Saturday, 8 September 2012 - 300 students, alumni and staff of the Singapore Management University (SMU) concluded their three-month SMU Challenge 2012 ( 新大慈善大挑战 ) on a high note today by walking 7.7km from the SMU campus to Lions Befrienders (Mei Ling) Seniors Activity Centre. Each carrying a backpack-load of 5kg of in-kind donations, the students and staff delivered a total of 1,500kg of food and necessities to the doorsteps of 140 households in Mei Ling Street which are under the care of Lions Befrienders Service Association ( 狮子乐龄之友协会 ), a voluntary welfare organisation committed to befriending and promoting active aging and community participation in caring for lonely senior citizens.
Exceeding their original target of S$35,000, the three-month University-wide community service effort led by a group of 30 SMU students raised over S$55,000 in cash and in kind. The cash proceeds raised will go towards supporting the underprivileged seniors under the Lions Befrienders Service Association’s outreach programmes conducted through its Seniors Activity Centres. About 2,200 seniors are expected to benefit from the amount raised.
The project comprised three phases – fundraising phase and interaction phase, which build up to the final walkathon challenge on 8 September. The progressive approach ensures that community outreach achieves maximum impact and creates opportunities for various stakeholders within the SMU community to contribute.
“This project is really meaningful as we succeeded in reaching out to serve the community with the strong support of the University management and about 500 participants, who have contributed to the cause since June this year. We are also grateful for the active participation and generous donation from members of the public as well as SMU’s own faculty and administration staff. Having such an event not only allows us to create a greater impact on the people we serve, but also builds upon a stronger and more unified SMU family,” said third-year business student, Eugenia Goh, who is also the President of Special Interest and Community Service Sodality, a student body at SMU.
For several weekends between June and August 2012, SMU students went from door-to-door in areas such as Bedok and Toa Payoh to offer their services to do ‘chores’ in exchange for donations – they cleaned homes washed cars, helped with the disposal of old furniture and even gave tuition! Students also did ‘chores’ within the University, where faculty members and staff donated generously. Additionally, street collection drives were carried out to encourage the public to donate food and other necessities for the project. Volunteers also spent time interacting with the elderly in engagement sessions at Lions Befrienders (Mei Ling) Seniors Activity Centre who are living in one-room and two-room rented units, to bring some warmth and joy to the seniors.
“SMU Challenge 2012 aims to showcase the importance of cohesiveness in society and create an impact on the leaders of tomorrow by nurturing the spirit of volunteerism and social responsibility, which feature prominently in an SMU education. We would like to thank members of the public who have donated generously to our cause and along the way played a big part in our effort to develop our students into socially conscious business leaders and responsible global citizens,” said Associate Professor Ong Siow Heng, Dean of Students at SMU.
Interesting Facts & Figures
S$55,000+ | Total amount raised, incl. S$20k valuation of in-kind donations from street collection) |
500 | Total number of participants, incl. 300 walkers on 8 Sep 2012 |
4500 | Total number of hours which SMU students have contributed to this project |
7.7 km | Total distance walked |
300 | Total number of backpacks |
1,500 kg | Total weight of all the filled backpacks (5 kilogram each) |
5000+ | Total no. of steps taken from start to end point of walkathon |
140 | Total number of homes helped |
588kg | Total weight of washing powder donated to households |
2500 | Total number of soap bars donated to households |
4500 | Total number of toilet rolls donated to households |
750 | Total number of toothbrushes donated to households |
215kg | Total weight of Milo sachets donated to households |
900 | Total number of packets and tins of biscuits donated to households |
1500 | Total number of packets of instant noodle and beehoon donated to households |
80 | Total number of senior citizens from Lion Befrienders Senior Activity Centres attending lunch at the end-point |
About Community Service at SMU
In grooming visionary entrepreneurs and global business leaders of tomorrow, SMU prepares its students to be responsible citizens demonstrating leadership and integrity. Community service is thus an integral component of SMU students' education. All SMU students are required to complete a minimum of 80 hours in community service as part of their degree requirement.
In SMU, many students go above and beyond the minimum 80 community service hours. There is a strong culture for students to take on community service projects out of their own initiatives. Overseas community service projects are initiated and led by students. To date, SMU has given back more than one million hours to society.
About SMU Challenge 2012
SMU Challenge was first initiated in 2008 with the main purpose of rallying the SMU community to give back to society. Since its initiation, it has grown from a student-managed event to one that involves the entire SMU family. SMU Challenge 2012 aims to build upon the success of its previous two editions and has exceeded its initial target of $35,000. With a total of 300 walkers comprising SMU students and alumni, staff and faculty, it can truly be said that the SMU family moves as one.
About the Singapore Management University
A premier university in Asia, the Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world class research and distinguished teaching. Established in 2000, SMU’s mission is to generate leading edge research with global impact and produce broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy. It is known to be a pioneer for its interactive and technologically-enabled pedagogy of seminar-style teaching in small class sizes which remains its unique hallmark.
Home to more than 7,200 students, SMU comprises six schools: School of Accountancy, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, School of Economics, School of Information Systems, School of Law and School of Social Sciences, offering a wide range of bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programmes in business and other disciplines.
With an emphasis on generating rigorous, high impact cross-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance, SMU faculty collaborates with leading foreign researchers as well as partners in the business community and public sector through its research institutes and centres. Through executive education, the university provides public and customised training for working professionals in meeting the needs of the economy. Close relationships with leading universities, including The Wharton School, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, allow SMU to draw on their academic and research strengths in various collaborations. The SMU city campus is a state-of-the art facility located in the heart of downtown Singapore, fostering strategic linkages with the business and wider community. www.smu.edu.sg
About Lions Befrienders Service Association
Lions Befrienders was incepted in 1995 when it took over the running of the Befriending Programme from the then Ministry of Community Development. Its mission is to aid in the psycho-emotional, social, and physical well-being of the lonely seniors through community participation. To achieve our mission, we run two core programmes i.e. Befriending and Outreach. Our island-wide Befriending Programme reaches out to about 2,700 lonely seniors, aged 65 years and above and who have limited or no family support, through weekly visitation by 900 trained volunteers. To complement our Befriending programme, we run an outreach programme conducted through four Senior Activities Centres (SACs) located in Ang Mo Kio, Bendemeer, Mei Ling and Ghim Moh. At these SACs, we promote active ageing and continuous learning by engaging about 2,200 seniors in a wide array of meaningful activities and courses.
Lions Befrienders has served about 13,000 seniors under both programmes since its inception and is will be expanding its outreach programme by running two more SACs to be located at Clementi and Tampines by October 2012.
