As part of the tradition, WAY once again co-organised a Chinese New Year event for the less fortunate with Firefly Mission.

This time round, we distributed food rations to about 200 needy elderly residing in the Bukit Merah area just before the CNY. During CNY, we invited them to celebrate CNY with us over a sumptuous dinner. At about 4.15pm, the elderly gradually arrived in the chartered buses. We could see their excited faces as they arrived. The programme started with some talented volunteers singing the all-time favourite oldies of Ms Deng Li Jun. Soon after that the first dish 'yusheng' was served. As the emcee count down "3-2-1", the ah gongs and ah mahs spontaneously lifted their chopsticks and we could hear the words "HUAT-AHHH!!!" resonating throughout the entire restuarant. May we wish all the elderly a prosperous and happy 2008.

Games were played and the elderly participated actively. Other than the singing performances by our volunteers, we also discovered a few talented elderly who sang, told story and danced. Of course, another highlight of a CNY event is Cai Shen aka God of Fortune. As he made his grand entrance, he greeted the elderly and distributed small tokens of Ang Pows and mandarin oranges. Throughout the 2 hours programme, we could see smiles and laughter from the elderly.

Soon, it was time to bide farewell. As the ah-gongs and ah-mahs leave, they shook hands with the volunteers and kept thanking everyone. We are glad that they enjoyed the night and hope that our small gesture in arranging the dinner would brighten up their CNY.