For the past 2 years, we befriended and showed love and care to about 150 seniors in the Toa Payoh community through Toa Payoh Chinese Methodist Church’s Seniors’ Ministry Programmes. Many of these seniors live on their own or are residents of Care Corner Centres for the Elderly.
This year, our children continue to build on this friendship by sharing with them 2 National Day exercise songs and a gift of fruit. This is to promote the goodness of an active lifestyle as well as healthy food choices.
On the day of our performance in August, the seniors were so excited and happy to see the children that they clapped as the little ones walked into the hall. There were many smiling faces. The seniors gamely exercised with the children, even those on wheelchairs clapped & waved their arms. It was a heartwarming sight to behold.
The children learned that soft seedless fruits are suitable for seniors. Sour fruits should be avoided as they may not be good for their digestion. After much discussion, we decided to present seedless grapes as gifts to our elderly friends.
The parents sponsored the grapes and some of them helped to pack the grapes into bags with handles. The type of bags was a suggestion by our children’s grandparents. Our children made gift tags to go with the bags.
During one of the seniors’ gatherings in August, the children presented their gifts (bags of grapes) to the seniors. The seniors were happy to receive the gifts but they were even more pleased to have our little ones visit their gathering. Although we were prepared to bless 150 seniors, some brought their friends hence we gave out more than 180 gifts on that day. We are glad to be a blessing to our friends.
