Since September 2002 - Volunteers have been visiting VWO-operated nursing homes and daycare centres to coordinate with caregivers and gather wishes of their elderly residents. Getting these elderly folks to talk about their wishes is a great challenging task to begin with. However, there is also a fair amount of mutual support in these newfound friendships as well. Many of the volunteers have become special friends with these wise men & women!

12 December 2002 - A great milestone in our club diary - 600 wishes captured in our database and the website is up and running, albeit on a trial run basis.

13 December 2002 - Straits Times article "All I want for Christmas…" and Lianhe Zaobao both published separate reports on Staying Connected projects. Both articles brought about much public awareness to see each of these elderly folks as an individual just like any of us. We are truly encouraged and moved by the great public response to the articles!

14 December 2002 - It was a pleasant surprise that the Star (Malaysian press) carried an article on our project.

19 December 2002 - Grant a Christmas Wish!
" Inviting some 200 elderly residents from the following 6 nursing homes to a very special Christmas celebration in Orchard Road:
" Sree Narayana Mission Home for the Aged
" Villa Francis Home for the Aged
" Society for the Aged Sick
" Moral Home for the Aged Sick
" SWAMI Home
" Bo Tien Home for the Aged
" Programme of the evening: indulgence in Christmas magic & festive spirits at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza followed by bus journey filled with Christmas carols along Orchard Road. For many of our special invited guests from nursing homes, this was the very first time they came to Orchard Road for such an unusual Christmas treat! Well, it was one of the most meaningful Christmas for many of us as well!
" We had a great turnout of about 500 crowd size - our Guest of Honour, DG Michael Parry, PDG Gerald Minjoot, Presidents & fellow Rotarians from other clubs and also Dr Anne Netto, representative of our co-sponsor, North-West CDC, and their supporters.
" A big thank you to our community sponsor from North-West CDC, our partner Rotary Family Service Centre, school band from Regent Secondary School, Lions Befrienders, Ngee Ann City, SN Home Volunteers, all contributors, donors to the Goodies bags and our 200 individual volunteers.
" Sin Min Daily News featured our Christmas outing project on 21 December 2002.

December 2002 - Rotary News Basket *789
Thank you for the kind acknowledgement for our club's effort!

15 January 2003 - Lianhe Zaobao followed up on the story of Mr Mak Lium, an 89-years old resident of Villa Francis Home. Mr Mak's greatest wish was to see his two daughters from China. With donations from a generous public, the local Mak Clan responded to this wish and arranged for his two daughters' visit. In addition, Channel U also featured this story in their Amazing Grace program on 29 January 2003. How many of us have this experience of looking forward to meeting someone so close and yet so far for the past 30 years? Yes, waiting can be difficult if not torturous. Countdown to the reunion…

22 February 2003 - Reunion of father and daughters after 30 years apart! Mr Mak's two daughters finally arrived. With the help of fellow Rtn William Ong of RC Civic District, (a volunteer at the Villa Francis Home), they stayed at the home itself so as to spend more time with their father

12 March 2003 - Channel U Amazing Grace telecasted the heartwarming reunion of Mr Mak and his two daughters. The story touched many more, softened our hearts and send tears to many eyes.

1st week of March 2003 - Rtn Muriel fulfilled the wishes of many elder folks with a donation of transistor radios. Our husband-and-wife Rotarian team, Paul and Juliana, were there to do the distribution to:
a) Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens (5 radios)
b) Sree Narayana Mission Home for the Aged Sick (16 radios)
c) Queenstown Multi Service Centre for the Elderly (1 radio)
d) Jamiyah Nursing Home (2 radios)

Rtn Juliana has this to share: "It was indeed very heart warming to see that the elderly are very happy with the radios and appreciate the thoughtfulness of fulfilling their wishes. They all remembered that they have made this wish a few months back. Who says old folks are forgetful! A special thanks to Muriel for making the wishes come true."

20 March 2003 - Club visit for parents and children team during the week long school holidays at the Society for the Aged Sick to help with feeding the elderly residents during their dinner meals. Children are always a delightful sight in the eyes of elderly folks. By getting their involvement at a tender young age, we also hope that our children will embrace the volunteer spirit in their upbringing. It was good fun…dance…joy for all!

23 March 2003 - "The World is My Family!" - is the motto of our angel, Mr Ravi Chowla, who came all the way from India with his wife and luggage weighing 107 kg! Inside were some 125 specially selected gifts to fulfill the wishes of the elderly residents from Sree Narayana Mission Home. Ravi, also a fellow Rotarian and a retired journalist, is committed to the elderly cause at heart. Before his arrival in Singapore, he bumped into our website and made a personal pledge to share his gifts-of-love with many of the underprivilleged elderly folks here. Our elderly folks are so blessed indeed with Mr Ravi's kindness and love!

6 April 2003 - Straits Times Sunday reported on Mr Ravi's story to encourage many others to come forward to serve as volunteers. Here is a quote from Mr Ravi's interview, "My conviction is that having got a fair deal from life and society when I was young, I should pay back in some way by making other people's lives better." Mr Ravi is an inspiring model citizen of the world. We hope to stay connected with many more angels like him through this project.