KDF 15th Anniversary Open House

On the 20th of August 2011, KDF held its inaugural open house as part of its 15th Anniversary celebrations. The event was held at KDF’s newly renovated Bishan dialysis centre and Bishan community club which was just a stone’s throw away. Graced by Mr. Wong Kan Seng- MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, the event was a highly interactive and fun-filled one. Distinguished guests as well as students from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian School could partake in a myriad of activities which were planned with the objective of heightening public awareness on the kidneys and renal diseases.

A booth was set up by sponsor ‘Steward Cross’, for guests to check their total cholesterol level. ‘Terumo’ also set up another booth for participants to learn to “listen to their body voices” by taking their body temperature, blood pressure and weight. With the aim of raising awareness on the importance of health screening and early detection of kidney disease, participants had the chance to walk away with lucky draw prizes when they completed a ‘Davita’ questionnaire to determine their risk of developing chronic kidney disease!

After the screening of the KDF milestones video, the Guest-of-Honor Mr. Wong Kan Seng took to the stage to launch KDF’s own “Love Your Kidneys” game. A few of the students from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian School were invited on stage to play the game to kick start the launch. To play this interactive game sponsored by ‘Davita’, contestants simply had to spin the wheel and answer questions on KDF’s 15 years of journey as well as on various health and kidney related topics. Thereafter, Mr. Wong and other VIPs were accompanied by KDF Directors and Chairman Dr. Gordon Ku for a tour of the educational exhibition on health and kidney related topics.

This was then followed by a tour of the Bishan dialysis centre where the Guest of Honour and other VIPs were given an insight into the meaningful work of the foundation. Mr. Wong Kan Seng also took the time to speak with some patients who were in the midst of their dialysis treatment, to further understand their experiences of coping with this chronic ailment and of undergoing dialysis with KDF.

By the end of the event, in addition to the tempting goodie bags put together with items generously contributed by sponsors, guests went home happy with enhanced understanding of health and kidney related issues. The event was a resounding success. KDF wishes to thank its sponsors, guests and volunteers who contributed to make this event another milestone in the foundation’s journey.

Walking for Health With Their Amazing ‘Feats’...

With the success of The Amazing Kidney Race held last year, KDF kept the amazing momentum going by organizing the Amazing Feats, the second event in the KDF Amazing series.

Held at Lower Seletar Reservoir on the 9th July 2011, The Amazing Feats was the second collaboration between KDF and Nee Soon South Youth Executive Committee. The event was planned with the objective of promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. It did just that with two activities; the Amazing Walk of Hope- a walkathon that was targeted at brisk-walking enthusiasts as well as the Amazing Shot of Hope which was a photography competition where participants were given a theme to capture the essence of the amazing human spirit.

Months before the event, avid shutterbugs were invited to submit their photos that captured the spirit of “Sharing Hope, Amazing Life”. With so many good entries at hand, choosing the top winners proved to be tricky. Luckily, with ample help from members of the Photography Society of Singapore (PSS)- the main supporter for this photography competition, we were able to shortlist the top three prizes for the Amazing Shot of Hope. PSS members generously shared their photography expertise with us to ensure that all the entries selected encompassed qualities which truly captured our theme. These winning entries and a few other beautifully taken photos were then displayed during the event to showcase the essence of “Sharing Hope, Amazing Life” depicted in the lovely photos.

The Walk of Hope started the programme for Amazing Feats. Flagged off by the Guest-of-Honour Er. Lee Bee Wah, MP for Nee Soon GRC and Adviser to Nee Soon South Grassroots Organisation and accompanied by KDF’s CEO, Mrs Foo Pek Hong, the walk garnered about 350 enthusiastic participants who basked in the sunshine and took in the fresh air and scenic view whilst they walked along Lower Seletar Reservoir. To make this walk a unique and unforgettable experience, the amazing participants were encouraged to adopt different types of walking along the Walk of Hope route. At different intervals, they were prompted by our lively volunteers to jive and groove like John Travolta, do the hoo-la like a Hawaiian dancer, and row a boat like a dragon-boat champion among many other different styles. Some participants enjoyed the different walking styles so much that they started doing the various styles even before reaching the different points of the route! The Amazing Walk of Hope was the perfect way to start off the day!

To further promote a healthy and active lifestyle, participants were given additional incentives to push themselves to the limit. For every round of unique walk completed, they were given a sticker that could be redeemed as a free pass to play games at the Carnival- another fun-filled segment of the Amazing Feats program.

Another highlight of the Amazing Feats event was a special performance by a group of dancers from Methodist Girl’s School. The dance performance certainly put smiles on the faces of our tired participants. The event ended with the all important prize presentation ceremony where winners of the Amazing Shot of Hope were presented with their prizes sponsored by Cathay Photo. Lucky draw prizes kindly sponsored by Terumo were also given to winners.

Special awards for Flag Day 2011 were also presented during this ceremony in appreciation of the commitment and participation of our supporters for a successful KDF Flag Day event held earlier in April.

KDF would like to thank its partner Nee Soon South Youth Executive Committee for jumping on board this project and for the immense support throughout the course of planning and execution of The Amazing Feats.

Our thanks also goes out to our goodie bag sponsors; Gardenia Foods (S) Pte Ltd, Public Utilities Board (PUB), National Environmental Agency (NEA), SHAPE magazines, Men’s Health magazine, Gambro and Kyowa Kirin. Not forgetting our venue partners; PUB and National Parks Board who provided KDF with a picturesque location for this event.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to our cash sponsors for their incredible support to The Amazing Feats; AM Aerospace Supplies Pte Ltd, Singapore Totalisator Board, Lee Foundation, and Far East Organisation.

Thanks to all sponsors, donors, volunteers and participants, the event managed to raise over $60,000. An Amazing Feat indeed!

2011 KDF Charity Icon “Golden Dragon” Launch Ceremony

On the 16th of July 2011, KDF’s Chinese Community Committee held a Charity Icon Launch Ceremony cum Appreciation Dinner at Hotel Royal’s Jade Room Restaurant as part of this year’s Lunar 7th Month celebrations. Our special guest Mr Chan Soo Sen, together with our Guest-of-Honour and KDF Chairman, Dr. Gordon Ku, officiated the launch ceremony of our 2011 Charity Icon, the “Golden Dragon”.

More than 400 auction site organisers, bidders and donors from previous 7 Month auctions turned up to lend KDF their support. Besides enjoying a sumptuous banquet dinner and entertaining performances, our guests also actively participated in that night’s auction. The 3 charity icons on auction were successfully bid by Mr Steve Cheong, Managing Director of Enerchem (S) Pte Ltd, Ms Lu Xiaoyan, Principal of Pin Centre Magic and Acrobatics Training Centre, and Mr Cheong Kim Hock, Chairman of Cheong Kim Hock Investments Pte Ltd, for $10,800, $15,000 and $16,888 respectively. Not to be outdone, Taoist Group San Wang Wu Ti walked away with a special Chinese currency gift set at a bid price of $5,000.

Apart from participating in that night’s auction, our guests also donated generously in support of KDF and its patients. Our special guest Mr Chan Soo Sen rallied our guests to give generously and even made a personal donation of $2,500 to KDF. With everyone’s support and generosity, more than $80,000 was raised that night. On behalf of KDF’s patients, we would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to all donors for their contributions.

This year’s Charity Icon, the “Golden Dragon” projects vigour, health, sturdiness and good luck. The fine details of the dragon scale, whiskers and horsehair showcase the superb workmanship of this statue. Symbolizing progress, the “Golden Dragon” also represents prosperity for one’s career and businesses. Alternatively, it can also be a precious artifact for the avid art collector, or presented as a meaningful gift.

Should you be interested in the “Golden Dragon”, please contact Miss Stella Xu at 6559 2653 or ziting.xu@kdf.org.sg. You may also purchase it directly from the eGIFTS section on our website at $688. Those who purchase the icon will also receive a commemorative rabbit year medallion, kindly sponsored by Golden Watch Gold & Jewellery. We hope that in this Lunar 7th Month, the “Golden Dragon” will bring a ray of hope into our patients’ lives, giving them warmth and the motivation to strive on.

Hewlett-Packard’s Fundraising Event at Orchard Road

On the 15th of April 2011, seven teams from Hewlett-Packard Worldwide and Asia Pacific/Japan’s Channel Sales and Support Organisation (CSSO) thronged Orchard Road, all in the name of a good cause – to raise funds for KDF’s needy patients.

Driven by a sense of corporate citizenship, each team took to the task with great enthusiasm and team spirit. We had fun working and networking with each other, brainstorming and sharing ideas on the best ways to get donations from the public.

In spite of the heat and humidity, everyone stayed focused on the task at hand. Encouraged by the generosity of Singaporeans and undaunted by the apathy of some, the 60 of us planted the “seed money” of $210 and harvested a return of a little more than $3,000 – not bad for a return on investment!

HP staff P Murali said: “This event was an excellent opportunity for us to take some time out from our busy schedules to do our bit for those who really need our help. It was an honour for me to have been a part of this event and I was happy to contribute.” Echoing these sentiments was fellow HP staff Girish Kumar, who said: “It’s when you have this feeling of happiness when someone donates a 50-cent coin that you know you have made a difference to someone’s life.”

This experience has taught us that fundraising is difficult and although it was physically exhausting, we did have fun and we were happy to have done something for KDF’s patients. Together we created change and enriched lives – may that volunteering spirit continue to live on!

Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School Visit and Calendar Project

On 25th October 2010, sixteen girls from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School’s Girls Brigade (GB) were given an insight into the work at KDF, the importance of the kidneys and kidney diseases at the KDF Bishan Centre. This initiative, a collaborative effort between Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School and KDF, was undertaken with the aim of educating and building awareness amongst our youth.

The day started at 10 am. The GB girls were briefed on KDF and its mission. This was followed by a talk on “The Importance of the Kidney and Kidney Replacement Therapy”. The girls participated in a short quiz and were shown around the centre in small groups, observing the patients undergoing their dialysis treatment.

It was truly an eye-opener for many of the GB girls, who said that it allowed them to gain a better understanding of the needs of kidney patients, and thus were then able to empathise with them. Kelly Deng, a Secondary 3 GB girl, said: “I had never expected to learn so much from a trip to the KDF centre. Most of the time, when we meet people who say they suffer from any kidney disease, we would just dismiss it as something that would happen naturally when we grow old. But after this trip, it made me take a step back and realise just how fragile life is. With kidney disease, the process of its progression can only be slowed, but never reversed. We complain about the little things like not being able to get the things we want, and as students, we don’t study hard. But for these kidney dialysis patients, they are trying their best to live their lives to the fullest.”

Jo’ssy Koh, a Secondary 4 GB girl, agreed: “The visit to KDF made me change the way I think of kidney failure diseases. After learning much about kidney failure, I began to reflect upon my eating habits and I realised that my whole family including me might be at risk of kidney diseases. With this new knowledge, I was able to share it with my family where we have a medical history of diabetes and hypertension. I am very thankful and grateful to be able to attend this course which has changed my perspective and educated me to be more aware of kidney diseases.”

The GB girls were also given the opportunity to help KDF through the sale of the KDF 2011 calendar. 50 calendars were sold, despite their busy schedule in school, demonstrating their desire to help and in a small way, their community involvement.

Through it all, a very meaningful learning experience for the GB girls, whose newfound awareness and heightened sense of empathy for kidney patients will probably stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Project World Friends, Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Photo courtesy of Philip Brewer

When my group and I had our first lesson for Innovation & Enterprise, we were told by our lecturer that we needed to organise a fundraising event for our project. We were told to either collaborate with an organisation or to do it ourselves. My group members and I started searching on the Internet, hoping to find some organisations at which we could help out, and we came across KDF.

Our fundraising event was a 3-day event held within the premises of our school. Prior to this, my group members and I created an event’s page on Facebook. We truly believed that we could reach out to at least a few hundred people for Project World Friends through Facebook, and true enough, we did. Even though we managed to attract the interest of a few hundred people, we were not sure if all of them would turn up to lend us their support as the attendance figures on Facebook were not very reliable.

On the first day, we were all very glad to see our friends dropping by our booth to make donations. Surprisingly, many strangers walked towards our booth and donated generously. Also, we managed to secure a sponsorship from Frolicks who kindly gave us 350 Frolicks vouchers, which were given out to the donors.

Our collection period lasted a week but our booth was for only 3 days. In spite of this, the donation box was getting heavier and heavier with each passing day, and this made us happier and happier. It had never occurred to me that there were so many people out there who were willing to help. There were some students who really wanted to donate but did not have any foreign currencies. When told that they were able to donate local currency, they were overjoyed and promptly donated whatever they could. At the end of our one-week collection period, we managed to raise more than a hundred dollars.

This Project World Friends event has totally changed my perception of all Singaporeans being self-centred and selfish. There are, without doubt, selfish people around, but the future does look bright now, knowing that Singaporeans are generally a helpful lot. Having participated in this fundraising event, I now want to go out there to help more people. I am really glad our group agreed to help out in Project World Friends.

Finally, I have understood the meaning of “Small little actions make the greatest impacts”.

Experiencing Reality Beyond the Classroom

By Seaw Ker Ming, Chong Boon Secondary School

It was indeed a wonderful experience participating in the Citi-YMCA Youth for Causes project and be given a chance to have actual handson practice working with a local voluntary welfare like Kidney Dialysis Foundation (KDF). There were so many things that I learnt throughout the course of the project; experiences, knowledge, and skills that cannot be taught within the four walls of a classroom.

Firstly, participating in this project has given me many opportunities to learn entrepreneurship skills. For instance; learning and actually writing a proposal was something that I would never have dreamt of doing however, it was the first skill I acquired after deciding to participate in this project. Through workshops conducted by YMCA, my team-mates and I also learned about financial management skills, sales and marketing. Up till a few months ago, all these subjects seemed too foreign and unimportant for secondary school students like us. Hence, gaining knowledge on these areas was especially useful when we commenced our project heads-on. And the added bonus was of course, feeling and knowing that we now have an edge over our peers with all these skills at hand. Being students, we were never fully aware how hard it is to earn money. Throughout the project period, we had to put ourselves in the shoes of fund-raisers to try and raise as much money as possible for the beneficiaries in KDF. It was never easy from the start but we persevered and knowing that our hard work would help the less fortunate always made us strive even harder.

As a team, we also encountered setbacks while implementing the project. Amidst attending school and having extracurricular activities, we had to spend our remaining free time solely on this project to ensure that it was running as planned. This was an adjustment to our lifestyle that was hard for most of us to accept. Not being able to hang out with our friends and spend time with the family took a toll on our team. However, we began to understand that team work is crucial for a team to succeed and eventually, we were able to overcome this roadblock.

Respect was another trait that is important when working in a team. Respecting your teammates, their opinions and trusting each other were just basics that we had to embrace to make sure that we were after the same goal at the end of his journey; which was to raise funds for our beneficiaries. Having each other’s back was also crucial. When a team-mate faltered, the rest would automatically step up and lend a hand. At the start of the project, it was extremely hard to recruit volunteers and it was impossible to rely on one person to execute the recruiting exercise. Hence, all the other members in the team pitched in, in recruiting as many volunteers as possible.

With volunteers at our corner, we began our street sales with lots of confidence and enthusiasm which quickly diminished when we realized that it was not going to be as easy as we thought it would be. Responses from our street sales were a dismal and we had to quickly change our strategy to optimize our results. We brainstormed and began to think of more ideas to push our products. Slowly but surely, we began to gain momentum and the rest as they say was history.

Working with KDF was definitely an eye-opener. My team-mates and I learned more about their beneficiaries, the cause that they are championing and at the same time, we became more informed about the importance of our kidneys and kidney health. KDF fully supported our ventures and encouraged us each step of the way. Thanks to their guidance and their active involvement in the project, we managed to successfully close the project.

One of the most important lesson that I’ve taken with me through this learning period is succinctly displayed in the quote, “There’s only one race in this world; the HUMAN RACE. If we do not even want to help our own race, who will step up and do it then?”

I could not agree more.

Bridging a Partnership...

During the early part of June 2009, KDF received a request from Jane, Stella, Jun Ming, Chow Ler, and Chanel; a group of Saint Andrew’s Junior College students to work with them on a project about the donation shortfall amongst voluntary welfare organizations. We were pleasantly surprised by the students’ interest in the fundraising side of KDF, specifically, how the economic downturn has affected donations and what could be done to counteract the effects of falling donations. They had even offered to help KDF by doing a little fund raising of their own.

During the meeting with Jane and her group members, we found out more about their project and the reason why they decided on KDF. Jane and her group members chose KDF as its case study because dialysis, the primary service provided by KDF, is a life long treatment for our patients and having sufficient reserves is especially important during a crisis as treatment is a necessity to prolong the lives of our patients. Should there be a shortfall in donations in any one year, reserves would have to come into use so that the Foundation would be able to continue subsidizing dialysis treatment for our patients.

During the interview and survey about our fund raising activities, we answered their questions with little reservation because we wanted to help the students understand how fund raising works and the difficulties faced by many VWOs today. Our efforts paid off as the students were reassured that their decision to work with KDF was right. “We were treated as equals and our questions were answered to the fullest. It reassured us that the organization was taking us seriously,” Jane said.

Towards the end of the meeting, the students told us, “Before embarking on this project, we thought that it is easy for voluntary welfare organizations to solicit donations such as through charity shows where millions can be collected in a single night. However, we found out that this was usually not the case. The budget, resources and manpower required for such a large scale event can be overwhelming for many VWOs and thus many organizations resort to a few annual small scale activities. Still, these activities require considerable effort and coordination to organize and with the ongoing economic downturn, many complicated obstacles may arise.”

“By working with KDF, we hope to have a clearer view and perspective of the challenges that VWOs in Singapore are currently facing, as well as play our part to help in any way possible. Though we are in the initial stages of implementing our project strategies, we are confident that we will learn invaluable lessons that cannot be taught within a classroom.” This statement by the students accurately summarizes what KDF hopes to accomplish in this partnership with the younger generation.

I Became A Better Me

By Toh Xia Hui, Leader beat YMCA-YFC

YMCA – Youth For Causes had been of a very enriching experience for me. I’ve learned a lot, from organising programmes to how business works. Moral values like perseverance and tolerance are also taught to me through this project. It also allows me to know more about the outside society and the difficulty in working with other company. In addition, this programme had enlightened me about the difficulties and the passion of an entrepreneur. I gained important skills such as communication with different aspects of people, planning skills and how to interact with people.

Being a leader was kind of difficult to me, as I felt that I need to be a role model constantly to my teammates. Furthermore, I felt the urge to deliver my best to my team. At first, I did come down rather harshly on them when they didn’t complete what were tasked to them on time. However as time passed, I realize that I can’t go too harsh on them as they did have other responsibility besides YMCA. Through this project, I also realize that I had a pretty short fuse which I need to work on. My team understood as they did endured my short outbursts.

To be honest, although I did not join this event out of enthusiasm, it was the intention of this event, which attracted me. Then, it was when I visit my VWO and realise what I can do to help these people in need that really pushed me to try my very best to do what I can within my means to help those kidney patients who are tortured by their health and burdened by their financial means.

From getting the products, setting up stalls, to going up to strangers to sell our items. It has been an unpleasant experience as my friends and I as a group fall and stand-up. However, it is also because of these hardships that we experience that when this event end and we see our achievements, we can feel proud of ourselves.

Doing the street sales was a very very challenging thing for me. Being soft spoken as a nature, it was pretty hard to change your own personality. However, as circumstances needed communication, I am glad that I found the courage to speak to strangers and hence able to break out of my ‘shell’.

Furthermore, as I am a person who takes rejection or disappointment pretty hard, it was tough when people rejected me for not buying the teddies or the postcards. In the beginning when I first joined, I believe that we can do more that the amount we had got. However, it didn’t turn out that way. But, as I know that the whole team had put in their best effort, I am glad.

My teammates were the best as they strived to give the best they could. Through the street sales, every one of them tried their very best to persuade the strangers to purchase our products. One of them even went without any food or drinks. Through them, I saw how our team could be united when we want too. However, we still had our fair share of disagreements and disputes. But, we did try to resolve the differences and hence communicating more. Teamwork is very important.

One major setback to me is the failure in the planning of one house sales. It was planned out perfectly. However, due to the weather which suddenly rained like cats and dogs, our volunteers started getting second thoughts and back out one by one. We didn’t really have a wet weather plan too. Therefore, it was a pretty strong setback to me when a planned activity was cancelled due to a problem that was not seen previously.

Mostly, my memorable experiences are when the whole group get together. They stayed at my house till late to finish doing the postcards and the banner. Once, we even stay in school after our Physical Education lesson ends at six to do our big black banner. We had cup noodles as dinner. It was really heart warming when our classmates stayed back to help us out too.

I will definitely do this again as I feel that this kind of activities help to mound me into the person of who I will be in the future. Working with KDF had given me a new perspective, I had never had this long term fund raising, it’s only secondary school flag day. Seeing their commitment to deliver the best to the patients, it really warms my heart. It is rare to see this in the world now.

I thank everyone that helped us in a way or another, support us, and gave us strength. Families, friends and strangers from the streets, they are why we beaT can succeed and why I can learn from this event. Although we are not as successful as other teams in this event, I am sure that what I and my group members had learned during this is of as enriching as us.

Even before this project, I strongly believe in that life should not be wasted as its precious. Even if I did not have the opportunity to visit the patients at the KDF’s centres due to the flu pandemic, I believe that the patients are still fighting strongly to live one more day. Hence, every one of us should stand strong no matter what and make our life meaningful.