IES UPDATE
Spreading Christmas cheer with IES Community Services Committee Christmas came early for 30 students and Goodwill, Rehabilitation and Occupational Workshop (GROW) trainees from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS), as they marvelled at festive lights first-hand in a vintage car ride down Orchard Road on 15 November 2016. In its second year, the CPAS-organised initiative aims to spread the joy and cheer of the Christmas season to its beneficiaries, who suffer from various disabilities and motor-function impairments as a result of cerebral palsy. The IES Community Services Committee (CSC) supported this meaningful initiative by hand-delivering specially-packed goodie bags for the CPAS students and accompanying them on the car rides. The event kicked off with a Christmas buffet sponsored by the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) followed by an elaborate instrumental and choral performance put up by CPAS students from the Music and Dance co-curricular activity. A “Santa Claus”, together with his bagpipe-toting “elves” from the The Boys’ Brigade, 18th Singapore Company then trooped in and led volunteers to distribute various presents to the CPAS beneficiaries. A passing shower over SICC earlier that afternoon did little to dampen everyone’s spirits. Doing their part to support the CPAS initiative were Er. Edwin Khew, Er. Dr Lee Bee Wah, Er. Ong Ser Huan, Mr Mervyn Sirisena as well as CSC members Mr Au Yeong Hoh Wai, Er. Totong Kaya, Er. Richard Fong, Er. Yien Siew Sin and Eur. Ing. Kenneth Cheong. The party then adjourned to the nearby carpark, where the vintage cars awaited. These were driven by members of The Malaysia Singapore Vintage Car Register; the commitment of 30 vehicles this year doubling
Students getting ready to perform their Christmas carols.
All smiles for the camera as IES CSC gets ready to meet the kids!
Santa made an early stopover in Singapore for these special children. Photo: CPAS Facebook
that of 2015. With the evening cooled by the shower, the convoy then set off for Orchard Road with all the old-school charm one would expect from a fleet of beautifully-maintained workhorses. Seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces is definitely quite the uplifting experience! TSE
The vintage cars ready to roll out! Photo: CPAS Facebook
December 2016 THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER
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