Using your SingapoRediscovers Vouchers for Good

By Eugene Koh, Content Contributor

Club Rainbow (Singapore) beneficiaries visit the Singapore Zoo and Madame Tussauds thanks to Pay-it-Forward programme by Trip.com.

As of 28 March 2021, it was reported by the Ministry for Trade and Industry that only 760,000 adult Singaporeans have used their SingapoRediscovers vouchers (SRV). Amongst those that have used their SRVs, a small number of Singaporeans have decided to do good by donating their S$100 tourism credits to charity organisations. Some of which are the 220 beneficiaries of Club Rainbow Singapore (CRS) for a day trip to the Singapore Zoo and 58 beneficiaries to Madame Tussauds Singapore.

Facilitated by Trip.com, the online travel agency is one of the authorized booking platforms appointed to facilitate the redemption of the SRVs. Apart from giving Singaporeans the best staycation and attraction deals, Trip.com is taking it a step further to provide an alternative way for Singaporeans to fully utilise their travel credits in a meaningful way through their “Pay-it-Forward” programme.

Launched in 1 December 2020, the initiative allows Singaporeans to donate the products bought using their SRVs; such as attractions, hotel stays or tours tickets to specific local beneficiary groups.

Through this initiative, Trip.com aims to raise awareness about the specific beneficiary groups, rally and inspire their stakeholders to support them in various ways during and beyond this campaign. In conjunction, they also wish to maximize the level of support to the local tourism industry through SRVs through ticket purchase. “It is our responsibility to step forward and support social service agencies and non-profit organisations which have been doing an amazing job empowering and caring for those who are more vulnerable or in need in our society. Their work and services will have a lasting impact on these beneficiaries.” Says Trip.com.

When asked about why Singaporeans would rather spent their credits on charity, Trip.com highlighted Singaporeans’ continuous support towards less-privileged communities and recognises that the COVID-19 pandemic could have also motivated this support.

Moving forward, Trip.com is looking for fresh and exciting ideas that can help raise awareness and encourage Singaporeans to support less-privileged individuals and families. “We are committed to playing our part in building a caring society and we are looking to expand our support and collaboration with these agencies beyond this "Pay It Forward" campaign.” Says Trip.com.

Apart from using their SRVs, Singaporeans may also support the Pay It Forward programme by paying for the products with their credit/debit cards as well as Trip coins. Alternatively, one can support Club Rainbow Singapore through sponsorship of our programmes, annual events, supporting online campaigns and even volunteering with us.

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EUGENE KOH

A social butterfly at heart, Eugene enjoys engaging with the people around him and building meaningful connections. He aspires to use his gift to engage and influence mass markets and make an impactful change in society.

When not mugging for his exams or fulfilling his National service duties, you can find him lurking around the pantry or queuing for bubble tea.

BTS: Charity Merchandise 2021

Last month, we presented the newest addition to our range of merchandise.

A Back-to-Work Kit to reciprocate the unwavering support from the community, we put together a number of items to compliment professionals’ flexible work arrangements.

A few pairs of children from the Visual Arts programme, age ranging from as young as 5 to 14 years old were brought together to support this year’s merchandise.

Working on the theme – Collaboration, each pair of children came up with a different view of how collaboration and teamwork meant to them.

“The moment mummy told us about the theme, Ridhwan associate happiness with food. We just get the idea on fast food. The only problem is both of us wants to draw the same thing and could not agree on the color, who to draw what, and whose handwriting is nicer.” - Nurin Insyirah Binte Masli

We invited the children to share their experience of teamwork through the art pieces which they have worked on together. Speaking with the artists, most of them expressed the difficulty they felt of working with another individual even though the other party was a sibling.

“I initially felt confused as to how our ideas would look like and how our ideas being combined would look like as the end product.” - Mass Amirah Binte Amir Matchap

There were discussions of deciding how to bring the theme to paper and colour, whose handwriting is better and right down to details such as colours to use. A challenge that professionals are all too familiar with where teamwork means every member plays an important role in achieving a goal and collaboration sees everyone working together in sync to complete a project.

Almost like second nature, the children manoeuvre to accept and adapt to the differences between them. They were able to identify individual strengths and to compromise. At the end of the project, they expressed satisfaction and happiness with the outcome of the amazing art pieces.

Watch videos of the different pair of children working together:

Behind-the-scenes - Amirah and Sage

Behind-the-scenes - Jonas and Titus

Behind-the-scenes - Ridhwan and Nurin

Amongst the artworks by the different pairs of children, the artwork by the siblings – Muhammad Ridhwan Bin Masli and Nurin Insyirah Binte Masli was selected to be featured on our Back to Work Kit.

All art pieces by our artists can be adapted to the range of merchandise that we carry. To invite our little artists to be supporting partners of your outreach efforts, please do write to crscpm@clubrainbow.org.

Reaching Out from Beyond the Screen

By Eugene Koh, Content Contributor

 A group of students from Dunman High School curates virtual webinars to raise awareness and funds for the chronically ill in Singapore.

With the ring of the new decade, 2020 did not come in like a bell for good luck. But rather, an ominous siren that shook humanity to its core. COVID-19 has caused many plans to be disrupted or put to a standstill. Stay-at-home orders were given, and our social interactions were reduced to text message and video calls.

As desolate as the situation sounds, a group of students from Dunman High School were undeterred and determined to contribute back to society – even if they’re limited to behind the webcam.

“Project EMBRAVE” was the brainchild of Nicole Yeo, Ashley Yeo, Lin Weilin, Hu Yuzhou and Lee Wyne Sze. In collaboration with Club Rainbow Singapore, they aim to garner more support and to increase awareness for the chronically ill in society. “We felt touched that these children are so courageous in their fight against their illnesses and hence hoped for more people to embrace and understand them.” says Nicole, Founder of Project EMBRAVE. Merging the words ‘Embrace’ and ‘Bravery’, embrave means to “inspire with courage” and “dare to empower, empower to dare”.

- Project Embrave with Ms Dawn Sim

Through the use of social media and by word-of-mouth, the team had managed to garner a total of 47 donors to raise a total of S$2,700 through their webinar sessions. In these sessions, donors would bid for art pieces done by Club Rainbow’s beneficiaries which feature each child’s passions, hopes and aspirations. Apart from that, the group also reached out to prominent social media personalities like Ms Cheryl Wee and Ms Dawn Sim to speak about entrepreneurship and fitness tips. Tickets start from S$10.

- Project Embrave with Cheryl Wee

All of the proceeds go towards Club Rainbow Singapore where the money would be used for a range of services rendered - financial aid, food rations, therapy sessions and programmes for development. As the pandemic has caused financial and emotional instability, the group hopes to alleviate the beneficiaries’ financial burden through their efforts. They also wish to motivate beneficiaries to maintain a positive attitude and to always be resilient despite facing difficulties.

Spanning across 2 months from planning to execution, the group began working on this project during the 2020 Singapore Circuit Breaker measures. Where the bulk of the planning stage was done entirely online without face-to-face discussions. “At times, things could get a little messy, and it was hard to coordinate our plans. However, I believe that because we all knew each other well, we could work well with each other and overcome the limitations posed by the pandemic.” Says Nicole.

Although the group did not hit the amount they set to raise, they were proud and content to see their campaign materialise, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The speakers and webinar attendees also agreed that the webinar sessions were inspiring, and they had learned so much about the children of Club Rainbow as well as the unique challenges faced by these children. Nicole said that the group was very humbled by the experience as it gave them many opportunities to interact and learn about the stories of individuals from all walks of life. Overcoming challenges posed by the pandemic, the team is looking to initiate future projects.

“Giving back to society should not be seen as something compulsory. Rather, it should be done with sincerity and having the true willingness to help others.”

–Nicole Yeo, PROJECT EMBRAVE

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Kickstart a giving back journey to the vulnerable little ones in the community!

Your efforts will be doubled as part of the Fortitude Budget, the government is matching donations to charities dollar-for-dollar till 31 March 2022.

To better support NPOs and givers, there will be NO TRANSACTION FEES on Giving.sg till 31 March 2021. Therefore, 100% of your donations will go to Club Rainbow (Singapore).

Do contact us crscpm@clubrainbow.org and we can guide you along to your first online campaign.

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Eugene Koh

A social butterfly at heart, Eugene enjoys engaging with the people around him and building meaningful connections. He aspires to use his gift to engage and influence mass markets and make an impactful change in society.

When not mugging for his exams or fulfilling his National service duties, you can find him lurking around the pantry or queuing for bubble tea.

Project Hope

Projecting hope through their outreach in supporting charities, Sumitomo Corporation took to supporting Club Rainbow's Arts Development Programme with the purchase of mugs bearing a child's artwork - 'Unity is Strength'.

How did the team overcome the challenges of giving back during the pandemic?

During this pandemic, we never lost sight of what’s most important for us, i.e our values. Commitment to giving back is a key tenet of our business principles, “benefit for self and others, private and public interests are one and the same”. We know that we are all in this together. Although we can’t do it as extensively as in the past due to the challenges posed by the pandemic, that doesn’t stop us from seeking alternatives, such as supporting talent development and donation which we worked with Club Rainbow.

What is Project Hope?

Our “Project Hope” is …

Read more - https://bit.ly/2OLXyAk

First published in Club Rainbow Singapore LinkedIn article.

Rules of Virtual Challenges – FUN, FUN, FUN!

BHP brings fun to Club Rainbow children and their families during #stayhome period.

Circuit breaker. Work From Home. Home-Based Learning.

These are the three keywords buzzing around in the last three months for everyone from all walks of life, affected regardless. More so for chronically-ill children.

Amidst the uncertainty caused by Covid-19, the usual outdoor activities, social integrations, corporate CSR engagements were all postponed to ensure safety for everyone and to be in-line with the Government prevention initiatives. Everything we know seems to be online or done virtually. But what about the children with Club Rainbow? One corporate - BHP helped to bring fun and interaction all the same to these children.

During the circuit breaker, BHP collaborated with Club Rainbow to bring about a series of virtual challenges to engage the children. The Dalgona Coffee Making Challenge, Trash to Treasure Upcycling Challenge, Make your own Stay Home Video Challenge. BHP also kindly sponsored prizes for the Top three winners from both activities - Trash to Treasure Upcycling and Make your own Stay Home Video Challenge.

These challenges gave the children and their families an opportunity to bond and appreciate family time together. From trying their hand at the trending whipped cream with coffee to upheaving their homes for recyclable items to create something useful and finally getting their act together for a stay home video, brought out the creativity in everyone.

Top three winners from Trash to Treasure Upcycling:

1. Teo Li Li (Stool from Recycling bottles)

2. Aiden Chan (Space Mission Game from recycled materials)

3. Garren Sum (Mother’s Day Card from recycled materials

Read more - https://bit.ly/37rW1EU-CSR_with_BHP

First published in Club Rainbow Singapore LinkedIn article.

Come what may...

Come rain or shine, caregivers of our children will always stand by their little ones.

Why should we step back when haze and rain came upon us on the Saturday morning of Celebrating Heroes 2019? All the more to put our best foot forward in acknowledging their admirable efforts and to celebrate these unwavering everyday unsung heroes.

We hosted close to 1000 participants this year, which includes our children, their families and volunteers. The event was held at the Singapore Zoo, amongst nature – both flora and fauna. We are happy to have our guest emcee, Mr Gurmit Singh who has been supporting Club Rainbow (Singapore) since our humble beginnings.

Two programme tracks ran concurrently. One for caregivers with various activities such as yoga, self-massaging techniques, ways to manage stress and anxiety, etc. while the children's programme managed by the NTU team – treasure hunt and fringe activities both of which received an overwhelming response from our little ones and caregivers!

We were blessed to have volunteers from FTI consulting, Andaz, Singapore Healthcare, Young Living, NTU, NUS, SIM and our ardent regulars. With these passionate volunteers coming together to brave the hazy and grey morning with us helped to bring the event through to a sunny afternoon for everyone.

We received both thanks and positive feedback from families and volunteers! Awesome day for all!

Taking a cue from our caregivers, don't let the bad weather outlook get you down. Here are ways to keep healthy, take a B.R.E.A.K and stay on top:

• Build deep connections by staying connected with support groups, friends and family.

• Reconcile with yourself daily with tips from wellness and mindfulness workshops.

• Eat healthily and rest regularly.

• Always seek help when needed.

• Keep hydrated at all times, most importantly.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Generally, CSR is an avenue for companies to contribute back to society by engaging in various aspects – medical, environmental, the marginalized, etc. I wonder if there could be more connection than that…

After much deliberation, my interpretation of CSR has gone in a more digestible way of looking at corporate as a community of like-minded individuals working towards the vision and mission of the company. With this, curiosity led me to thinking:

Community coming together in a Social environment and Relating to their peers who could or know someone who might be facing challenges beyond the norm.

This could be one way of looking at CSR at eye level (employees) apart from a top view (corporate).

What is the difference?

One is a corporate initiative as part of the business directive to inculcate a business and social giving culture, while the other approach is to encourage the employees to take the lead of social giving culture within an organisation, thus, forming an integrated CSR approach making the corporate and employees within into a CSR partnership for the community beyond the company.

Article by
Rachel Valerie Fernandez

Fun-Filled Kris Kringles

Kris Kringles with our corporate partners and interest groups…

Fun and laughter with Closerstill Media

Ho! Ho! Ho! 

Everyone's favorite Santa at RedHat

Tea Cake Baking &  Decoration  Workshop with  ABR Holding Ltd

Family of Harley  Davidson owners  sharing their  love...

Make a Wish with Trip Advisor!

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Contact Ernest @ 98597249 or ernest@clubrainbow.org to find out more on opportunities and ideas to collaborate with us!

A year of rainbows for our little ones with Micron Foundation

As part of their Diversity and Inclusion efforts, Micron Foundation has adopted Club Rainbow (Singapore) [CRS] as one of the charity organisations to give back to community this year.  

An alignment in vision between Micron Foundation and CRS on enriching the community sees Micron supporting our mission of empowering families with children having chronic illnesses and special needs, to provide them an enriched and quality life. Teaming up with CRS Community Partnership, Micron was able to reach out to majority of our beneficiaries through the various events such as Celebrating Heroes in September and third edition of the upcoming Dreamseeds Arts Fest in November by offering many volunteer hands, warm hearts and big smiles.    

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of Micron Technology Inc., where hundreds of employees were invited to enjoy a night of celebration with the company in Sentosa. As employees filled up the foyer outside of the ballroom, they were invited to pen their well wishes for the company on pieces of coloured papers. These were then used to form a rainbow, inspired and in recognition of us, Club Rainbow (Singapore) their adopted charity, along with a donation drive.

One other activity of Micron’s anniversary celebration was extending invitations to 42 of our beneficiaries and their families to enjoy an evening at the Universal Studios with them.

We are very grateful and blessed to have Micron partnering with us, in choosing to support our little ones. Their valuable contributions to our organisation through volunteering efforts and monetary donation truly helped in many ways.