.

The key thing here is not ‘I need to give’ but ‘I want to give’.

When you want to give, you will give wholeheartedly.

THE INTENT.

- Qin Lei -

Q: Qin Lei, thank you for sharing with us so much! Before we go off, please do tell us one thing about you that would surprise us and Club Rainbow followers.

QL: I walked around with a bone fracture in my foot for 15 years without realising it. I was advised by a medical professional to leave the broken piece alone since it did not interfere with walking. So I walk around with a bit of a broken bone in my foot these days!

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