Singapore, 9 October 2019 – It was a day of fun and joy for some 1,600 students from 14 special education schools (SPED) at the Singtel Carnival, Singapore’s largest event dedicated to children with special needs which is put together by Singtel staff volunteers.
This year’s safari-themed mega event at the Singapore Expo saw the students, including those from the Singtel Touching Lives Fund’s (STLF) six beneficiary SPED schools, enjoy a variety of games, activities and performances, all helmed by the staff volunteers. The students were also thrilled to meet popular cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants and his starfish sidekick Patrick Star which made a special appearance at the carnival.
The annual event is a meaningful day of volunteerism for over 2,000 employees from Singtel and Singapore Business Network on Disability (SBNoD) companies, a community of businesses in Singapore which share expertise to advance inclusion for the disabled. This is the third year running that Singtel is joined by its fellow members in SBNoD in hosting and chaperoning the students.
Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, Chairman of the STLF and CEO Consumer Singapore at Singtel, said, “We’ve been organising the Singtel Carnival for seven years now and it’s always been a delight to see the children have a great time. We’re also grateful for this opportunity to have our staff volunteers interact with the children, which helps nurture their understanding of the special needs community while cultivating empathy. I would like to thank them and the 250 SBNoD volunteers who joined us in this effort, and encourage even more volunteers to take part next year. When we come together as a business community, we can really amplify and raise greater awareness of inclusion. Everyone can benefit from the experience while giving back to society at the same time.”
Ms Suzana Soo, Principal, MINDS Lee Kong Chian Gardens School, said, “The fun-packed carnival provided under STLF has been playing an important role in our students' well-being. It presents an effective learning platform for our students to develop their social skills. The huge indoor play area filled with a wide range of activities at the Singapore Expo has given our students ample opportunity to engage in exciting games and interact with many other people. This goes a long way to help the students gain self-confidence. A big "Thank you!" to Singtel and its wonderful staff who volunteered to chaperone our students around the carnival.”
Sponsored and organised by Singtel since 2013, the Singtel Carnival is a flagship event of the STLF. The STLF works with charities that offer critical and specialised education and supports programmes for children and youth with special needs. Its six beneficiaries include the APSN Chaoyang School, APSN Delta Senior School, APSN Tanglin School, Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore School, Eden School, and MINDS Lee Kong Chian Gardens School. To date, the STLF has raised more than S$42 million.
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