Partnering Takashimaya to bring fitness to the less priviledged

Dear frens,

We wish to thank Takashimaya and all friends of project kyrie working at Takasimaya who have taken the effort to help the underpriviledged secure wonderful gym equipment to keep them healthy and fit.

We are where we are in our jobs, in our careers,in our lives because we are able to effect decisions and broker assistance to the needy.

Helping our neighbours and fellow men is a lifestyle. With a sense of charity in our hearts at all times, we are open to a new awareness of how so many things can be done to help and make a difference in the lives of others. At the same time, we will also always be in touch with the knowledge that we are so blessed with such abundance in our lives.

Thank you to management of Takashimaya, Jerina and her team for this gift of love.

God Bless,

Mill

Setting up a Computer Lab in Kupang, Indonesia for Orphans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning is the only way out of poverty..

Dear Frens,

Every bit of effort we do makes a difference to the lives of others who have much less than we do.

Often its a co-ordinated effort of a few parties just like any project we put together at work. It all starts with an idea and then the will of each individual to do their part however small to bring it to fruition.

For Christmas last year, we managed to set up a computer lab for orphans at Rosline Orphanage in Kupang, West Timor.

None of these children at the orphanage would have seen a better life after the strife if not for the bravery of the founders of Rosline Orphanage, Budi and his wife Peggy.

Given an empty room, we suggested a computer lab as it would really benefit the kids as the orphanage could run the laptops with the power generators they had.

Education is a way out of poverty. Laptops that are 'too slow' for affluent Singapore, have now got a new lease of life. It's fantastic that we are able to recycle and benefit others just because we are so blessed that we can.It takes but a small bit of effort and friends of project kyrie have come through again and made this possible.


We would like to thank donors of the 12 laptops and to Holy Family RCIY for takng on this mission to set up the laptops, set up the lab and teach the kids computer skills. They had a great time and it was a good learning experience for both our Singaporean youths and for the children. We are also very grateful to Pat and Elaine for responding to our emails for all the educational CDs and tapes that were given to the children.

And to all friends of project kyrie who kept a look out for all the hardware and software neededand by forwarding emails to their friends to get what is needed to make this project successful. We thank you and the children also thank you.

The next project for the orphanage that we will undertake is to paint some colourful murals in the orphanage to make the place bright, cheerful and full of hope. Anyone who is interested to participate be it to paint or provide the paints, do let us know.



God Bless,
Mill

'Remember that the axis of perfection is charity; whoever lives centered in charity lives in God, because God is charity, as the Apostles said.' - Saint Padre Pio (1887-1968)

A brighter Christmas for 423 needy families in Philipines!

Thank You!

Dear Frens,

Thank you so much, to so many of our friends, for stepping forward to pledge food hampers for the poor in Montalban and Tagaytay, Philipines.

We targeted to contribute 300 food hampers and we managed to get a total of 423 hampers!

Apart from contributions of  $6,770 we also received 300 packets of gummie bears and 300 bars of chocolate for the hampers :)

It gives me great joy to continue doing this work, just in knowing that there are so many friends amongst us who care enough to help strangers and are truely appreciative of the blessings received in our lives.

On behalf of the poor I would like to say special thanks to Alice, Puay Hoon, Steffen, Declan, Jackie, Tara, Ranmali, Emily, Peter, Jae, Raj, Lyn, Auntie M, Theresa, Susan, Julie, Regina, May Yan, Corinne & Friends, Raj, Cheryl and to Esther and Amelia from ICPE for making all this possible.

And as always, all Glory goes to God! \o/\0/\0/



May the good Lord bless you all and may you and your families continue to enjoy abundance in your lives as we usher in Christmas and more importantly the spirit of charity that Christmas brings.

Bringing Food to the Poor this Christmas!

Dear Frens,

Christmas is round the corner again, how have your year been?

Mine has been good. I have had several personal successes through the course of this year and of course as life would have it some big awful challenges as well.

I realise that whenever we take 2 steps forward, we often face issues that pull us one step back at the same time. It is like this that we always have God with us and it keeps us grounded to the fact that we need him.

All in all, with God by our side, we will always come out ahead and be able to count the many blessings we received.

This year for Christmas, I feel called to bring you a project in Philippines that will bring food, prayer and hope to the poorest of the poor. I have friends on mission who will be able to buy and pack food packages for the poor at a dump site village of Montalban.

As many of us will enjoy Christmas comfortably, I feel pain in my heart that there are people especially children who have to live with trash, scavenge for things at dump sites to keep alive.

I feel it would be a wonderful and meaningful Christmas for us, friends of Project Kyrie to share our blessings with them. Each food hamper will cost about $16 and there are hundreds of people in this poor village in need of our blessing. We target for to support them with 300 food packages.

If you would like to join me, we will put our money together and contribute as many food packs as we can to make this Christmas alot brighter, alot more meaningful, alot more joyful as we bring the face of Christ and the face of humanity into the homes of people who have so little.

God Bless,
Mill

Man's value before God is estimated by the dispositions of his heart, its uprightness, its good-will, its charity, and not by keenness of intellect or extent - Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774 - 1824)

Let's Leverage to Help the Poor and the Needy!

Dear Frens,

My day started like this:

10am - class

Things to do today -  organise the pick up of 31 sets of computers and monitors for distribution to the needy given by Informatics Campus.

11am - Transport by volunteer still not confirmed for pick up today at 4pm

12pm - Transport still not confirmed but volunteer trying his best. Pray.

3pm - Call from volunteer's friend to pick up computers on his behalf with a van instead of his lorry. Trouble... Van is not large enough to transport all the computers. Problem!

3.05pm - Rack my brain whilst having a late lunch after class. Remembered a friend who runs an ambulance service. Try, call for help!

3.30pm - one van and two ambulances race to pick up 31 computers and 2 lap tops.

5pm - work done

10 computers arrives for local sg families
10 computers goes off to start of a new day care centre
11computers on its way to JB orphanage and homes
2 laptops sent to stat a computer class in kupang Indonesia ( need 8 more!)

Moral of the story:
Be who you are
Be where you are
Be available when you can
And this would make a world of difference to the those in need!

Many thanks to all who have come so generously and willingly to help the poor. Special thanks to informatics for the computers, medic network for taking time out to rescue computers for the poor, also to Chris Bek, Samuel, Eric and all his helpers.

God Bless,
Mill

* we are born to love, we live to love and we will die to love still more - St Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860)

With God All is Possible!

What can God do with an old 10yr old van that we alone can't?

This is a short testimony how a little old van that was heading towards the scrap yard gets a new lease of life!

Few months ago, whilst I was at West Mall with 15mins to spare before a movie, whilst gaping at some cakes, a good friend with the Canossians said 'hi' to me. Before long, she was asking me if I wanted an old van to export to a 3rd world country for the poor. Of cos I said 'Yes'! . I reckon it's my job to just say 'YES' and God's job to find a home for it.

And of cos HE did!

This is what the van is now :)

We are like the old van aren't we? When we are touched by God, we transform.

An obsolete old van touched by God is now a new life-saving ambulance that will last many more years and save many many lives!

Friends, if each of us avail ourselves to say 'Yes' to helping the poor, God will do the rest. What we can't do ourselves we have but to ask around and there is always one of us who can always do something wonderful for His Glory.

Many thanks to the Canossian Sisters, Budi, Christopher and all involved to make this project a success \o/\o/\o/





God Bless,
Mill

Simply delicious!




Much Thanks to Woh Hup for contributing the sugar free bird's nest for the aged at the Gift of Love Home for our Chinese New Year celebrations with them.

The resident's enjoyed the special afternoon very much. Much thanks also to Praise@Work for providing much love, other tea items, song items and games.

Christmas Party for the Kachin Children @ The New Generation School in KL



Party Happy Meals donated by Peter Twang



 



Clothings donated by Children of Nanyang Primary School



Books from Cannosaville



Christmas ended meaningfully for year 2010 as friends of Project Kyrie came together to bless kids who have little.

Helping others and making others happy need not be a big ordeal. Things easily come together when we have the same heart to reach out to bless others with our lives and our resources.

A meaningful, fun-filled Christmas Party was under way when friends said 'Yes' to driving up to KL to visit a school for Kachin ( Burmese) children.

With one 'Yes' everything else easily fell into place. We have at times, to be the one who opens the door and allow opportunites for others to do good and allow blessings to flow.

In this case, we managed to send children's books, clothes and an opportunity to have a fried chicken happy meal for 100 kids. Many have not had the opportunity to eat a happy meal before. So thats a call for celebration!

Many thanks to the Cannossians for the books, to Nanyang Primary School for the clothings and to Peter Twang for sponsoring the Happy Meals. Many thanks also to the Angels who said 'Yes' and drove all these things up to KL plus organised the Happy Meals!

Partnering KKCH medical social work dept to make the world a better place to live in

Dear friends,

I have been so busy lately that I haven't been able to say our thank-yous fast enough to all our friends in project kyrie who have been doing wonderful things with us.


Today, I would like to dedicate this page to friends who have been helping the needy and sick children in Singapore. We have worked together many times with KK children's hospital medical social work dept through the year without mentioning even once to friends who follow this blog.


We would like to take this opportunity to thank Chia Yi, Joy, Peter Twang and Budi Soehardi for fulfilling a child's last wish to have an expensive game set.


This child could not have her wish fulfilled by the make-a-wish foundation because she fell out of the qualifying age group. When the medical social workers from KKCH came to us with this request, friends of project kyrie supported this cause quickly without hesitation and a child had her last wish fulfilled. Her illness has since taken her away from us but I am sure we have given her some joy to take with her to heaven.


Thank you also to Agnes Koh for having given her entire hello kitty collection to make many KKCH needy children smile when pain was abound. Thanks also to Betty Ng & friends, Chooi Peng and many more who gave baby clothes and baby cots when help in getting these items were requested .


Most recent was the love extended by Peter Twang, Jerry Yong and Linda for supporting without hesitation the funds and gifts needed for a last minute children's party for needy sick children at KKCH. Becuse of your kindness, they enjoyed party food, balloons, games and beautiful cartoon backpacks to take home with them.

I have probably missed out many others who have given their time and love for the children and families of these children. Do forgive me. I pray that whatever each has done to make even a moment of a sick and needy child's life better in anyway that our Father will bless you all with the same heart of generosity that you have so generously extended to them.


Last but not the least, I am in awe of the love the KKCH medical social workers have for their ill and needy children. They have spared no efforts to make a difference in the lives of the patients they serve.




Together with you, serving the poor,

Mill

Giving Hope and Rebuilding Lives

Dear Frens,

It is with much thanks to everyone for contributing so generously to help Sohpeak from my last email. Your time to tell friends about it, your prayers and the contributions that came in for this project.

The money is now in Cambodia with the Don Bosco sisters and we will be working with sisters there to ensure your contribution is maximised ad spent according to plan. Sisters will as usual acknowledge all monies received as soon as they can.

It is truely with God's grace that we not only managed to help repair Sohpeak's house but also help another family in a similar plight.

This family has 7 children. The mother works as construction worker, the father is sick with a lung problem.
Their house also floods when it rains. They recently borrowed 20$ to buy some sand, just simply sand, because when it rains, the inside of the house becomes completely muddy, just as you would be on a muddy road.

The Don Bosco Sisters have also said that the ground floor is built with red bricks without mortar and it's dark and black because of the smoke and soot form the kitchen. The roof is also leaking badly as it has many holes.

The father though sick, is eager to fix the house himself  if we supply him, the materials. Two weekends ago, our friend Audrey flew to Phom Penh, she visited the house and this is what she assessed:

1. ground floor is covered in sand. There is no concrete base under. All the furniture sits on sand.
2. Staircase going upstairs is narrow and unsteady.
3. walls dividing the rooms upstairs are breaking/ rotting away
4. exterior wooden walls of the upper house are very old. Possibly from 15 yrs ago when the house was first built.
5. furniture is old and rundown; the upper rooms have no furniture - clothes are hanged on a rope or pole; bedding is worn out.

Thank you to all for blessing these families with a warm and dry home to live in.

May the generosity of all who contributed to this project in any way be filled with the Lord's Spirit and may your hearts be filled with the same warmth of love from God as you have so kindly extended to our poorer brothers and sisters in Christ.

God Bless,
Mill

Love thy neighbour as you love yourself!

Dear Frens,

We have an opportunity today to help a needy Cambodian student called Sopeak from Don Bosco, to help re-build her house which is falling apart. The minimum amount required is about USD$500 as the other half has been sponsored by another friend.

Sopheak was a student in the Food & Home Management class at Don Bosco.

By God's grace, she has chosen to be a nun & is now a formande. Her father met with 3 accidents in a year (2006 or 07) andnow now he's got TB.

Sopheak's house is  3h30' by car. Their house need to be repaired and partially rebuilt. It's now partly made of bricks to prevent the rain from ruining the wood wall. Their house is 13mx5m=65m2. For the labor of the cement work it's about $200 ($3 per square meter). Then there is the cost of the new materials, the carpentery work and the removal of the old house. Her father can't help much as he is very sick now.

Their own savings can be used to fill up their compound with red soil to raise the level of the ground by 50cm which helps to prevent the flood during this raining season.

Frens, if you feel called to help this family, to help them rebuild their house, give them hope, help them a little with their dad's medical expenses, do let me know. I will consolidate all our funds and work with the Don Bosco sisters to ensure that the money is used for the said purpose.

Let's free Sopeak's mind from worries of her family so she can focus on the committing her life to the Gloryof God! \o/\o/\o/

Yours In Christ,
Mill

ps - If we raise more than what is needed for the house we will help the dad with cost of some medicine and food for the young kids and perhaps help another family who is living in the same situation and need basic shelter.




'Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul.'
Only kindness can do that.
- Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire

Partnering ONE Singapore to take a step closer to eradicating poverty!

Thank you, ONE Singapore for your dedication to raising public awareness and striving to make poverty history!


Our heartfelt thanks to One Singapore's dedicated team for organising this charity warehouse sale in collaboration with food distributor, FoodXervices where Project Kyrie's poor families have received with gratitude much needed food packages for the month.


Frens of project kyrie, do support ONE Singapore in all their events and efforts to make a STOP to poverty. Their next food drive is on 16th October 2010, so keep that date on your radar and participate in the warehouse sales that they will be organising again.


Together we all CAN make a difference!


Thanks again Vernetta, Michael, Judy and all at ONE Singapore on behalf of the poor!

Partnering Nanyang Primary School to reach out to the poor

Dear Frens,

I have stayed beside Nanyang Primary School for years. The school is truely a gem in our society. I would be so proud to enrol my children there and would not hesitate to recommend this school to any of my friends.

Every Chinese New Year, the children would go house to house to give their neighbours hearty Chinese New Year well wishes. This little act of awareness by the school and teachers have brought so much joy to the neighbourhood especially to our family as Chinese New Year would not seem like Chinese New Year if we do not see the ernest little faces coming by, to wish us a wonderful and properous Chinese New Year! In fact, my mum have also taken to preparing little goodie bags of sweets and cookies for our little guests every year.

It is not surprising then when one of the parents introduced Project Kyrie to the school outreach team, we hit it off immediately, finding ways to help the needy around us.

In the past year, we have assisted 80 Nanyang Primary School teachers to spend a day, twice a year, befriending and giving tuition to the needy children in the community.

This Chinese New Year that just passed, the teachers and children have taken a step further and collected thousands of canned food and rice for the poor.

With this we managed to provide food rations to poor families supported by Project Kyrie for 6 months. Rations have also been distributed to families in Queenstown supported by Beyond Services and families in Toa Payoh supported by HSR.

This act of kindness and effort of the children have given hope and joy to many struggling families. We are very thankful to the children for having learnt the virtue of sharing and helping others at such a young age, to their parents for encouraging the children and to the teachers and principal of Nanyang Primary for their continuous effort in moulding the children to become good and caring leaders in our society.

Much thanks also go to - Nanyang Plastics for sponsoring the hundreds of plastic bags used in distributing the food rations to the poor. To Laura and Ynez for spending an afternoon helping us to pack and sort the food rations. To Yvonne Goh for assisting in transporting the food rations to our storage. Thank you to many others not mentioned but you know who you are for making this project successful and possible! \o/\o/\o/
God Bless,
Mill

An Ultrasound Probe for the Canossian Medical Centre in Ukraine

"Dearest millicent,
Thank you for the great help your friends gave to get the ultrasound probe. The cost of the probe was 45000.00 hyrivna that was 3930.00 euro with the exchange value at that time.From M. Natalina we received 3472.00 euro. So all the money you sent was spent for it. Thankyou. Here Iam enclosing the photo . Once more thankyou to you and to your friend Joseph. We remember you all in our prayers. "

With Gratitude,
SR. Elizabeth N.

Dear Frens,

I wish to thank Joseph Tan & his friends - Albert Foo, Soong Hee Sang, Adeline Koh, Francis Chan and Janice Koh, Liana and Joseph Santoso, Tan Chek Khiaw and Augustine Tan for raising the funds and buy this ultrasound probe for use to help the needy with medical equipment in Ukraine.

Young children in Ukraine lose their mothers to minor illnesses that can be prevented from escalating into fatalities. Friends, the effort and resources you have generously put out, will save more lives than you will ever know!

It is wonderful for me to see friends of Project Kyrie going into action. Friends like Joseph being called to help the needy in Ukraine by using his own network of friends to reach out to the poor as far as Ukraine. This is indeed the essence of Project Kyrie's outreach.

I hope more friends who want to continue supporting this clinic for the poor in Ukraine, will continue to come forward to pledge their resources. Every year there are costs to be maintained for licenses, doctor and medical technician salaries, medicines etc.

It doesn't matter where we help as long as the help goes to people who need us. We are all indeed blessed if we are in the position to give that help, don't you think?

All Glory to God, our Father, as we remain, his instruments of love \O/\O/\O/