Cranes, water and light make for a magical night for residents from the Moral Welfare Home.
By Joelle Pang
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITYCARE.
The beaming smiles on the faces of the residents from the Moral Welfare Home matched the radiance of the fireworks that concluded the Crane Dance at Resorts World Sentosa.
Driven by a desire to bring delight and joy into the residents’ lives, organizer CityCare worked with a team of volunteers from various schools, organizations and members of City Harvest Church to make the night of Apr. 27 a memorable one for 26 beneficiaries. The volunteers ranged from professionals to secondary school students, each one providing one-on-one attention to their charges.
The Moral Welfare Home, located at Henderson Road, provides holistic care to its residents which includes shelter, assistance with personal hygiene, medical, nursing and pastoral care.
According to staff from the Moral Welfare Home, many of the beneficiaries are destitute, suffer from multiple disabilities and are victims of neglect and abuse. Simple though it might have been, the outing was a rare opportunity for them to be outdoors and enjoy themselves.
The night kick-started with a game of Bingo, which gave the volunteers and beneficiaries an opportunity to get to know each other better. There was also a photo challenge, where each team had to locate the various RWS attractions, such as the Universal Studios Globe, and take a picture of themselves there.
The Crane Dance proved to be the highlight of the night for both beneficiaries and volunteers, with its breath-taking light and water effects that combine creative audio and visual technologies to showcase the graceful courtship ritual of cranes. The towering heights of the steel cranes, the deft “dance” movements and the water illusions all made for a surreal, fantastical sight.
As the evening came to a close, CityCare’s manager for education, Pauline Chong, shared, “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to play a small part and see the smile on the faces of these beneficiaries, together with the help of all the wonderful volunteers. Now matter how small our individual efforts may seem, together we can do so much more.”
CityCare is a non-profit organization started in 2007 to promote volunteerism and philanthropy in the local community. Log on to www.citycare.org.sg for more information.
