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LAKESIDEFAMILYCENTRE

Lakeside-NewsApril 2010

ED’s eNews Message

LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN Little children are among the most wonderful beings on earth. Their liveliness brings mirth to dull places. Something is their laughter lifts heavy and weary hearts. The purity of their innocence and their simple trust in the world makes them lovable. They are the origin and the essence of “childlike faith”. It should be every child’s right to grow up in a safe and happy environment.

Unhappily, this is sometimes not the case. We hear of cases of child abuse and neglect, of children lacking proper support

for their education, lacking food and necessities, homeless. We cannot leave such issues unattended and we cannot ignore the cries of these children.

At Lakeside, we try to do our part by providing shelter for the homeless and their children. Through our counselling and casework, we address issues of child abuse and seek to provide protection. We intervene to break the desperate cycles of poverty and social indifference. We help students who have left school return to their classrooms. We provide the needy children with school pocket money and their parents with help to find jobs and restore their dignity.

Besides these, we engage the children in enjoyable and enriching activities. Guitar and violin lessons, drawing and drama, singing and dance, are just some of the activities we conduct through our Creative Arts Programme. Our Before and After School Care programme provides quality care to more than two hundred children in a safe environment. Our Educational and Psychological Services provides early asssessment and intervention programmes for children with learning difficulties.

Changing Lives, Transforming Communities – this is what we envision for the children and families we serve daily. Thanks for being a part of this work!

God bless,

Teo Tee LoonExecutive Director

Jurong West Centre Blk 516, Jurong West St 52,#01-73, Singapore 640516Tel: 6567-1908Fax: 6565-6435Email: lfcjw@lakeside.org.sg

Taman Jurong Centre 21 Yung Ho Road, #03-01The Agape, Singapore 618593Tel: 6265-6522Fax: 6265-6523Email: lfctj@lakeside.org.sg

Jurong East Centre Blk 302, Jurong East St 32,#01-22, Singapore 600302Tel: 6564-9722Fax: 6564-9422Email: lfcje@lakeside.org.sg

Multi-service Cluster @ Toh Guan Blk 208, Jurong East St 21,#01-183, Singapore 600208Tel: 6564-9722Fax: 6564-9422Email: lfcje@lakeside.org.sg

Office hours: 9.00am to 5.30pm (Monday to Friday) Website: www.lakeside.org.sg

Lakeside Family Centre

ContentsED’s eNews Message Let the Little children A Whole New World To Agnes, farewell Project Health

Calendar of Events

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Lakeside-NewsApril 2010

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A WHOLE NEW WORLD An Na (not her real name) is a hearing-impaired child with congenital moderate to severe hearing loss. When she first enrolled in our BASC in Jurong West last year, she was attending School for the Deaf and doing the Primary 1 syllabus. Her written language level was then around 3-4years old or lower and there was only minimal vocalization.

Due to the severity of her condition and her late diagnosis – she was only recently fitted with a hearing aid - her external Speech Therapist felt it would be more appropriate for An Na to use Total Communication (both verbal and visual) rather than just the spoken language mode.

In late August 2009, we began to work with An Na with picture flashcards and computer-aided instruction. She was encouraged to vocalize more. The concerted effort of one of our social workers who is trained in sign language, our Reading Specialist and the BASC teachers has been well rewarded.

An Na had not done well in her 2009 end-of- year examinations but upon appeal, the school allowed her to repeat Primary 1 this year. Her school test results just in: she scored 35/50 for English and 49/70 for her Maths!

We are elated as a whole new world of sound, speaking and music has opened up for An Na. But most importantly, An Na truly enjoys her learning and is now working hard on her speech!

Cate Tan

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TO AGNES, FAREWELL In her front-desk job at Lakeside Family Centre (JE) for more than 7 years, Agnes is probably unforgettable to most of the clients who have ever walked through our doors. Her job outline of ‘taking telephone calls, attending to walk-in cases, data entry of financial assistance cases , managing the general needs and the maintenance of the centre’ hardly begins to describe all the colour and energy she has invested in her role.

To those who know her, Agnes is truly larger than life and a living testament to the saying, “Age is just a number“ – after all, who has not heard of her durian-seller boyfriend? Her straight-talking, no-nonsense manner has sealed her place in Lakeside as “the other ED” (to the uninitiated, “Empress Dowager’, not Executive Director). Her talent in cooking and her generosity in sharing with us the fruits of her kitchen labours will be remembered for a long time, particularly around our waists.

All of us at Lakeside are sad to see her go. We wish her God’s richest blessings as she retires to a new and exciting life in Canada! (Knowing Agnes though, perhaps ‘starts’ would be a better word.)

To those who know her, Agnes is truly larger than life and a living testament to the saying, “Age is just a number“ – after all, who has not heard of her durian-seller boyfriend?

Lakeside-NewsApril 2010

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PROJECT HEALTH In the afternoon of 16 March 2010, eight Singapore Management University students armed with all kinds of interesting paraphernalia descended on Lakeside BASC (Jurong East) for a school project. Their mission: to conduct a workshop, “Healthy Habits, Healthy Lifestyle!” for our children in Pr 1 – 3. Their arrival transformed two sleepy afternoons (as part 2 of the workshop was carried out the next day, 17 March) for a bunch of lively and curious children.

With activities ranging from games to gardening, the children learnt, well, healthy habits for a healthy lifestyle! A void deck in the vicinity of our centre proved useful for an exciting treasure hunt. A big trophy was awarded to the winning team and all the children were pleased to keep the pots of soil in which they had planted seeds.

Sentiments commonly echoed by the children:

“I like the ‘Word-Finding Game’ and the ‘Squirrel Game’.”“They teach me not to smoke and I learn how to grow plants.”To all the volunteers, thank you for the well-planned, well-executed programme, and the love you showered upon the children! Lim Hwee Chin

Lakeside-NewsApril 2010

We are on Facebook!Click to view a video

on Project Health

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Jurong West Centre Blk 514, Jurong West St 52,#01-18, Singapore 640514Tel: 6567-7270Fax: 6896-0516Email: bascjw@lakeside.org.sg

Jurong East Centre Blk 302, Jurong East St 32,#01-22, Singapore 600302Tel: 6564-9677Fax: 6564-9876Email: bascje@lakeside.org.sg

BASC hours: 7.00am to 7.00pm (Monday to Friday) 7.30am to 1.30pm (Saturday) Website: www.lakeside.org.sg

BASC Centres

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Calling for Volunteers: Interested to work with children with special needs? Our Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Programme (R-DIP), a programme catered to students with reading disabilities, is looking for committed individuals with a big heart to read and be a mentor to our students. Training and resources will be provided. The time slots are:

Monday to Friday : 9.00am to 10.30am or 2.00pm to 3.30pm. Saturday: 9.00am-10.30am

The reading programme may be carried out at JW-BASC or JE-BASC or TJ, depending on where the child is.

Interested volunteers, please contact: Mr Alvin Teo or Ms Cate Tan @ 6265 6522

Lakeside-NewsApril 2010

Calendar of Events (April to June 2010)

Event for April Date/Time VenueLakeside Charity Golf Tournament 9 April / 11am – 9pm Raffles Country ClubActive Seniors Club – English Class 15 April / 9.30-11.30am Jurong East CentreMothers Support Group – Language Class 16 April / 1.30-4.30pm Taman Jurong CentreActive Seniors Club – English Class 22 April / 9.30-11.30am Jurong East CentreMothers Support Group – Language Class 23 April / 1.30-4.30pm Taman Jurong CentreTalk: Osteoporosis for Senior Citizens 29 April / 9.30-11.30am Jurong East Centre

Events for May Active Seniors Club – English Class 6 May / 9.30-11.30am Jurong East CentreMothers Support Group – Language Class 7 May / 1.30-4.30pm Taman Jurong CentreMother’s Day Celebration for TJH Clients 8 May / 9.00-12.00pm Hort ParkActive Seniors Club – English Class 13 May / 9.30-11.30am Jurong East CentreMothers Support Group – Language Class 14 May / 1.30-4.30pm Taman Jurong CentreActive Seniors Club – English Class 20 May / 9.30-11.30am Jurong East CentreMothers Support Group – Workshop “Self-care” 21 May / 1.30-4.30pm Taman Jurong Centre

Events for June Kukup Trip for BASC JE’s children and parents 11 June and the community