Unofficial Earth Hour

Dear Friends,

The Official Earth Hour just ended on 29 March 2014 (Saturday) at 9.30 pm but we can still our part for Mother Nature by having our own Unofficial Earth Hour or Earth 1/2 hr, or Earth 2 Hour....etc, every min of lights off is an act of kindness to Mother Nature and other acts of kindness include water conservation (shorter shower), using less aircon, turning up the aircon temp by 1 degree, switching to LED and using fewer plastic bags. Some of these measures actually help us save on the utility bills as well so it is a win-win situation. These are all simple actions that we can all do and will only serve to benefit all of us. We only have one Earth, so let's protect it and be kind to Mother Nature if we can. I always remember this quote well:
"We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children"

Donate Your Preloved Toys to Underpriviledged Children

Dear Friends,

If you have any toys that are still in good condition and wish to donate them away to brighten up another child's life, you can bring them to the 2 drop-off points stated below. This program is called "Toys from the Heart" and is an initiative by "Food from the Heart" organization. The toys (new or preloved) collected will be distributed to children from needy families during the annual "Toys Buffet" carnival, or given out as birthday gifts during the monthly birthday celebrations at Children Home.

This is the wishlist I gathered from the coordinator of Food From the Heart. However, you can donate any preloved toys you have currently, not restricted to this list:

(Beneficiaries Age : 7 – 13 years old)
Board Games: Monopoly, Scrabble, Risks, Cludo, Life, Lord of the Ring. etc
Games Set: Scrabble, Chess, Mastermind, Uno Stacko, Bananagrams, etc
Educational: Edu Science Set, Telescope, Binocular, Excavating Set, Experimental Set etc
Building: Lego Sets, Model plane, Model Building Set, etc.
Creative Making: Necklace Maker, Sticker Marker, Cupcake marker, Ice cream marker, etc
Sports: Soccer Ball, Basket Ball, Badminton Rackets, Skateboard, Inline skate etc
Dolls / Robots: Barbies Doll, Transformers, Star War, Gundam etc
Electronic: Remote control car, Baby Alive, FurReal Friends, Electric Guitar, Piano Set, Drum Set

Drop Off Point (Please contact Maya at 9176 5034/ 6259 7176 before making your trip down to make sure there is someone around to receive the toys):

[Office] 161B Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre Singapore 307614
[Warehouse] No.52 Genting Lane Block 1 RubyLand Complex

Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday between 9am – 6pm.

Thank you very much for spreading the love and kindness to these children who are going through a tougher childhood than their peers. Your gift will mean a lot to them, reminding them that there are many people around who care about them

Have a great weekend ahead !

Receiving An Act of Kindness

The security guard lady at my workplace is so kind. When I left office, it was raining heavily, so I decided to wait awhile for the rain to get lighter. When she walked past me, she asked:"Sir, you no umbrella ah? This one lend you lah, you can return next week." I thanked her for her kindness and told her that I have one in my bag. A simple gesture, an act of kindness, really can bring two strangers closer :)

An Act of Kindness Spreads Warmth to Everyone

I was queuing up for food during lunch time when I saw a pregnant lady a few patrons in front of me (she looks like she is going to deliver anytime!). The stall owner was busy entertaining the customers as there was a long queue. However, the moment he saw the pregnant lady, he immediately asked her to take seat first and that told her that he would take her order once the person in front of her was done.

I thought that was quite a heartwarming sight to see because the stall owner could have done nothing but he chose to make someone's day better by giving kindness. It was just a simple act (by asking someone to take a seat first while waiting for her turn) but it could really touch someone's heart, not just the receiver but also someone who is watching. When kindness is involved, everyone's a winner!

Encouraging Message From a Beneficiary

There's no better way to start the week than to receive this message from a needy family of 6 (single mum with 5 children), whom I have been persuading to seek help from Comcare for the past few weeks:

"sorie late reply i doing gd n they (Comcare) will help me april to sept 200 per mth plus scc hdb n sp they will diret pay to them tks for asking n help me before this.mmay god bless u wife n frend...."

We can only do so much for the beneficiaries, giving them hope through short term financial assistance but to help them learn how to fish, it is advisable to ask them to seek help from established social organization like Comcare, who can help them with long term planning towards financial independance.

Dream and Seek To Achieve

It rained heavily for the 5th day running. While we rejoice and take a short breather from our watering efforts, I like to share with you this meaningful quote by Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has". Each and everyone of us has the power to make a difference. If we can come together and work towards a common goal, we can achieve what others deem as impossible.

Back then, if all of us were to just sit back and wait for things to happen, wait for the rain to come, it may not have come today and more trees would have dried up. Instead, all of us make an effort to collect used water to try to make a difference, at least to a few trees. Then, there were people throwing stones at this initiative, saying it will not work no matter how much water we watered. My personal opinion back then was that whether it worked or not, there is no harm trying. If we try, it may not work but if we don't try, it will definitely not work! Even if our actions don't bring rain, we are at least saving the trees and plants that we watered on. When the rain finally came, I felt so proud and happy that I have joined the many believers in making this happen. I have no idea on long the rain would last but I am very confident that even if the rain stops, there is a group of thought committed friends who are on standby, waiting to give their love and kindness to the trees and plants

Let It Rain In Singapore Initiative

The commonly talked about topics these days are the haze, the hot weather and the browning of trees and plants, as Singapore has experienced minimal rain for the past 60 days. Then, the attention shifted to the government, National Environmental Agency (NEA) questions asked on why they didn't do this or do that. In my opinion, instead of asking what others can do to solve the problem, why not ask ourselves what are the little things that we can do to help the situation?

Previously, I had no idea how to solve the problem, though the thought did cross my mind that we can all do something together to help the situation. I stumbled upon this great initiative started by a friend, Ling, on Facebook.I feel that if we can't think of inspiring ideas like this, the next best thing we can do is to help realize this vision by giving our support.

I used recycled water from washing of rice to fill these plastic bottles, up to a total of 1.7L of waters and started watering the plants, trees and grass patches underneath my blocks. I may not be able to save all the trees and plants in the neighborhood but at least I tried to do something for 1 or 2 of them. If more people can join me in this movement, I am sure we can achieve much more.

Without watering these plants, there will be no transpiration from trees and less likely there will be rain. Without rain, the haze problem will persist. Dear friends, let's start doing a small act of kindness for our environment by supporting this initiative. We will eventually all benefit from this :)

It finally rained heavily on 15th March (Sat) 14 and it had been more than 60 days since it last rained so heavily. I feel so happy and proud to have joined the many believers in reaching our goal together.