Riding on the joyous occasion of Christmas, Santa’s Super Partners celebrated the art of giving through interaction between NTU University Scholars Programme (NTU-USP) student volunteers and the children from Fei Yue Community Services.
At Santa’s Super Partners, the children were also given the opportunity to learn something new. The children were taught new craft skills not only so they could create gifts for their loved ones, but also for the clients of Fei Yue Senior Activity Centre. The snow globes they made were presented as gifts after a session of simple games with the seniors.
A lead-up event in November 2017, named Santa’s Secret Partners, also gave our student volunteers the opportunity to, in turn, make Christmas gifts for the children. The intent was to nurture that same spirit of giving among student volunteers, and serve as a timely reminder to give back to the wider community. Volunteer decorated drawstring bags for the children and filled these with pencil cases and stationery to prepare them for the upcoming school year. During the actual event (Santa’s Super Partners) on 21 December 2017, the student volunteers presented the bags to the children.
“This event was, in its entirety, a juxtaposition of beneficiaries from different age groups in Fei Yue: the young and the old. No amount of planning could have prevented us from feeling overwhelmed, especially when the children were little balls of bursting energy – something we had underestimated. Despite some of the children constantly running about, and some congregating in their little cliques chattering about their interests and opinions; despite some of the seniors appearing uninterested in the interactive games that we had planned for them, the most satisfactory and heart-warming moment was when the children passed their decorative and colourful snow globes to them. Seeing their smiles made my day. What struck me as memorable, though, was the children actively engaging the seniors in the games that we had planned for them, with little prompt from their teachers. They might have been playful kids, but they were also sensible, and this realisation has been my greatest takeaway from Santa’s Super Partners.” Queenie Lim, Programmer
About Social Service Project (SSP)
The Social Service Project (SSP) committee aims to encourage NTU-USP scholars to be more involved in serving the wider community. Through meaningful events planned by the committee for their beneficiaries, the committee strive to inspire scholars to realise that small collective actions can bring about a huge positive difference to the lives of those they serve.
