Chia Cheng Ghee and Kesar Kumar

Chia Cheng Ghee:

Charles, a young boy, loved to follow his mother to the wet market at Tekka. He would help his mother to carry the basket full of vegetables and fishes. Along the way, whenever they met any beggars, he would ask his mother for small change and give them to the beggar.

While studying at a tertiary institution, Charles joined the Social Welfare Club. The Club conducted services helping the Seniors in the Aged Homes, the neglected young children and the mentally challenged. He volunteers to teach the mentally challenged children on Saturday afternoon and cutting the fingernails and serving lunch to the seniors at the Aged Home on Sunday morning.

While working for a corporation, Charles regularly joined in the company's social responsibility projects. One notable project was when they brought the kids from a welfare home to the amusement park. Seeing the joy in their eyes and hearing their laughter while enjoying the ride and food made the day for him.

Charles joined the Grassroots as he felt he could contribute to the community. He was constantly on the lookout to help the seniors staying in the rental flats. Many of these seniors recognised him and he would wave to him whenever they see him.

Charles also volunteered as a letter writer at the Meet-the-People sessions. Many of the residents recognised him as a regular volunteer at the MPS and a few of them will patiently wait and ask him to help with their requests.

Kesar Kumar:

There was a particular incident where Charles encountered his childhood best friend at the MPS session. He didn’t recognise him at the start but coincidentally, Charles attended to his request.

Upon verifying his number and name at the station, Charles realised that it was his friend, Thomas and they were surprised to bump into each other after a long time. They used to be best of friends in Primary School but somehow parted ways after PSLE.

After Thomas had been attended to, he waited for the MPS session to end so as to have a catch-up session with Charles. They both headed to the nearby hawker centre.

They then ordered their favourite Kopi-C, Satay, and Rojak, and started to update each other about their life and how Charles ended up volunteering at the MPS session.

Upon hearing the interest of Charles’ volunteering service, Thomas was very much inspired and also wanted to volunteer at the MPS session as well. The following week, Charles brought Thomas along to the MPS session to help him express his interest to start his journey as a volunteer to serve the people of the community.