News: Our Interesting News

Our Flag Day this year was held on Saturday, 02 February. Approx. 2200 volunteers turned out to help in various capacities – manning of Tin Distribution & Collection Centres (TDCs) islandwide; driving to deliver & collect tins from the TDCs; counting money at LKYouth, selling flags etc. A total of $63,520.06 was raised.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to one and all that had graciously responded to our appeal for volunteers and helped in one way or another. In particular:

Junior Colleges (In Alphabetical Order)

Secondary Schools (In Alphabetical Order)

Anglican High
Anglo –Chinese School (Independent)
Bedok Town Secondary
Bukit Batok Secondary
Cedars Girls’ Secondary
Chai Chee Secondary
Fajar Secondary
Orchid Park Secondary
Regent Secondary
Siglap Secondary
St. Gabriel’s Secondary
St. Joseph’s Institution
Victoria School
Xinmin Secondary
Yusof Ishak Secondary

Organised by global technology integrator Avanade Asia, the 3-day affair was held on Friday to Sunday 7-9 September.

It is also the first major event to be launched under the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) ComCare Connection initiative, which matches commercial corporations with VWOs that cater to the most disadvantaged groups in our Society.

This year the aim of the event was to raise funds towards “Youth at Risk” causes, a section of the community that includes underprivileged youths between the ages of 12 and 21 years old who are at risk to drugs, delinquency, crime and abuse.

The event comprised a Malaysia-Singapore leg and a Singapore only leg. The former saw 60 cyclists and 20 inline skaters on a 400km journey from Singapore to Mersing, Desaru (Johore) and back.

On the 3rd day (9 September), they were joined by 200 other riders and inline skaters on the Singapore leg – a 40km route that took the participants from Changi Ferry Terminal to Sentosa before finishing at HarbourFront Centre.

Corporate leaders rode alongside youths from beneficiary organizations. Ling Kwang Youth Centre was represented by two riders in the Malaysia-Singapore leg joined by eight others in the local leg. Four of our girl dancers performed at the event finale/exhibition at HarbourFront Centre.

The event raised over $400,000.00 and we were one of three beneficiaries. The other two were the Salvation Army and Pertapis Centre for Women & Girls.

We place on record our heartfelt thanks to Avanade Asia, The National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, sponsors, volunteers, participants and all those who had contributed to the success of the event in one way or another.

In March 2007, we had the honour of hosting two delegations from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) of Thailand. They came to exchange views and experiences pertaining to Community & Youth Development.

Of special interest to them, is how Singapore deals with youth related problems and the role of VWO's in reaching out to at-risk youths, helping them from straying onto the wrong side of the law-youth crimes, drugs & delinquency etc.

The 1st Delegation comprising 26 officials from the Bangkoknoi District Office came on Tuesday, March 27. The 2nd comprising 40 from the Klongtoey District Office came on Friday, March 30.

They were briefed on our work and taken on a tour of the Centre to see for themselves our various social programmes that were ongoing at the time of their visits. They left impressed and full of praise of what they saw and learnt.

Held at Meritus Mandarin Ballroom (South Tower), 40 tables in all were snapped up. Including outright donations & sponsorships, approx. $130,000.00 was raised.

The Christmas light-up outside the hotel along Orchard Road added to the ambience and giving spirit of the evening. Rev. Chang Chian Hui's – the Director of the Centre – started the ball rolling with a speech. This was followed by an audio-visual presentation of the Centre's programmes. Two youths narrated on how they had walked into the Centre, found acceptance and benefited from the programmes.

‘Live' on stage to share her experiences was Ms. Phua Wee Ping. She was a Secondary Three (Express) student when she came to the Centre to seek help in coping with her studies. That was four year ago and with the help of a volunteer tutor/mentor, she eventually made it to Junior College.

Today, Wee Ping is pursuing a Business Degree at Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and comes back to the Centre regularly to coach other academically weak youths from needy homes. She reckoned it “Pay-back Time”.

Hope Presbyterian Church Choir lifted up the Christmas Spirit of the night several notches higher with an enthralling presentation of Christmas Carols that was followed by an equally captivating drama by the Church's Youth Group – “Powerhouse”.

The evening also presented an opportunity for one of our youths with a passion for dance and singing, to perform before an audience. About 30 of our beneficiaries were present and stepping into a 5-star hotel was a first for most, let alone dinning in one. The night will be etched in their childhood memories for a long time to come.

MILK Run 2006 was held on Sunday 2nd July at the Zouk Carpark. This annual event is organized by Beyond Social Service as a fundraiser and annual Youth Day Celebration. It draws a 10000 strong crowd from schools, youth organizations, corporates and community partners (like us). Funds collected formed part of the MILK Fund, which benefited the various youth organizations.

The run included race categories for everyone, from the serious runners and fitness buffs, to those who just wanted fun for the family. It was a fun and gay event, with enough food and entertainment to occupy all of us for the entire afternoon. 27 of Ling Kwang's youths and young volunteers took part in the VWO races and brought home a total of 6 prizes:

VWO Men's 3rd Place - Poh Wei Jie
VWO Women's 1st Place - Tan Kailing
VWO Women's 3rd Place - Adeline Koh
VWO Women's 7th Place - Jacqueline Ong
VWO Women's 8th Place - Magdalene Ong
VWO Women's Under-14 - Lam Huey Fen

To all our prizewinners, a big Congratulations! We're really proud of you and hope that you made full use of your prizes :D

Amy, Sharon, Connie, Peisi, Michelle, Wee Ping, Wanting, Rima, Sharmini, Staphanie, Lala, Siew May, Yiming, Jingpeng, Jieming, Zhun Wei, Zhun Rui, & Eugene. And to Joyce and Jovina for their stalwart attendance in training, during which they guided our young ones in the run.

We hope that you will continue to support us and and perhaps join us again next year for this event!

We had close to 3,000 volunteers from various Secondary Schools and Junior Colleges spread over 15 Collection Centres islandwide.

We started out expecting the worst after all the bad publicity in 2005 concerning a few mismanaged charities. Over $55,000 was eventually raised and though the sum was the least of all our past Flag Days, we are still just as thankful.

In previous years and with the same number of volunteers (flag sellers), the figure would easily have been closer to $80,000 and in all probability even more.

Individual volunteers and members of Hope Presbyterian Church responded to our appeal for helping in manning Tin Distribution and Collection Centres. To them and the schools that participated, we would like to say a big THANK YOU!!

Teck Ghee Runners in The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2005
Sunday, 4 December 2005

About 100 runners were roped in to run under Teck Ghee's banner and raise fund for LKYouth. The event was coined Teck Ghee Runners and spearheaded by Board Members Noelene De Foe and Luke Peng.

We placed on record our heartful thanks to all that had contributed to the success of the event in one way or another - in particular the runners and sponsors.

Main sponsors for the event were SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific), MediaCorp and New Balance Singapore.

The annual MILK (Mainly I Love Kids) Run took place on 3rd July 2005 outside Zouk. Since 2001, this has been a National Youth Day event that aims to integrate disadvantaged and mainstream youth in a celebration of promise and vitality. It also acts an important fund-raising vehicle for youth organizations, where youths regardless of their backgrounds feel that they belong and are cared for, and can do their part to contribute back to the community. Details of the event can be found on www.milkrun.sg.

The day kicked off at noon with a bazaar and the MILK McCoy concert. The MILK McCoy as a talent search organized by Perfect 10, the supporting radio station, and aimed to give youths a chance to showcase their talents in the areas of hosting, music band, and dancing. LKYouth had the opportunity to send a group of girls for the dance auditions in June. The 5 girls - Siti Khaulah, Huey Fen, Aminah, and Siti Natasia - had only a week to prepare for the auditions. To our delight, the girls made it to the finals of the MILK McCoy concert, despite having competed against other older and more experienced students.

After cheering our girls on during the MILK McCoy, it was time to warm up and prepare for the MILK Run - the main highlight of the day. 13 youths and 7 volunteers signed up to run in the VWO categories. The girls ran 5 km while the boys ran 10 km. Running sessions had been held twice a week throughout the month of June for youth who wanted to train for the event.

We are proud of the youth and volunteers who put out their best effort in challenging themselves to last the distance. 5 youths and 2 volunteers were in the top 10 of their respective categories. We would like to congratulate these individuals, but would like to add that we consider all who have taken up the MILKRun challenge to be winners as well!

Mohd Yasin bin Mohammed Wahid
Ganesan s/o Jeya
Siti Khaulah bte Omar
Aminah bte Mohd Zaki
Lam Huey Fan
Chen Sharon Kaur
Siti Nur Fadhilah bte Mohammed Wahid
Siti Natasia bte Juraimi
Ang Wan Ting
Wong Khiew Haw
Nadiah Begum
Rima Melati
Sabrina Ong
Lee Mei Yan
Chen Yoongshen
Tong Fung Hua
Tong Fung Mei
Yap Choon Seng

Flag Day 2008 Saturday, 02 February 2008

Junior Colleges (In Alphabetical Order)

Secondary Schools (In Alphabetical Order)

Flag Day 2008
Saturday, 02 February 2008