22
December
2015
|
00:40
Asia/Singapore

Spreading Christmas cheer

Students from Kent Ridge Hall serenaded the patients and their caregivers with rousing Christmas carols

Students from Kent Ridge Hall at NUS organised Project Xmas, which consisted of engagement activities and Christmas carolling, to entertain patients waiting for their appointments at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS), on 9 and 10 December.

Members of Kent Ridge Volunteers (KRV), an interest group under Kent Ridge Hall’s Junior Common Room Committee, kept the patients’ spirits up with interactive sessions of origami in the morning and bingo in the afternoon. Kent Ridge Hall’s choir and a cappella groups also raised the festive mood with their Christmas carols.

“KRV’s Christmas event allowed me an opportunity to interact not just with cancer patients at NUH (National University Hospital) but their caregivers and family members as well. Learning more about their journeys as cancer fighters was touching and inspirational and I’ll definitely volunteer again,” said Year 1 Business undergraduate Nio Jing Rong, one of the participants.

Year 2 Arts and Social Sciences student Amanda Goh, Outreach Director for Kent Ridge Hall’s 36th Junior Common Room Committee, said that KRV’s activities not only brought cheer to patients, but also achieved the Committee’s aim “to foster a strong spirit of volunteerism among Kent Ridgeans and encourage them to give back to the community”.

Project Xmas marked KRV’s inaugural volunteering event for Academic Year 2015/16 and its first partnership with NCIS. The group plans to provide more volunteering opportunities for members in the coming months.